| Plot Summary of A Murder of Quality |
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"One day Miss Ailsa Brimley, editor of a small English newspaper, receives plea for help and advice from a subscriber which intimates that the letter writer's husband may be about to kill her. Brimley consults her former colleague and friend, the retired British secret service agent George Smiley, but by the time he agrees to look into it, the letter writer is dead -- brutally murdered. Smiley takes the train out to Carne, and its exclusive school for upper class boys where the victim's husband is a teacher, to look into the matter. In this, his second novel, published in 1962, Le Carre presents a more traditional British murder mystery along the lines of Elizabeth George, although it stars his longtime spy hero."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Murder of Quality |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 50%
Murder of certain profession?
- students/teachers
Kind of investigator
- british mystery (I say!)
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- life in small town
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- champion of justice
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
Ethnicity/Race
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an above average amount
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Small town?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 2
Unusual forms of death
- blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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