Call for the dead, by John Le Carre

 

While I've read a number of John Le Carré books over the years, I had never read his first. When I read Le Carré's obituary recently, it mentioned this first book, so I decided to give it a shot. While it's a short book, it introduces many of the characters that we know from later books, including George Smiley. When a Foreign Office employee commits suicide after an interview regarding his Communist sympathies of his youth, Smiley is asked to look into the suicide. He quickly determines that it was not a suicide, but his superiors want him to stop investigating, resulting in Smiley submitting his resignation. he continues to follow the clues to determining who might be responsible, pairing up with a recently retired police detective. This book has good writing, interesting characters, subtle humor, and suspense, making for a great read.