First class murder

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A first-class murder (English original title: A Murder of Quality) is the German-language edition of the second novel by John le Carré , published in 1962 . The German translation by Hans Bütow was published in 1966.

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George Smiley is asked by a wartime colleague Ailsa Brimley, now the editor of the small magazine Christian Voice , to investigate a death threat at the elite Carne College. Stella Rode, wife of one of the Carne teachers and long-time subscriber to the Christian Voice , had indicated in a letter to the editors that her husband wanted to murder her. ("I'm not crazy, and I know my husband is trying to kill me.")

In a telephone conversation with Terence Fielding, the senior boarding school director in Carne and about to retire, and with whose brother Smiley worked for the secret service during the war, Smiley learns that Stella Rode has already been murdered. He's going to Carne, it's winter, the boarding school is covered in snow, and Smiley is staying at the Sawley Arms Hotel . He first seeks out Inspector Rigby, who is in charge of the Rode case and with whom he gets along well immediately. Rigby describes the facts known up to then: The Rodes were on their way home together after dinner at Fielding's when Mr. Rode returned to Fielding to fetch a forgotten briefcase. When he arrived at his house, he claims to have found Stella brutally murdered. The forensic clues are extremely confusing, the perpetrator's footprints in the snow only seem to lead to the house, but not away from it, and the murder weapon was discovered several kilometers away. However, some clues pointed to the "crazy Janie", a mentally confused lady who lives alone in an old church.

In conversations with other teachers, Smiley quickly realizes that the boarding school is characterized by snobbery, arrogance and social distinction . Old traditional spirit and classical church rites are strictly upheld, some of the teaching staff vehemently resist innovations. Stella Rode refused to conform to the elitist traditions of the boarding school and, faithful to her denomination, attended the simple Methodist church in town instead of the school services. Since she risked her husband's career with her behavior, he becomes the second suspect.

With the help of Smileys, the police arrested Janie, who only gave very confused information about the night of the crime. Then a student from the boarding school is found dead, apparently having an accident, and Smiley is able to find the murderer's blood-soiled clothing. Everything now points to Mr. Rode as the culprit. On the day of the murder, the dead boy appears to have gone to the very briefcase for which Rode returned to Fielding's house, in order to improve on the exam he had just written. He could have seen the murder weapon already in the bag. Fielding then testifies that he himself improved the exam out of affection for the boy and that he also saw the later murder weapon.

The tide turns completely, however, when Rode Smiley describes the true character of his wife. Stella was only superficially friendly, helpful and humble. In fact, she collected gossip about all the people in the village and at the school and mistreated them with her knowledge. The police find out that Fielding's testimony cannot be true. In the end, Fielding admits that he was blackmailed by Stella Rode for a past crime - a homosexual or pedophile background is only hinted at. He had secretly followed the Rodes to their house on the evening in question, had killed the Stella they had left behind and was then in a hurry to get back to his house before Mr. Rode and be able to hand him the bag that was withheld. The boy he murdered actually opened the bag himself and could have refuted Fielding's testimony against Rode regarding the murder weapon hidden in the bag.

Smiley face

Although George Smiley , the former agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service, also plays the central role in Le Carré's second novel, this is not a spy, but a detective novel with a classic Whodunit . Smiley appears to be retired, lives on Bywater Street in the London borough of Chelsea and takes on the role of a detective in this novel. The fact that his divorced wife, who left him for a Cuban racing driver, was from Carne brings him mild derision here and there.

Smiley is described by two parties in the course of the novel: - by Ailsa Brimley: "She remembered him as the most forgetful man she had ever met; short and plump, with thick glasses and thinning hair, he was at first Look the prototype of an unsuccessful middle-aged bachelor with sedentary occupation. His innate shyness in most practical matters was reflected in his clothing, which was expensive and inexpedient, for it was wax in the hands of his tailor who robbed him. " - From Inspector Rigby or his colleague: "Looks like a frog, dresses like a bookmaker and has a mind for which I give my eyes ... Squat and stocky, round glasses with thick glasses that enlarged his eyes . And his clothes were peculiar. Expensive, mind you, you could see that. But his jacket seemed to drape where there was no room for draping. "

filming

  • 1991 A Murder of Quality (German title: The murderer with the silver wings ); English television film produced by Thames Television; Directed by Gavin Millar, with Denholm Elliott as Smiley and Glenda Jackson , Billie Whitelaw, Joss Ackland , Moray Watson, David Threlfall and Christian Bale .

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ All quotations from: A first class murder. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1969.

literature