Call for the Dead
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| Author | John le Carré |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | George Smiley |
| Genre(s) | Crime, Spy novel |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
| Released | 1961 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 157 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7434-3167-7 |
| Followed by | A Murder of Quality |
Call for the Dead is John le Carré's first novel. It introduces George Smiley, the most famous of le Carré's recurring characters.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
When Foreign Office civil servant Samuel Fennan commits suicide after a routine security check Smiley is sent to investigate. Smiley had interviewed and cleared Fennan only days previously after an anonymous accusation of Fennan's membership of the Communist Party while at Oxford University. However while at the Fennan home interviewing the dead man's wife Smiley answers the telephone, which turns out to be an alarm call requested by Fennan the previous day. Smiley is suspicious. The fact that Fennan's suicide note was not only typed, but also dated and timed arouses further misgivings. Smiley's doubts are confirmed when he then receives a letter from Fennan requesting another meeting. Smiley then meets Inspector Mendel, an officer on the verge of retirement, who acts as his liaison with the Metropolitan Police.
On returning home Smiley finds a stranger searching his house. Smiley, thinking quickly, poses as a delivery man and leaves, making note of the number plates of all the cars parked nearby. Mendel traces one car to a semi-criminal "business man" Adam Scarr, who tells them he rents it out to an unknown tall blonde man twice a month. After Smiley is attacked and knocked unconscious Mendel investigates Elsa Fennan, finding out that she attends a local theatre twice a month with a man assumed to be her husband, but who isn't. The man who was at Smiley's house and who attends the theatre with Elsa Fennan is soon identified as Mundt, ostensibly a member of the East German Steel Mission, but who is obviously an agent working for Dieter Frey, head of the Steel Mission and an ex-agent of Smiley during World War II.
Elsa Fennan then confesses that her husband was a spy, and she his unwilling accomplice, passing secret documents to the East Germans. Fennan was killed by Mundt on Frey's orders after being seen talking to Smiley. Smiley later realises that Fennan was innocent, and had denounced himself, in order to point to his wife as the real traitor. Smiley, using his knowledge of Frey's tradecraft, arranges a meeting between Frey and Elsa Fennan, each assuming the other had requested it. When Frey realises he has been tricked he kills Elsa, but is killed by Smiley while making his escape.
[edit] Characters in Call For The Dead
- George Smiley - an officer of MI6
- Samuel Fennan - a Civil Servant, an apparent suicide
- Elsa Fennan - his wife, formerly a refugee from Nazi Germany
- Inspector Mendel - Smiley's contact with the Metropolitan Police
- Peter Guillam - an officer of MI6 subordinate to Smiley
- Adam Scarr - a semi-criminal "businessman"
- Mundt aka "Blondie" - an agent of East German Intelligence
- Dieter Frey - an agent of East German Intelligence, and a wartime agent of Smiley.
[edit] Allusions/references to other works
- Mundt is a major character in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
- Mendel makes a brief appearance in Smiley's People.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Call For The Dead was filmed in 1966 as The Deadly Affair. It was directed by Sidney Lumet from a script by Paul Dehn, and starred James Mason as Smiley (renamed Charles Dobbs), Harry Andrews as Mendel, Simone Signoret as Elsa Fennan, and Maximilian Schell as Dieter Frey.
[edit] Sources
- Call For The Dead, Penguin, 1965.
