Order of John Le Carre Books
Despite the French pen name, novelist John le Carre wasabout as British as the Union Jack. He was a former British intelligence officer who started writing spy fiction in the early sixties. Due to his past as a foreign officer, le Carre was unable to publish books under his real name of David Cornwell. Unlike the James Bond series, le Carre’s protagonists are more ambiguous and his spy novels are more psychological than about physical action.
Le Carre passed on December 12, 2020.
Although John le Carre has written the George Smiley series, he mostly wrote standalone novels and had not published a series novel since 1990. Several of le Carre’s works have been adapted for film, television and radio. The most recent is the 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (with the commas dropped for the film title) starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. Below is a list of John le Carre’s novels in order of when they were originally published:
Publication Order of George Smiley Books
| Call for the Dead | (1961) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| A Murder of Quality | (1962) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| The Spy Who Came in from the Cold | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| The Looking Glass War | (1965) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| The Honourable Schoolboy | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Smiley's People | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| The Secret Pilgrim | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| A Legacy of Spies | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Karla's Choice | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
+ Show All Books in this Series | ||||
Chronological Order of George Smiley Books
| Call for the Dead | (1961) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Murder of Quality | (1962) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Spy Who Came in from the Cold | (1963) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Karla's Choice | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Looking Glass War | (1965) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Honourable Schoolboy | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Smiley's People | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Secret Pilgrim | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Legacy of Spies | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of The Karla Trilogy Books
| Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Honourable Schoolboy | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Smiley's People | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| A Small Town in Germany | (1968) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Naive and Sentimental Lover | (1971) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Little Drummer Girl / A Death in the Family | (1983) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Perfect Spy | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Russia House | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Night Manager | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Our Game | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Tailor of Panama | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Single & Single | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Constant Gardener | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Absolute Friends | (2003) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Mission Song | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Most Wanted Man | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Our Kind of Traitor | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Delicate Truth | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Agent Running in the Field | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Silverview | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn? | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of John le Carr Short Story Collections
| Sarratt and the Draper of Watford | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| The Pigeon Tunnel | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Anthologies
Note: The collection Ox Tales: Fire also contains contributions by Geoff Dyer, Sebastian Faulks, Mark Haddon, Victoria Hislop, Vikram Seth, Lionel Shriver, Ali Smith, William Sutcliffe, Jeanette Winterson and Xiaolu Guo.
If You Like John le Carre Books, You’ll Love…
RIP