History Creator / JohnLeCarre

His novels are definitely of the Stale Beer flavour of SpyFiction, being very dark in places. Eight feature his most famous creation, George Smiley.

* ''Literature/TheSpyWhoCameInFromTheCold'' (1963): adapted into a film and considered a classic.

* ''The Little Drummer Girl'' (1983): adapted into a film starring Diane Keaton. This is le Carré's first major step away from the East-West axis of the ColdWar, focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also happens to be the farthest Le Carré has ever strayed from the Stale Beer style of SpyFiction: The plot features sexy female HoneyTrap agents, a TallDarkAndHandsome Israeli field agent, and an extended early sequence in the postcard picture version of Greece. It also has one of le Carre's more optimistic endings.

* ''The Little Drummer Girl'' (1983): adapted into a film starring Diane Keaton. This is Le Carré's first spy novel to step away from the East-West axis of the ColdWar, focusing instead on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also happens to be the farthest Le Carré has ever strayed from the Stale Beer style of SpyFiction: The plot features sexy female HoneyTrap agents, a TallDarkAndHandsome Israeli field agent who recruits one of the aforementioned honey traps, and an extended early sequence in the postcard picture version of Greece.

* ''The Little Drummer Girl'' (1983): adapted into a film starring Diane Keaton. This is Le Carré's first spy novel to step away from the East-West axis of the ColdWar, focusing instead on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also happens to be perhaps the farthest Le Carré has ever strayed from the Stale Beer style of SpyFiction: The plot makes heavy use of sexy female HoneyTrap agents, one of the central characters is a TallDarkAndHandsome Israeli field agent who recruits one of the aforementioned honey traps, and an extended early sequence takes place on the Greek isle of Mykonos.

* ''The Little Drummer Girl'' (1983): adapted into a film starring Diane Keaton.

* ColdWar

* ''AMostWantedMan'' (2008): adapted into a film starring Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman in one of his last roles.

* ''A Most Wanted Man'' (2008): adapted into a film starring Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman in one of his last roles.

* ''The Night Manager'' (1993)

* ''A Most Wanted Man'' (2008): in the process of being adapted into a feature film by Anton Corbijn.

* UsefulNotes/ASmallTownInGermany: TropeNamer.

->''John le Carré's new espionage novel where... be honest, we had you at le Carré didn't we?''

* ''A Small Town in Germany'' (1968): Set in [[UsefulNotes/ASmallTownInGermany Bonn]]

* Literature/TheQuestForKarla trilogy: ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'' (1974), ''The Honourable Schoolboy'' (1977) and ''Smiley's People'' (1979). The first and third were dramatised by TheBBC (two, considering its setting--mid 1970s SE Asia--is a bit harder to do, but a radio adaptation exists) and starred Alec Guinness as George Smiley. [[Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy A feature film]] of ''Tinker'' was released in 2011, starring Creator/GaryOldman as George Smiley.

* ''The Constant Gardener'' (2001): recently adapted into a film starring Creator/RachelWeisz and Creator/RalphFiennes.

* ASmallTownInGermany: TropeNamer.

* ''A Small Town in Germany'' (1968): Set in [[ASmallTownInGermany Bonn]]

* ''The Secret Pilgrim'' (199): Last novel to feature Smiley, a collection of reminiscences from Ned of ''The Russia House''.

* ''Call for the Dead'': adapted as ''The Deadly Affair'' (1966), with James Mason.
* ''A Murder of Quality'': Smiley takes a brief retirement, becomes a public school teacher and has to investigate a murder.

* ''The Looking-Glass War'': adapted into a film.
* ''A Small Town in Germany'': Set in [[ASmallTownInGermany Bonn]]
* ''The Naïve and Sentimental Lover'': Le Carré's only non-spy novel.
* Literature/TheQuestForKarla trilogy: ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'', ''The Honourable Schoolboy'' and ''Smiley's People''. The first and third were dramatised by TheBBC (two, considering its setting--mid 1970s SE Asia--is a bit harder to do, but a radio adaptation exists) and starred Alec Guinness as George Smiley. [[Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy A feature film]] of ''Tinker'' was released in 2011, starring Creator/GaryOldman as George Smiley.
* ''The Little Drummer Girl'': adapted into a film starring Diane Keaton.
* ''Literature/APerfectSpy'': a semi-autobiographical novel, dramatised by the BBC.
* ''Film/TheRussiaHouse'': adapted into a film starring Creator/SeanConnery.
* ''The Secret Pilgrim'': Last novel to feature Smiley, a collection of reminiscences from Ned of ''The Russia House''.
* ''The Night Manager''
* ''Our Game''
* ''Film/TheTailorOfPanama'': the film of which starred Creator/PierceBrosnan.
* ''Single & Single''
* ''The Constant Gardener'': recently adapted into a film starring Creator/RachelWeisz and Creator/RalphFiennes.
* ''Absolute Friends''

* ''A Most Wanted Man'' (2008)

* ''Literature/TheRussiaHouse'': adapted into a film starring Creator/SeanConnery.

* ''Literature/TheRussiaHouse''

* ''TheSpyWhoCameInFromTheCold'' (1963): adapted into a film and considered a classic.

* ''A Small Town In Germany'': Set in [[ASmallTownInGermany Bonn]]

* ''TheQuestForKarla'' trilogy: ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'', ''The Honourable Schoolboy'' and ''Smiley's People''. The first and third were dramatised by TheBBC (two, considering its setting--mid 1970s SE Asia--is a bit harder to do, but a radio adaptation exists) and starred Alec Guinness as George Smiley. [[Film/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy A feature film]] of ''Tinker'' was released in 2011, starring GaryOldman as George Smiley.

* ''APerfectSpy'': a semi-autobiographical novel, dramatised by the BBC.
* ''TheRussiaHouse'': adapted into a film starring Creator/SeanConnery.
* ''Literature/TheSecretPilgrim'': Last novel to feature Smiley, a collection of reminiscences from Ned of ''The Russia House''.

* ''TheTailorOfPanama'': the [[TheTailorOfPanama film of which]] starred PierceBrosnan.

* ''The Constant Gardener'': recently adapted into a film starring RachelWeisz and RalphFiennes.

* ''APerfectSpy''
* ''TheQuestForKarla'' trilogy
* ''TheRussiaHouse''
* ''TheSpyWhoCameInFromTheCold''
* ''TheTailorOfPanama''

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the books (''Call for the Dead'' at any rate), George Smiley is described as short, plump, and always wearing ill-fitting clothes. "Shrunken toad" are the exact words used. AlecGuinness and GaryOldman are both tall, thin, and very snappily-dressed for a Stale Beer-flavoured spy.

* AntiVillain: The first novel in particular. [[spoiler:Two Jews who survived the Nazis, one in a concentration camp]] wind up as spies because [[spoiler:they fear another Holocaust]].

* ConMan: Toby Esterhaze of the Circus, in "The Secret Pilgrim", convinces the CIA that an exiled Hungarian professor - a charlatan, completely worthless agent - is an anti-Communist hero, so that the Americans take him off the British hands and put him on their own payroll.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Several of his books have come out in advance of the headlines from which they were ripped. A few months after ''Single & Single'' was released, there was a minor scandal involving Citibank laundering money for Russian Mobsters. Le Carré's submitted his manuscript for ''Our Game'', a book about a civil war breaking out in the Caucasus, about three months before the rekindling of war in Chechnya. And ''The Constant Gardener'' came out just as the New York Times published a series on the misdeeds of pharmaceutical companies in Africa.

* ''TheRussiaHouse'': adapted into a film starring SeanConnery.

* ''The Tailor of Panama'': the [[TheTailorOfPanama film of which]] starred PierceBrosnan.

* ''TheSecretPilgrim'': Last novel to feature Smiley, a collection of reminiscences from Ned of ''The Russia House''.

* ''The Secret Pilgrim'': Last novel to feature Smiley, a collection of reminiscences from Ned of ''The Russia House''.

* MayDecemberRomance: VERY common in the books, with romances by Jaded spies and confused beautiful Twenty-Something women showing up in eight of his books. George Smiley himself marries a woman twenty years his junior, and his protege Peter Guillam follows suit (with perhaps a bigger age gap).

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Le Carré uses his own made-up code names for various organisations in order to avoid revealing classified information. For example, the KGB is always referred to as "Moscow Centre" and MI-6 is referred to as "The Circus" because its headquarters is on Cambridge Circus (in reality, it wasn't).

* MayDecemberRomance: VERY common in the books, with romances by Jaded spies and confused beautiful Twenty-Something women showing up in eight of his books. George Smiley himself marries a woman twenty years his junior.