No writer has been more highly praised for spy fiction set in the Cold War than John le Carre, who died on December 12 at the age of 89.
The Karla trilogy pitting British spymaster George Smiley against his Soviet counterpart Karla were mammoth bestsellers, made into a movie (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and two BBC TV series (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People).