John le Carré Starter Kit In this weekend's magazine, Dwight Garner profiles John le Carré, "the pre-eminent spy writer of the 20th century." Here, he picks the le Carré books that no true fan - or novice - should miss. Most writers come to loathe their most popular piece of writing, but in 2008, when BBC 4 asked John le Carré to name his best books, the first title out of his mouth was "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" (1963). This was wisdom on his part. The novel remains the crucial introduction to le Carré"s cool moral universe - his bald, adjective-free prose style, his penetrating insight into human character, his ethical inquisitiveness and, perhaps best of all, his ability to tell a story in such a way that you're forever just one step behind a tripping kind of jazz beat. It set the tone for the procession of antiheroes in his books. "What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs?" asks his hero, the West Berlin intelligence station chief Alec Leamas. They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. After this you'll want to devour "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (1974), the best of his George Smiley novels. Then skip ahead to his most intimate and autobiographical novel, "A Perfect Spy" (1986), about his own con-man father. Of it, le Carre declared, "And though I've never been to a shrink, I think that writing "A Perfect Spy" is probably what a very wise shrink would have advised me to do anyway." Finally, on my short list, there is "The Tailor of Panama" (1996), about a charismatic bespoke tailor, transplanted from London, and an MI6 officer before the American handover of the Panama Canal on Dec. 31, 1999. Come for the atmosphere more than the plot. Le Carré is a more gifted humor writer than he is given credit for, and this novel has a rum-soaked satirical edge. As the tailor fits the spy for a pair of trousers, he asks, "And we dress, sir? - " The tailor adds: "Most of my gentlemen seem to favor left these days. I don't think it's political.