Maigret Simenon And France

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was a phenomenally successful author of crime fiction. His 75 Maigret novels and 28 Maigret short stories were published between 1931 and 1972 to great international acclaim (he is the only non-anglophone crime writer to have achieved such renown). His Maigret stories are regarded by many as having established a new direction in crime fiction, emphasizing social and psychological portraiture rather than focussing on a puzzle to be solved or on "action." This book examines the importance of social class and social change in the Maigret stories, giving a particular emphasis to the early formative novels and the development of plot, characterization and setting. The author seeks to establish the extent to which Simenon's portrait of French society is historically accurate and the nature of the influence of the author's own class position and ideology on his fiction.

Maigret receives an anonymous phone call concerning the brutal murder of a woman and young child. The tip off concerns the woman's nephew, a mild-mannered man by the name of Gaston Meurant. At Meurant's trial Maigret is called to testify where he admits to continuing the investigation unofficially as he remains doubtful of the man's guilt. Maigret reveals that he had both Meurant and his wife followed and during the trial he exposes some shocking truths about Meurant's private life that may prove his innocence. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian

"Simenon created one of the great moral detectives . . .a master of the slow unfolding of the criminal mind."-JOHN MORT I M E R Someone is moving a kind old woman's furniture while she is away, but by the time Maigret investigates, she is dead. A kind, elderly lady-meticulously groomed and showing no signs of derangement-appeals to Inspector Maigret, frightened because someone has been moving furniture in her apartment. Nothing, however, has been stolen, and Maigret's subordinates at Police Headquarters shrug her off as "Maigret's madwoman." Touched by the imploring look in her eyes, Maigret promises to investigate-but someone gets there ahead of him. "Simenon is . . . in a class by himself."-T H E N E W YO R K E R G eorges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liege, Belgium. He published his first novel at seventeen and went on to write more than two hundred novels, becoming one of the world's most prolific and bestselling authors. His books have sold more than 500 million copies and have been translated into fifty languages. Maigret is a registered trademark of the Estate of Georges Simenon

No description is available for this title.

The Inspector has fallen into disfavor with his Paris superiors and has been shunted to a district supervisor's job on the northern French coast. Here, among mussel-gatherers and lobstermen, Maigret suffers depression and boredom. He is an outsider. Even the local police inspector is dull and predictable, as everything in the coastal villages appears to be. But the discovery of a corpse in the house of a retired judge returns a sense of purpose to Maigret. The Boston Globe called this "one of Simenon's best Maigrets . . . replete with his customary irony and deft characterization".

The Inspector must enter the unsavory world of politics to help a conscientious politician. Maigret is secretly summoned by a distraught cabinet minister who needs help in recovering a document - the Calame report, an engineering study that warned that a government-funded children's sanitarium was of unstable design. The study was hushed up, the report stolen, and the disaster made reality - with 128 children killed in the building's collapse. Now Maigret must plumb the depths of government corruption to find the thief and the report - and let the compromised government fall where it may.