The Short Cases of Inspector Maigret

by Georges Simenon

In this intriguing collection are five of the great Inspector Maigret's shorter cases---appearing for the first time in book form. From the clatter and tumult of metropolitan Paris to the small villages of provincial France, these five adventures present an authentic and colorful picture of middle-class French life. And through them all moves the great sleuth himself---"slow, heavy, plodding, tormented, of inexhaustible patience, inextinguishable persistence"---who, whether he is holding a vicious killer at bay or pondering his latest lead in a peaceful bistro, remains one of the world's most formidable detectives. The five cases gathered here are:

Maigret's Christmas
Journey Backward into Time
Stan the Killer
The Old Lady of Bayeux
The Most Obstinate Man in Paris

Scene: France

These stories have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

-from jacket flap

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

188 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.

Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.

He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.

During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).

Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).

In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half the fun of any Maigret story is tracking his boozing. I counted eight drinks in the course of one afternoon "investigating", and this is not remarked upon as in any way unusual 😅

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another detective who uses his powers of deduction to solve cases, however unlike Hercules, he is not boastful nor egocentric. He is a warm man (I learned this in the first story when he agrees to "foster" a young child caught up in a crime in order to make his wife happy), his stories follow his progress from step one until the end, he is meticulous in his descriptions, there is no desire to subterfuge the reader into making false assessments, and the Paris & other areas in which he works are filled w/ real people.

It has taken me over 30 years to read a Maigret book..... I thoroughly enjoyed the stories, they were interesting, filled w/ human characterization, and easy to read. I even figured out "who done it" in three of the stories..... I will definitely be reading more of the series and I might look into adding replacement copies to the Library's holdings.

Unfortunately for me, this was on my list for the Christmas portion of the Fall Flurry Challenge.... but as it is due back in 2 weeks, I decided to read it now.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short mysteries translated from French, featuring the justifiably famous police inspector Maigret. Many of them read more like police procedurals than mysteries, but the procedures are generally informed by extraordinary mystery-solving.

[Peter Barr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collections of stories regarding French Inspector Maigret. They are an entertaining collection of stories.

[Jeff Hobbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read so far:

Maigret's Christmas--3
Journey backward into time--2
Stan the killer --2
The old lady of Bayeux (aka The Bayeux murder)--3
The most obstinate man in Paris--3
***
Crime in the Rue Sainte-Catherine (aka The evidence of the altar boy) --3
Inspector Maigret deduces (aka Jeumont: 51 minutes' wait) --2
Inspector Maigret directs (aka Under the hammer) --2
Inspector Maigret hesitates --2
Inspector Maigret pursues (aka The man on the run) --3
Madame Maigret's admirer (aka The stronger vessel) --3
Maigret thinks (aka Dead man's barge, aka Two bodies on a barge) --3
Storm over the Channel --3

[Peter Barr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this set of stories. Some were especially interesting and some had good endings. Maigret is a unique detective. I knew I'd like this.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: here are five short stories that demonstrate the style of Jules Maigret as he solves terrible crimes in and near the French capital.