Tempête sur la Manche

by Georges Simenon

Le couple Maigret se rend à Dieppe pour prendre un bateau pour l’Angleterre. Le temps est tellement mauvais que la traversée de la Manche ne
peut être assurée. Les Maigret doivent s’installer dans une pension de la ville portuaire.
Le soir même, Jeanne Fénard, une jeune femme qui travaille comme bonne à la pension où les Maigret sont descendus, est abattue.

Publication d’une édition pré-originale dans l’hebdomadaire « Police-Film », n° 4 du 20 mai 1938.

Genres: Crime

20 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1938

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

[Jack Heath]

4 Stars. Enjoyable - with Madame Maigret providing the clue necessary for her husband to solve the strange death of a servant at a second-rate pensione they are staying at in Dieppe. She likes knitting you see, and the clue, oops no more! The city of Dieppe is on La Manche (the English Channel) north of Rouen. Famous for the Canadian-led WW2 infantry raid in 1942. Back to our story. The Superintendent has just retired and the Maigrets are on their first holiday since their honeymoon. Two weeks in England! She can see the sights and he'll visit his English compatriots in Scotland Yard. But there's a terrible storm in the channel and they must await a later crossing of the ferry. Their boarding house is barely respectable but, in nautical terms, any port in a storm. Soon Jeanne, a 29-year-old woman with a young son, is found dead on a nearby street close to a low-life pub. It becomes amusing when Maigret realizes he's a witness to the comings and goings of the numerous suspects at the house, and his memory seems no better than most other witnesses he's ever interviewed. Then the local Police Inspector arrives. Does Maigret become a suspect himself? (February 2022)

[Richard]

Georges Simenon employed many of the devices used by authors of long series to keep the stories fresh and exciting. Otherwise the danger is just a similar scenario, repetitive plots and outcomes.
So a change of location helps. A different type of criminal or situation, for example: settings beside a canal, or the clubs and bars of Pigalle and Montmartre.
Maigret often has to begin by observing to understand a new milieu, to become one with the culture and thinking of the people in that environment.

When Simenon decided to retire Maigret he has the opportunity to go further and allow him to see things from a witnesses point of view and wrestle with his instincts to get involved in a murder investigation.

A channel storm is playing havoc with sea crossings to England. The Maigret’s are waiting for the calmer water and the ferries to resume so they can start their holiday to London. The port of Dieppe is the scene of the crime, a family guest house the backdrop to the questioning and it seems that the murderer is numbered among the guests.

I love the posturing of Maigret in this account; stoking the fires, pacing, hands behind his back and pipe between his teeth.

Madame Maigret is also impacted by their retirement. A drastic change in routine, time on her hands, adjusting to a life of ease and fewer chores. But, I especially enjoyed her role in solving this case.

A little disappointed that we do not see enough drive from Maigret, simply as he isn’t leading things. Yet, despite figuratively zipping his mouth he can’t help but get involved, which makes the story worth reading and full of different and surprising elements.
Unsurprisingly, it is his force of personality and suggestions that lead to a confession.
Bad luck for killer that the storm blow in and the Maigret’s checked in. Otherwise, could they have got away with murder?

[Evert Rutgers]

Nice late Maigret. He is retired and travelling with his wife to London but gets stuck in Dieppe. Of course even when it storms outside there is a murder for Maigret to solve.