O Louco de Bergerac

Inspector Maigret #16

by Georges Simenon, Áurea Weissenberg (Translator)

Com madame Maigret na Alsácia durante quinze dias, o comissário Maigret decide ir à Dordogne visitar o seu velho amigo Leduc e, na mesma viagem, passar em Bordéus e tratar de alguns assuntos. Quando vê o misterioso homem com quem divide o compartimento saltar do comboio em andamento, Maigret, instintivamente, faz o mesmo. Não esperava, no entanto, que ele o baleasse. O comissário ainda consegue chegar a uma quinta, mas quando acorda vê que se encontra num hospital em Bergerac, onde se assume que ele é o Louco de Bergerac, que já estrangulou duas mulheres. Leduc vem então em seu auxílio, mas Maigret terá de permanecer em convalescença durante duas semanas e prosseguir a investigação a partir da sua cama, acreditando que um dos seus visitantes é o assassino. É aí que tudo começa a ficar muito mais complicado....

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, France, Noir, Detective, Audiobook

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

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

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lunchtime Listen January 2025
I have to say that the audible version, as ever read by Gareth Armstrong, is just as good as the book I read 4 years ago.

The story as I said below, is based solely in Bergerac, which 40 years later I would live very close to for 5 years. Whilst is sounds a great deal smaller in this book, I can still recognise a few of the places mentioned, which is quite wonderful.

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters and the reading.

Ad hoc series read 2019/20
A fabulous example of Maigret at his most obstinate and deductive best.

More to follow tomorrow - well I had completely forgotten I'd not written anything about this, so here goes.

Having lived in Dordogne, and knowing Bergerac quite well, I was looking forward to reading this book. Did I know any of the places mentioned, no, but nonetheless it was still a wonderful memory jog and very reminiscent of my years in the area.

Anyway , the story, Maigret on his way by train from Paris, for a break with a good friend who lives in Bergerac is unfortunately unable to occupy the single sleeper compartment he expects and so is bunked with a fellow passenger. A disturbing night's sleep ensues due to his travelling "companion's" restless sleeping habits.
Something strikes a chord with Maigret and the next minute he's leaping off the train in pursuit, and subsequently shot.
A period of recovery is in order and Mrs Maigret comes to nurse him when he's holed up in a hotel room overlooking the town square. Having been injured and unable to leave the room he starts to investigate both his shooting and when his assailant is found dead, his murder as well. This links in with a number of random other murders in the locale and so from his sick bed he sets out to investigate the murders.
A really enjoyable book and so typically French and Maigret

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am breaking my strict pattern of recent years of reading series books in strict order, as my friend AM said he read this just now and wanted me to read it and talk about it with him. The Madman of Bergerac (1932) is one of an astounding explosion of these short books published in the thirties featuring Inspector Maigret, 16 in 1931 and 1932 alone! 75 in total! More than 500 total books over this career!

This one takes place in a provincial town, on the way to which Maigret gets shot on a train after which he watches a man who had shared his compartment jump from the train. Maigret jumps as well, and limps with his wound to Bergerac, where he begins to act a little "mad," asking questions of everyone about the shot (and killed) guy who had jumped off the train and presumably shot Maigret. Maigret in an earlier book tells an assiatnt that it is futile to determine his "method," because sometimes he is orderly, setting up a meticulous plan, and sometimes he is intuitive, impulsive, scattershot. This tale features the latter.

And because he is stuck in a bed in a hotel for a time, his wife (for the first time in the series) has to help him investigate the crime. I recall one Agatha Christie where Poirot is injured and has to solve the case from his hotel room, using his "little gray cells" to solve a murder.

This one is great, where we have to question whether what the town assumes is true, that a "madman" had been among them. Many of the leaders in the town seem to be implicated in the crime, though it is not obvious. And lots of drama and more dead bodies are produced in the process. Quite entertaining, these guys Simeenon and Maigret!

[Catherine Vamianaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένα ωραίο αστυνομικό του georges simenon. Εχω διαβασει ελάχιστα βιβλία του αλλά μου αρέσει η γραφή του. Είναι φορές που μου αρέσει να διαβάζω κάποιο πιο 'ελαφρύ '. Πολύ καλό!

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

That's probably the Maigret novel which looks most as a play, as the main character was shot and is recovering on a hotel bed, in a little town.
As usual, judgment and reasoning have a main role in the story, even if one presumption (that of the criminal being an educated person) looks a shot too far.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be too easy to reveal too much about The Madman of Bergerac, No. 16 in Georges Simenon’s series featuring the mercurial French Chief Inspector Maigret. Let’s just say that, at one point, poor Maigret is literally taken for a madman.

But Maigret, of course, is crazy like a fox, and, while he’s so injured that he’s confined to his bed, he arranges with his wife and a friend to do the leg work for him. I loved this novel for the chance to get to know the practical, long-suffering if bourgeois Madame Maigret better. The often-taciturn Maigret unfairly keeps the thread of the investigation from her, but she doggedly fulfills his requests, becoming his eyes and ears in Bergerac. So despite a murderer who’s a bit farfetched, I still give this novel a heart-felt five stars.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αγαπημένος Simenon!

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everest Yayınlarının “Ustaların Türkçesiyle Georges Simenon Serisi”nin 6 numaralı kitabı Ormandaki Deli.

En özenli ve keyifli çevirilerden birisi daha. Bir Maigret romanı. Çok akıcı, heyecanlı…

Çok beğendim.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's almost a comedic beginning. After a ridiculous decision to jump off a slow moving train (and even Maigret wondered why he did it), Maigret is bedridden for a couple of weeks havng gotten shot in the shoulder. His wife comes to Bergerac to provide nursing duties. She provides more than that as Maigret asks her to go see this, call there, send a telegram. She and Leduc, the friend he was ostensibly going to visit, become his eyes and ears.

I love this series. Maigret has great intuitions, keeps thinking and pushing until the truth is uncovered. And each installment is very short! This one is another 3-stars due to brevity but perhaps the series itself is greater than the sum of its parts.

[The Frahorus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dopo Il cavallante della «Providence» e Un delitto in Olanda ecco il terzo Maigret che, fino ad ora (ne ho letto ben sedici), non mi ha soddisfatto. Stavolta il nostro commissario si ritrova chiuso in una stanza d'ospedale dopo aver avuto un incidente in treno e da lì inizierà ad indagare sul pazzo di Bergerac, un uomo che ha la tendenza di uccidere giovani donne. Interessante trovare sua moglie fargli da consulente e quasi da vice.

Sarò sincero: mi ha annoiato questo Maigret. In questa indagine troveremo scambio di identità, incendi, figli nascosti, amori clandestini e suicidi. La stessa ricostruzione del commissario mi è parsa confusa e debole. Anche in questa storia, come nella maggior parte dei casi di Maigret, vi è al centro una donna o comunque una passione nascosta o una relazione clandestina per la quale i vari protagonisti o il solo amante farebbe di tutto per continuare a credere in essa (o nasconderla), anche se ciò potrebbe portare alla morte di persone anche care.

Questo genere di gialli viene definito The armchair detective, ovvero il tema del detective che risolve il caso in poltrona, senza uscire di casa, rinchiuso fra le mura (come non pensare a Nero Wolf?). A me ha fatto ricordare il film di Hitchcock La finestra sul cortile, dove il protagonista era costretto sulla sedia a rotelle e si metteva a spiare i suoi vicini di casa con un binocolo.

Viene ribadito, anche in questo romanzo, il limite di Maigret rispetto all'onniscenza di detective come Sherlock Holmes o i personaggi di Dupin: la sua umanità (difatti non riesce a prevedere cosa succederà all'assassino alla fine della storia). E Simenon ci vuole far capire che l'animo umano è inconoscibile ed imprevedibile.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some notes:


“And so the scales continued to oscillate between tragedy and complete farce.” (113)

Maigret’s method: #11, p. 104ff. He gathers up the details and then ponders the whole : #12, p. 43.

What is it that finally ‘clicks’ for Maigret? (p. 17). Gestalt.
Cf. 38: “He saw everything at once, with an almost unreal clarity…”

Maigret often relies on his intuition. But his intuitions are formed directly out of the circumstances that Simenon has so brilliantly constructed, with simple broad sketch lines. Hence, they are completely believable.

Maigret: “this big man with broad shoulders and a hunched neck who was looking at her with innocent eyes as if his mind were completely vacant.” (#12, p. 41)

—————————————————————————————-

https://strandmag.com/the-magazine/ar...

The man himself is rather unprepossessing yet wholly unforgettable. Maigret is 5 foot 11 inches tall and heavyset, his broad shoulders and stolid features reflective of his bourgeois origin. Early in his career as an inspector he wore a thick moustache, dressed in a well-cut suit and a thick winter coat with a velvet collar, and was rarely without that most British of accoutrements, a bowler hat. But when he became a commissaire, Maigret acknowledged changing police fashions by adopting a mackintosh and felt hat and shaving off his moustache.

Throughout his books, Simenon provides many interesting details about his detective. Maigret has exceptional eyesight, essential for any good detective. Because of the demands of his work, he has taught himself to be able to grab a short sleep almost anywhere. He is prone to claustrophobia, and undue exertion will sometimes leave him short of breath. Where food is concerned, Maigret is a gourmet, his favourite dishes including pintadeau en croute and fricandeau a l’oseille. Like Sherlock Holmes, Maigret loves a pipe. He keeps a rack of fifteen of them in his office at the Judiciare on the Quai des Orfèvres beside the Seine and is rarely seen without one clamped between his teeth, his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets.

Maigret does not use the process of reasoning while engaged in an investigation, but instead relies on his intuition and unique facilities of perception to study all those involved and eventually identify the killer. His sheer presence often exposes the guilty party or overwhelms the perpetrator into making a confession. Throughout all these years his greatest characteristics are shown to be his infinite patience and his compassion for people regardless of age, background, or the pain and suffering they put each other through. He single-mindedly pursues justice for one and all. “He did not take himself for a superman, did not consider himself infallible. On the contrary, it was with a certain humility that he began his investigations, including the simplest of them. He mistrusted evidence, hasty judgements. Patiently, he strove to understand, aware that the most apparent motives are not always the deepest ones.” (Simenon)

What makes this rather large and sometimes slow-moving detective so different [unlike the cold and methodical Holmes, or the effete Hercule Poirot]? In the first place he is essentially a man of sympathy. With a brilliant insight into human nature, he is nevertheless often fallible. He possesses the approach to crime of a really first-class GP. His methods, too, are different from those of the usual police inspector. He much prefers calling on the person to be interviewed or interrogated to having him brought to his office. He goes, he looks, he smells, touches, senses, gets the feeling of the situation and the people he has to deal with. As a result he becomes inevitably involved in the action, suspense, danger, laughter - and he sees it all with the eyes of a great humanitarian.


https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ma...

Muriel Spark pinned down a great deal of what made Simenon “marvellously readable—lucid, simple” when she singled out his capacity to be “absolutely in tune with that world he creates.” Carefully nurtured intuition was his skill and his art. That, in turn, was the gift he gave to Maigret, and so, subtly, each novel not only revealed its crime but showed how it was humanly imaginable.
The ability to make the right connections followed from the detective’s “terrible patience.” From the first pair of novels in 1931, Maigret was a giant presence, hanging around; pipe-smoking, eating and drinking to fill in the time. He never stood outside a case to try logically to deduce what happened. Instead, in Paris, Antibes, New York, wherever he found himself, he immersed himself in his suspect’s world and lingered until, often sweating and overcome with nausea, or dreaming violent dreams, or waking suddenly, he could feel the crime happening.

The novels, apart from these moments of revelation, are studies in the gentle art of watching the world go by. But, at a deeper level, they are about the relation of willpower to understanding and truth. Typically Simenon’s criminals lacked willpower and Maigret, often described as “irresolute” while trying to solve a human puzzle, had a technique which bound him to them. There was a theory lurking here, which he almost passed on to his underlings verbatim, but preferred in the end simply to show. It was that exercise of will, the presence of a strong personality, gets in the way of truth-seeking. Not for nothing does Simenon describe Maigret as ‘pataud’ — like a clumsy dog with big paws. He comes to a problem obliquely, more with his body than his mind, and that’s his trick.

The Maigret novels are about wrapping up cases on the books of the police judicière. But, as so often with art, they’re also about themselves. The Simenon message, repeated 76 times, although you’ll only find it if you’re looking for it, is that novelists and policemen, or at least policemen in Simenon novels, have to ditch their prejudices and abandon their intentions if they want to grasp what really makes other people tick. Few novelists can do it, which is why the best admire the Belgian master.

[Di'ana (Knygų drakonas) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malonu tarp senų senų knygų atrasti kokį lobį. Šį kartą atrasta 1993 m. išleista knyga "Komisaras Megrė ir pamišėlė" suteikė nė vieną malonumą. Trumputė 95 psl apysaka privertė paspėlioti apie nusikaltėlį, motyvą ir atomazgą. Simenon'as išlieka savitas, nėra grandiozinių vaikymųsi, Šerloko Holmso meistriškumo, tiesiog pastabumas ir aklai vedamas tyrimas, kuris pasisuka reikia linkme.

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 3 out of 5]

قلم سیمون به قدرت دویل یا کریستی نیست,با اینحال اما روایت و شخصیت پردازی مناسبی دارد و از داستانش لذت بردم

[José Van Rosmalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deze Maigret is in het Nederlands eerst uitgebracht als ‘ Maigret en de dorpsgek’ en later als ‘Maigret en de krankzinnige van Bergerac’. Het verhaal werd in 1932 geschreven en hoort dus bij de vroege Maigret- boeken.
Maigret reist vanaf het station D ‘ Orsay in Parijs dat we nu kennen als museum met de nachttrein naar het zuiden en in de slaapcoupé komt hij een merkwaardige man tegen die hinderlijke geluiden maakt. Vlakbij de bestemming springt hij uit de dan langzaam rijdende terrein en Maigret aarzelt niet en springt ook uit de trein. Hij wordt beschoten en raakt ernstig gewond. Maigret moet revalideren in een hotel in het centrum van het stadje en hoort dan van diverse lustmoorden die hebben plaatsgevonden. Vanaf zijn ziekbed gaat hij aan de slag, tot grote irritatie van de plaatselijke notabelen. Ook mevrouw Maigret heeft in dit boek een zeer actieve rol. Geleidelijk aan weet Maigret de puzzel op te lossen, waarbij er sprake blijkt te zijn van een internationaal netwerk dat zich tot in Marokko afspeelt, met een hoofdrol voor de dokter, zijn vrouw en schoonzus met wie hij een overspelige relatie heeft. Wat mij opvalt en ik zag dat op Wikipedia ook bevestigd, is dat Simenon nogal negatief schrijft over de jood Samuel Meijer, dus antisemitische stereotypen hanteert over de rijke en onbetrouwbare jood. Ik was daar niet eerder van op de hoogte en het was me eerder ook niet opgevallen. Het verhaal loopt tragisch af voor de dokter en zijn geliefde schoonzus. Maigret hanteert diverse trucs om de toedracht te ontrafelen.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story. Maigret is going to a friends to do some salmon fishing in the Dordogne. On the train a man above him keeps moving preventing him sleeping. Eventually the man goes out into the corridor and then jumps off the train. Maigret follows him and gets shot in the shoulder. He passes out and wakes up in Bergerac. He finds out there is a madman murdering women in the neighborhood.

This story is solved by Maigret in his bed while recovering. Interesting suspects the doctor living with his wife and sister in law, the prosecutor, the owner of the hotel and even his friend.

The solution involves a link to Algeria and a false identity. The inclusion of Madame Maigret doing footwork is a novelty. Interesting the link to a father gone mad and a ruthless son.

[Eternauta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Όπως συνήθως, οι ιστορίες του Μαιγκρέ δεν γοητεύουν τόσο λόγω της σύνθετης πλοκής τους όσο λόγω του γοητευτικού χαρακτήρα του ίδιου του επιθεωρητή: πεισματάρης, ιδιότροπος αλλά και με μια ευδιαθεσία μικρού παιδιού, καταφέρνει πάντα να μας αιχμαλωτίσει στους δαιδαλώδεις διαδρόμους του ιδιόρρυθμου νου του. Εδώ τον βρίσκουμε κλινήρη σε όλη την διάρκεια της περιπέτειας, να απολαμβάνει ξαπλωμένος την ανασκαφή στο σκοτεινό υπόστρωμα μιας τυπικά φιλήσυχης επαρχιακής πόλης.

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins with Paris on the threshold of spring. It is March, Madame Maigret is away in Alsace to be with her sister who is soon to give birth to her third child, and Maigret finds himself without any urgent cases to mull over. This is unusual for him, because Maigret has a passion for his job which tends to keep him busy almost without letup. On this particular day, he receives in the mail a letter from a former colleague, Leduc, who had retired from the Police Judiciare 2 years previously to live a quiet, contented life in the Dordogne. Leduc tells Maigret: "... if ever a good wind should blow you into this part of the world, I count on you to spend a few days under my roof. My old servant is never so happy as when there's a guest to be made a fuss of... The salmon fishing has begun..." So, as Maigret has no impending case or cases at the moment, he resolves to travel by train to see his old friend in the Dordogne for a few days.

Maigret shares a berth on the train with a rather strange, nervous, fidgety man who closets himself in the upper bunk of the partition. He sleeps fitfully. So on edge is this man that Maigret is denied a good night's rest. Then suddenly, with Maigret laying uncomfortably in bed, he notices the man's lower legs hang over the upper bunk railing as he puts on a pair of woolen socks and leather boots, clambers out of his bunk, walks quickly down the adjoining passage, and jumps off the train. Maigret follows close behind him, wondering at the strangeness of the situation, the train now moving slow enough for him to jump to the ground without injuring himself when there is a sudden flash and a bullet pierces his shoulder. Vainly, Maigret is in pursuit of the man and slips into unconsciousness from a slow and steady loss of blood.

Maigret awakes the next morning in a local hospital, where he is at first put under close surveillance by the local authorities. The locality in which Maigret finds himself is Bergerac, which in recent months had been plagued by a so-called "madman" who would pounce upon unsuspecting women at night amid rustic surroundings, strangle them once he had them firmly in his clutches, and plunge a long needle into their hearts as a calling card. Maigret at first is thought to be this "madman" for he looked rather beat up when he was found, and had no personal ID on him. Thankfully, Leduc lives nearby, learns of Maigret's predicament, and is able to vouch for him to the satisfaction of the doctor, magistrate, and other local authorities.

This marks the beginning of Maigret's quest --- with the help of Leduc and Madame Maigret (who arrives from Alsace to help him get back on his feet, for he is facing a slow recovery) --- to investigate the case of this maniacal murderer who is the terror of this provincial town. At the same time, Maigret has to contend with the "obsessive snobbery and hypocrisy of small-town bourgeoisie" and their mistrust of him as an outsider. Certainly, Maigret's brusque, investigative style does nothing to endear him to Bergerac's denizens.

All in all, "The Madman of Bergerac" reads as an interesting moral, psychological tale with many twists and turns.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simenon ispiratore di Hitchcock? Parrebbe proprio di sì leggendo questo romanzo. Il commissario Maigret è costretto a letto da una ferita da arma da fuoco, da cui prende il via il libro e il nuovo caso che si trova a dover dipanare. Il ferimento avviene nel paesino di Bergerac, nella provincia francese un po’ pettegola ma soprattutto terrorizzata. Che fare se non farsi piazzare il letto nel mezzo della stanza d’albergo adibita per qualche tempo a stanza d’ospedale, proprio di fronte alla finestra che dà sulla piazza del paese, e da lì, grazie alla collaborazione della signora Maigret, prontamente corsa al suo capezzale e assunta immediatamente come sua “collaboratrice alle indagini”, osservare il via vai della gente, fissare interrogatori in camera, convocare testimoni e vittime scampate alla follia di un individuo, il pazzo di Bergerac, che aggredisce donne di notte e le uccide?
E’ un Maigret singolare quello che incontriamo in questo romanzo, a momenti sornione come solo lui sa fare, che se la ride sotto i baffi quando coinvolge nel caso l’amico Leduc, a momenti burbero anche per la forzata impotenza cui è costretto, che lo fa sentire una foca impigliata nella sabbia, alterna momenti di dolcezza con la moglie a scoppi di rabbia improvvisa (avete presente come si comportano gli uomini appena gli viene una linea di febbre?). Comunque il finale è quello che ci si aspetta da un romanzo di Maigret, non la soluzione canonica del caso con il colpevole assicurato alla giustizia terrena; il commissario, con il suo sguardo penetrante sulla piazza e sugli uomini che la animano, "si limita" a portare alla luce i drammi esistenziali che scuotono vite nascoste dietro i pesanti tendaggi delle finestre chiuse come occhi di chi non ha il coraggio di guardare l’orrore fuori e dentro di sé.

[Bruce Beckham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I have been aware of Maigret by Georges Simenon for as long as I can remember (apparently the first TV adaptation was broadcast in 1964), I was surprised to realise this was my first novel.

I listened to the audiobook. At just 3 hours 15 minutes it is barely a quarter of the length of the more typical mystery/suspense work, such as a P.D. James or a Ruth Rendell.

Despite its brevity, I did rather struggle with differentiating some of the characters – perhaps it would have been better had I been able to see the French names written down.

The plot is rather constrained by its opening events. Travelling off duty, Maigret, intrigued by a stranger with whom he shares a sleeper compartment, sees the man leap from the moving train. He follows suit – and is promptly shot for his trouble. Thus hospitalised in the Dordogne (and initially mistaken for a criminal), Maigret proceeds to tackle the unsolved case of the so-called ‘Madman of Bergerac’, a local serial killer.

The mystery jumper is a possible suspect, among a cohort of local dignitaries identified by Maigret.

From his sick bed the incorrigibly pipe-smoking Parisian detective contrives to pull various invisible levers and set cats among pigeons, gradually flushing out the facts and – finally – the identities of those embroiled in what is a rather convoluted and unfathomable back-story that lacks any strong connection to the actual crimes.

Just as when an elderly Poirot employs his little grey cells from the necessary comfort of his London flat, the inability of the author to change the scene unfortunately creates a sense of monotony. It would not put me off trying another, but I certainly think I shall read rather than listen next time.

[arcobaleno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Da qualche mese il libro era sul tavolo: un ricordo che avevo conservato smobilitando una piccola libreria di famiglia. Come altri, aspettava il mio momento giusto, lanciando deboli richiami a un mio interesse piuttosto svogliato al genere di scrittura...
Finché qualche giorno fa, dopo un paio di buone letture, di quelle intense e coinvolgenti, avevo bisogno di una pausa, di un alleggerimento. Indecisa, ho provato a prenderlo in mano, saggiarlo, sfogliarlo... e, più per nostalgia che per convinzione, ho iniziato a leggerne le prime frasi, le prime pagine per poi ho proseguire con piacere e curiosità fino alla fine.
Perché Simenon procede con precisione scientifica nell'indagine, ma con un linguaggio semplice, del tutto comprensibile; e sa cesellare con pazienza, con amore i personaggi, l'ambiente, le situazioni, così che la storia acquista valore come una pietra in una incastonatura preziosa; e quel che ne scaturisce appare come un piccolo gioiello inaspettato, modello anche di stili e abitudini di tempi (sor)passati.

Il letto venne spostato davanti alle finestre, in modo che il commissario potesse godersi il panorama della piazza principale, dove l'ombra abbandonava via via una fila di case per conquistare lentamente la fila di fronte.
La signora Maigret aveva accettato la situazione come accettava tutto, senza stupore, senza concitazione.

[Amaranta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un giallo curioso, in cui Maigret di solito sempre attivo e che scorazza da un luogo all'altro si ritrova suo malgrado, dopo essere stato ferito, a dover affrontare una convalescenza davanti ad una finestra di un piccolo paesino in cui c'è un mistero. E quale migliore occasione per svelarlo?
Un Maigret che è precedente al racconto di Woolrich da cui venne tratto il famoso film " La finestra sul cortile" e che in qualche modo fa tenerezza per lo svelarsi, delicato, del rapporto con la signora Maigret, gambe e occhi fuori da quella stanza per lui.
Una vacanza rovinata? No, una soluzione trovata!

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Madman of Bergerac aka Le Fou de Bergerac by Georges Simenon
Nine out of 10


The Madman of Bergerac is a captivating, intelligent, short, wonderful detective story written by one of the best authors of the genre, Georges Simenon, who has more than three works included on The Guardian 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

Inspector Maigret is the hero of the crime stories written by the great Georges Simenon and in this book, he travels to the countryside, by train, in order to spend time with his friend, former commisaire Leduc, who has invited him to fish with him and enjoy a well-deserved holyday.
When two people come to the compartment where the inspector has a place, he moves to a second-class area, where he shares the space with a man who sleeps in the bunk on top, where he keeps moving, making noises and overall behaving as a tormented man- something we would understand later.

When the commisaire finally complains about the constant agitation, the stranger comes down from his bunk, without his neighbor seeing his face, then goes out and jumping off the slow moving train, followed by Maigret, who does not know why he does it, but abandons his luggage on a hunch.
As soon as he is on the ground, the inspector sees the unknown man who shoots at him and wounds him rather badly in the arm, enough to make him bleed seriously and realize that without help, he might die soon, even if he tries hard to stumble and walk to a nearby farm, where he is fortunately saved by a farmer.

He wakes up later in the local hospital, where he meets the local notabilities, first doctor Rivaud, then those in charge with investigations, the local commisaire and prosecutor Duhourceau, all of whom are concerned about the identity of this stranger who has been shot near the railway tracks, right before the station of Bergerac.
An inquiry into two murders and an incident during which a woman has been attacked, but managed to defend herself and chase the aggressor is under way, concluding that the perpetrator is The Madman of Bergerac, the one who has probably shot the patient in the hospital.

The locals soon find who the inspector is, they tell him about the two women who have been attacked near the forest, killed and then pierced with a long needle into their hearts, the killer demonstrating thus that he has a higher education – Maigret starts suspecting the doctor, prosecutor and eventually, even his friend, Leduc.
When he can make the move, the inspector establishes his headquarters at the hotel d’Angleterre, located on the main square of the small town, from where the famous detective would conduct an investigation, in spite of fierce opposition from the local authorities and the fact that he has to lie in bed, unable to move.

Madame Maigret is called to care for the patient and she has the interesting, somewhat amusing role of doing the footwork for the man that is “the head of the household” as they put it in a statement specific for that age, when men kept women in the house, discriminated against largely.
After repeated moments of tension, the inspector has his former colleague Leduc working for him, albeit he had made it clear in the first stages that the ex-detective was one of the suspects, given that the serial killer showed knowledge of medicine and might be a doctor or a man of the law.

Using the same logic, doctor Rivaud becomes one of the men that get the attention of the commisaire, who finds details about the outré arrangements in the family of the physician, married and living in the house with his sister-in-law, a beautiful, sophisticated woman that the talk in town has it that she is his lover.
When Madame Rivaud is invited to the room of the inspector, without his knowledge, she presents herself as haunted, scared, and much less attractive than her sister, with psychological issues.

Her husband is enraged to find about the visit and the other notabilities are upset as well when the comissaire announced a reward for any significant information and is involved in what they see as their domain and none of his business.
Indeed, those who conduct the official investigation feel exhilarated, revenged when they find in the woods a man that had been dead for many days – apparently, he has died on the day of the confrontation with Maigret – and they are sure that the monster has come to end of the rope and has decided to kill himself.

Nevertheless, the comissaire from Paris would not give up; he finds through his wife that there is no doctor diploma issued at any of the specific universities for a man called Rivaud, who has been stationed in Algiers, where he has met his would be wife and her family.

A telegram from Algeria further complicates the situation for the alleged doctor, stating that no doctor with that name worked at the hospital where he is supposed to have been a resident for years and where a man called Samuel Meyer has died in a fire at the hospital where no Rivaud had worked.
This Samuel Meyer has been identified as the monster in the woods aka Le Fou de Bergerac, a rare case, miraculous actually, where someone has died twice, once in Algiers and the second time in the small town of Bergerac.

For spoiler alert reasons, no more would be mentioned of the way the case unfolds, suffice it to say the novel is well written, gripping, like other works by Georges Simenon, including Pietr Le Letton, reviewed here:

http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/p...

[Sandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fino ad ora ho letto un trentina dei libri di Simenon con protagonista Maigret.
Mai una volta sono rimasto deluso, anzi più ne leggo, più mi piacciono e più mi appassiono ed affeziono al personaggio di Maigret.
Ogni volta è come rincontrare un vecchio e buon amico che ti racconta una bella storia.

[Pinko Palest · Rating 1 out of 5]

not one of the better Maigrets. Despite the welcome glimpses of Madame Maigret the story, especialy by the end, is too far fetched, and doesn't quite gel. at times it reads almost like a spoof, with Simenon parodying himself

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather atypical story that Maigret solves from his hospital bed. I must say I didn't expect the ending.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

How in blue blazes did this whodunit all come together at the end? It starts by Inspector Maigret sharing a sleeper with an agitated passenger who, when the train slows, jumps off. Maigret, for some reason, follows him and gets shot for his pains. As he recovers in the town of Bergerac, he hears of three murders having been committed by a madman -- and as he recovers, he suspects the five leading citizens of the town as being part of some sort of cabal. Of course, he's right. Isn't he always?

Georges Simenon's The Madman of Bergerac is one of the author's earliest efforts, and one of the trickiest. It is another tribute to Maigret's patience and intuitiveness.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a facinating book in that it reveals a great deal about Maigret's methods and deep insights on how he conducts his investigations.
Initially the chief inspector is contemplating a break with a former colleague away from Paris. During a train journey he observes a strange individual who appears on edge and unable to rest. When he jumps from the moving train Maigret with little thought follows and becomes injured in the process.
Consequently the fearless, intrepid detective become bedridden and conducts his enquiries from his sick bed. The story also reveals more about his relationship with Madame Magret as his wife comes to Bergerac to nurse him and assist as his ears, eyes and feet following up clues and observing suspects and their situations.
The pleasure in the novel are those interactions and how maigret overcomes his infirmity to solve the case.
The actual crimes and events are perhaps not as convincing as in other books but the entertainment is of the highest order as the policeman tries to manipulate others while being bedridden himself.

[Solistas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν έχω διαβάσει πάλι Simenon,ίσως γιατι στο παρελθόν δεν διάβαζα κ πολλά αστυνομικά (αντίθετα απ´την noir λογοτεχνία που απολαμβάνω περιστασιακά), αλλα φέτος εχω αποφασίσει να διαβάσω περισσότερα, κυρίως τις περιόδους που δεν εχω πολύ χρόνο.

Ο περιβόητος επιθεωρητής Μαιγκρε αποφασίζει να φύγει για διακοπές. Κατα τη διάρκεια της διαδρομής με το τρένο θα βρεθεί αιμόφυρτος σε ενα δάσος κοντά στο Μπερζεράκ κι απο εκεί στο νοσοκομείο όπου τον επισκέπτεται ο εισαγγελέας αφού τον θεωρούν υπεύθυνο για δυο δολοφονίες που εχουν γίνει τον τελευταίο καιρό στο χωριό

Ο Μαιγκρε κατάκοιτος σε ενα δωμάτιο ξενοδοχείου, θα ανακρίνει τους διακεκριμένους πολίτες του χωριού κ θα ξετυλίξει το κουβάρι σαν Γάλλος Σέρλοκ.

Το μυστήριο ειναι έξοχα φτιαγμένο, αν κ δεν μιλάμε για κανενα φοβερό βιβλιο. Εχω αλλα 3 βιβλια του, οποτε θα επανέλθω

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dramatisation with Denholm Elliott

WL The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
3* Maigret in Society
3* The Blue Room
WL My Friend Maigret (Maigret #31)
3* The Saint-Fiacre Affair
3* Maigret in Montmartre
3* Maigret Has Scruples
3* Maigret Bides His Time
3* Striptease
3* Maigret Sets A Trap
3* Maigret and the Minister
3* The Madman of Bergerac

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspector Maigret is on the train to Bergerac to visit a retired friend from the Police Judiciare. A restless guy in the bunk over him in the sleeper car jumps off the train while still moving, Maigret follows him and the guy shoots him. So Maigret ends up being laid up in Bergerac, where he learns that there is a madman at large who has killed two women so far and attempted a third. From his sickbed, Maigret deals with a cast of characters with strange connections stretching from Poland and Egypt to Algeria and America.

[Banu Yıldıran Genç · Rating 4 out of 5]

maigret'nin karısını hep çok merak ederdim, madam maigret'nin en çok göründüğü romanlardan biri bu galiba.
gayet iyi kurulmuş, fransa taşrasını, dedikodu kazanlarını, ikiyüzlü ahlak anlayışını anlatan bir polisiye.
erhan bener'in leziz çevirisiyle hem de :)