The Saint-Fiacre Affair

Inspector Maigret #14

by Georges Simenon, Shaun Whiteside (Translator)

When an ominous note predicting the time and place of a death finds its way to Maigret's desk in Paris, his investigation brings him to Saint-Fiacre, the place of his birth.  It isn't long before a darkness descends on Maigret and the town, as the prediction becomes a brutal reality and the Inspector discovers he is not welcome in the place he once called home.

As much a thriller as a meditation on alienation, The Saint-Fiacre Affair displays Simenon's unique and searing perspective of the struggles we all are forced to endure.

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

160 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 3 out of 5]

Lunchtime Listen January 2025

Well in many ways, I have to agree with my original review of the book below, it is a story in which Maigret doesn’t really take a leading role in the solving or final stages of this mystery.

The newly “crowned” Count of St Fiacre does most of the interviewing at a final dinner party where all the suspects are present and the Count’s late mother is laying out for the benefit of the locals in the bedroom above. Completely broke and a bit of a scoundrel, Maigret initially suspects the new Count, but realises that the so called murderer of his mother cannot be him. He seems quite happy to leave the accusations and insinuations at the dinner party to the Count whilst he sits back and watches. Even then it doesn’t seem like a Maigret type action.

An enjoyable listen and interesting in it being Maigret’s home village but just not the best

Series Read 2019 - 2020

Oops. The reviews I need to write are adding up. 😳
Ok so this was, well I hate to say, but the worst Maigret novel I have read so far. Yes I know I have only been going for a year, but it was a serious disappointment to me.

Why was it so “not as good” as the others, well I think it was because he played such a minor role in the “resolution” of the crime. I say resolution in inverted commas simply because I was left at the end a little confused as to whether it had been resolved. Maigret seemed , well almost an outsider in the story, yes it was the village where he grew up, but he seemed almost to lose his “mojo” and become a lesser man.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad book by any means, it just didn’t live up to the high expectations I have of the Maigret novels given my experience so far. Was it the translation, hmm I doubt it, it was just not what I have been used to.

[Francesc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es la primera novela que leo de Simenon y creo que no he empezado por la mejor ya que me esperaba un Maigret inteligente y protagonista y he encontrado un Maigret espectador de la acción.
La ambientación está muy bien y el libro es ameno, pero la trama en sí misma es bastante floja y hasta podría decir que un punto ridícula. Tal vez, la intención del autor fuera crear una parodia con un asesinato no asesinato y con un comisario no comisario. Si era eso, lo ha conseguido.
Si pretendía crear una trama absorbente con un detective resolutivo, no lo ha conseguido.
La novela está bien, pero poco más.

This is the first novel I've read by Simenon and I don't think I started with the best one, as I was expecting an intelligent Maigret as the main character and I found Maigret as a spectator of the action.
The setting is very good and the book is enjoyable, but the plot itself is rather weak and I could even say a bit ridiculous. Perhaps the author's intention was to create a parody with a murder not a murder and a commissioner not a commissioner. If that is what it was, he has succeeded.
If he intended to create an absorbing plot with a resolute detective, he has not succeeded.
The novel is fine, but little more.

[Anni · Rating 5 out of 5]

The huge appeal of Simenon’s Inspector Maigret series of novels is born out by the numerous re-printings of the books and over 40 screen adaptations – a crime novelist reputation to equal that of Agatha Christie.
In this slim volume, Maigret is presented with an intriguing and ingenious method of murder, one with six suspects - none of whom could be legally punished for it.

This is the first novel of his I have read and I loved his atmospheric descriptions of French Provincial villages and bourgeois family life, although it came as a shock to discover that the rural labourers in 1930s France were still classed as peasants on estates and lorded over by wealthy landowners and aristocrats.

Simenon is excellent at depicting his characters via Maigret's musings and telling observations in evocative vignettes, such as:
“He was a short, sturdy , grey-haired man with a skin furrowed with fine, deep wrinkles and eyes which looked as if they were lying in ambush behind thick brows.”

In fact, it's the quality of Simenon's writing that lifts the murder-mystery genre into the literary classics category.

P.S. The Penguin Classics project to re-issue and re-translate all the Maigret novels has now been completed.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Maigret where he returns home to the chateau he grew up at as a child where his father was the estate manager. In the spirit of Agatha Christie the murder is predicted and Maigret is there when it happens in the church. I liked the story and the end where the Count goes over the motives for the murder culminating with revenge. I liked also the atmospheric setting in the village and characters.

Reread the book and surprised I couldn’t remember the murderer. The references to Sir Walter Scott and the roundtable at the end where the Count causes the son of the estate manager to reveal he was the one who caused his mothers heart attack with the fake article in her missal. What is unusual is that Maigret can do nothing to arrest the murderer. I liked the wintry atmosphere and the dialogue of the characters with the gigolo, his drunken lawyer and the villagers.

[Mostafa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 star
یک داستان معمولی از جورج سیمنون که در ۲۹ سالگی او منتشر شده... او برای حل معمای یک قتل اینبار به زادگاهش برمی گردد.... ویژگی متفاوت این اثر در مقابل سایر آثار او که خوانده ام، شرح جزییات شخصیت ها و طبیعت به سبک نویسندگان روس هست که خواندن این اثر را لذت بخش می کند..... .
اگرچه داستان اصلیو معمای طرح شده در حد متوسط هست اما شخصیت پردازی و شرح لوکیشن داستان جذاب و قابل قبول بود

[Ana Cristina Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simenon es uno de mis escritores favoritos de novela negra, porque tiene un don para recrear ambientes. En este caso ese aspecto brilla, ya que el comisario Maigret debe regresar a su pueblo natal que hacía mucho tiempo que no visitaba. La descripción del pequeño pueblo de Saint-Fiacre, que evoca los recuerdos de su infancia, es central en este relato, que también ofrece una trama ingeniosa y llena de intriga.

Maigret recibe una carta anónima anunciando que se cometerá un crimen durante la misa del Día de Difuntos en Saint-Fiacre, y el comisario debe desplazarse allí para evitarlo. Pero Maigret, a pesar de estar presente, no puede impedir que se cometa el crimen. La investigación nos lleva a conocer a los habitantes del pequeño pueblo, al tiempo que el comisario se deja llevar por los recuerdos y las sensaciones largo tiempo olvidadas.

Imprescindible para amantes del género.

[Catherine Vamianaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Είχα ξεχωρίσει να το διαβάσω γιατί είχα διαβάσει εξαιρετικές κριτικές! Αν σας αρέσουν τα βιβλία του Simenon μην παραλείψετε να το διαβάσετε!!!

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book from Georges Simenon. This one is personal for Maigret as he goes back to his childhood home and village as a note is received by the police in Paris indicating a crime will be committed at the Church of Saint-Fiacre during first mass on All Souls' Day.

Sure enough a crime is committed and Maigret does some investigation, but most of the work is done by one of the other characters who conducts a thorough grilling of all the suspects during a meal at the chateau, with Maigret an interested witness. A fascinating and different way of discovering whodunnit.

At the very beginning of the book, it's worth reading all the quotes from other writers who hold Simenon in high regard and then reading the novel itself to discover what it is about his writing that people makes other writers admire him so much.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and smooth, almost like a play, strong characters, an appealing plot, a final twist, what would you want more?
Mr. Simenon has shown (as usual...) that you don't have to waste tons of ink and paper in order to write something valuable enough to be remembered.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

E’un caso anomalo quello che coinvolge il commissario Maigret a Saint Fiacre, un paesino sperduto della nebbiosa e fredda campagna francese dove Maigret è nato e ha trascorso l’infanzia, nella casa dell’intendente dei conti Saint Fiacre. E’ anomalo perché egli non interviene a risolvere un delitto quale funzionario della polizia parigina, in seguito di regolare denuncia; un omicidio “particolare” viene perpetrato, la morte della contessa è dovuta ad arresto cardiaco, non v’è formale arma del delitto se non un foglio di giornale nascosto tra le pagine di un messale. Tuttavia l’enigmatica profezia contenuta in una lettera anonima arrivata al dipartimento di polizia di Parigi si avvera.
Soprattutto il caso è anomalo perché Maigret funge non da investigatore quanto da spettatore: il suo animo è in subbuglio, il passato gli torna in mente e lo sommerge, mentre la realtà purtroppo cozza inconciliabilmente con i ricordi della giovinezza, provocando nel commissario un malessere che lo annichilisce.
La conclusione finale, dove i possibili colpevoli sono riuniti a cena nel castello alla presenza di Maigret, costituisce una scena magistrale, in cui le meschinità, le colpe e i desideri nascosti che potrebbero giustificare l’omicidio da parte dei convitati vengono a galla, grazie all’iniziativa di uno dei personaggi che veste, al posto del commissario, i panni dell’investigatore, mostrando al contempo i protagonisti così come sono: tante figure meschine, pavide e banali.
Un giallo dal fascino misterioso come l’atmosfera brumosa della campagna di Francia in cui è ambientato.

[Anna [Floanne] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un Maigret decisamente diverso dai soliti. Non voglio rovinare a nessuno il piacere di leggerlo, perciò evito spoiler sulla soluzione del delitto che è un vero e proprio coup de théâtre. Ciò che comunque mi ha colpito maggiormente è la nota maliconica che permea tutta la vicenda. Maigret ritorna, infatti, nel suo paese natio, Saint Fiacre, e rivive più volte con la memoria momenti della sua infanzia, rivedendo la sua casa natale e rincontrando persone a lui note e care.

“[Maigret] stava pensando alla «vecchia», come diceva anche suo figlio, che ora era sdraiata sul letto al primo piano, laggiù al castello, la vecchia davanti alla quale la gente del villaggio sfilava dandosi di gomito. Ma non era così che la vedeva. La ricordava ai tempi in cui al Café de Paris non servivano ancora cocktail e davanti all’ingresso non c’erano automobili. La ricordava nel parco del castello, alta e flessuosa, nobile ed elegante come l’eroina di un romanzo popolare, accanto alla nurse che spingeva la carrozzina... Maigret era solo un bambino, e i suoi capelli, come quelli di Émile Gautier e come quelli del rossino, se ne stavano ostinatamente ritti in cima alla testa.”

[The Frahorus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il commissario Maigret riceve un biglietto anonimo il quale annuncia un delitto che avverrà nella chiesa del suo paese natale, Saint-Fiacre. Maigret allora, incuriosito, decide di assistere alla Messa ed effettivamente una persona a lui cara muore: si tratta della contessa di Saint-Fiacre, per la quale suo padre ha lavorato in passato come intendente del castello. Sembra un delitto perfetto, chi sarà stato il colpevole?

Insolito giallo con Maigret protagonista dove stavolta non è lui ad indagare ma sembra quasi stare nascosto e si trasforma in uno spettatore e dove il vero detective invece sembra essere il figlio della contessa, Maurice, giovane senza lavoro e sperperatore delle fortune dei suoi genitori. Maigret è molto malinconico e solitario in questo romanzo, viene completamente immerso nei ricordi della sua infanzia. Per la prima volta non sarà lui a svelare l'insospettabile assassino.

È interessante notare come Simenon si sia ispirato, verso il finale del romanzo, alla tradizione del delitto impossibile del giallo classico, con una cerchia ristretta di persone all'interno di uno spazio chiuso (come non pensare, ad esempio, a Dieci piccoli indiani) e in tale riunione vi ritroviamo tutti i sospetti del crimine per identificare appunto fra di loro il vero colpevole dell'omicidio.

Bellissimo il nono capitolo intitolato All'insegna di Walter Scott, dove addirittura sfociamo nel romanzo gotico.

Questo insolito Maigret colpisce perché è fuori dall'ordinario rispetto agli altri casi del celebre commissario francese, diventa un noir più psicologico e contano quasi di più le atmosfere e i dialoghi piuttosto che lo svelamento della trama e la scoperta dell'assassino. Purtroppo mi ha lasciato insoddisfatto, perché oltre queste atmosfere non ha nulla altro da offrire, come giallo risulta abbastanza fiacco, vuoto.

[Antonella Imperiali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bel giallo di altri tempi (il romanzo è stato pubblicato nel 1932), un viavai di persone che ruotano intorno al castello dei Conti Saint-Fiacre, la cui signora è deceduta in chiesa durante la prima messa del Giorno dei Morti.
La sua fine era stata annunciata con un biglietto anonimo; Maigret, incuriosito e preoccupato, tra i pochi presenti, sorveglia, ma il delitto avviene comunque sotto i suoi occhi.
Maigret non aveva mai visto un delitto così vile e al tempo stesso così ben congegnato.
E difficile da dimostrare.
Bell’ambientazione, con un'atmosfera piuttosto lugubre dettata e dalla festività commemorativa e da un clima che annuncia i rigori dell’inverno, nonché dalla nostalgia che il commissario prova nel ritornare, dopo quarant'anni, nei luoghi in cui è nato e ha trascorso la sua infanzia.
Descrizioni dettagliate non solo dei personaggi, ma soprattutto dei tanti rumori che sembrano cadenzare il ritmo del racconto.
Nel finale mi è sembrato di assistere ad una vera e propria rappresentazione teatrale, suggestiva per ambiente e piena d’attesa per gli stati d’animo, le parole e le azioni dei protagonisti.

Letto in velocità... e devo riconoscere che mi è piaciuto molto. Anche se mi ha lasciata con un pizzico di amaro in bocca...

🎥 Nel 1958 ne è stato tratto un film, di matrice francese, in cui Maigret era interpretato dal grande Jean Gabin.
Mi piacerebbe molto vederlo...


🔤 RC 2019 - Scarabeo (FIACRE)
📚 RC 2019 - Lo scaffale traboccante
🌍 EU: Francia 🇫🇷

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspector Maigret has received a note stating that a crime will be committed in the church of Saint Fiacre at the first mass on All Souls Day (November 2) in the village that he grew up in. Naturally he goes there to investigate. The widowed Countess of St. Fiacre dies mysteriously at the end of the mass and Maigret discovers a web of conflicting interests that surrounded her, which can lead off in several directions. Simenon at his best.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this novel Inspector Maigret returns to the village of his childhood and uncovers a very sordid murder plot that has been arranged in such a way the police are powerless to act against the murderer. The writing is excellent, as always, thick with atmosphere, and there is a brilliant 'stand off' with a revolver around a circular table in a chateau near the end of the book.

[Marisol · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿Porque el inspector Maigret habría de hacer caso a un anónimo que indica que en un pueblo de menos de 1000 habitantes se cometerá un crimen en la iglesia durante la primera misa del día de los difuntos?, sobre todo cuando el anónimo ha sido ignorado por casi todos.

Pues porque resulta que Maigret ha nacido precisamente en este pueblo, y después de muchos años, nunca regreso.

Existe un doble seguimiento, por un lado vamos buscando al sospechoso y los motivos, en un segundo plano vamos siendo testigos de los recueros que afloran en el inspector con cada lugar conocido, una de las cosas más tristes es que nadie recuerda a Maigret, para los habitantes desde la mujer bizca que lo atiende en las comidas, hasta el cura, el solo es el inspector de policía, un extraño.

La historia es intensa, se centra en una mujer que encarna el poderío y la decrepitud, pero también los pecados, y las consecuencias; es el sol alrededor del cual los demás personajes giran, sin alejarse demasiado.

En las novelas de Simenon es mejor adentrarse en las complejidades de los personajes y sus relaciones, más allá del misterio, que siempre resulta ser un pretexto para la exploración de la condición humana y sus comportamientos.

Como anécdota, Simenon describe un paisaje ventoso como si fuera visto a través de una campana de cristal sucia, me asombro por la metáfora similar a la usada por Silvia Plath, mucho después para ser título de su libro más reconocido La campana de cristal, me pregunto si ella leía a Simenon.

Me gustó el planteamiento, las relaciones que se van desarrollando pero sobre todo ese ambiente enrarecido que emana de esos pueblos que se ven tan angelicales e inmaculados.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret is in the village of Saint-Fiacre, where he was born and grew up. He went there because a note was received at the Police Judiciare saying that a crime would be committed at the early Mass on All Soul's Day. He got himself to the Mass and watched everything and saw that nothing extraordinary happened. Then he saw that the Countess didn't leave the church after the service. How could she have been murdered there in the church when he was watching everything?

I was happy to find myself with Maigret again. Perhaps this man who simply watches everything and whose mind never stops working isn't for everyone. Sure, Georges Simenon was writing at the same time as Christie and Sayers, but he's French and so he isn't quite like the others of the period. Simenon was so prolific that, having found him somewhat later in life, I can delight in probably never getting to them all, that there will always be another I haven't yet read.

These are mostly 4-stars for me. I admit this one might be borderline.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1932 novel The Saint-Fiacre Affair (also published as Maigret Goes Home, Maigret on Home Ground and Maigret and the Countess), Detective Chief Inspector Maigret returns to his birthplace, Saint-Fiacre in northern France, the town where Maigret’s father was the estate manager for a count. He remembered the Countess of Saint-Fiacre as a beautiful, elegant woman; however, in the decades since Maigret moved to Paris, the Countess has widowed and taken a series of boy-toy secretaries as lovers.

When the police receive a warning that a crime will be committed during the first Mass on All Souls’ Day in Saint-Fiacre, Maigret goes home and attends the Mass. At the Mass’ conclusion, the Countess is dead, apparently of a heart attack. But, of course, Maigret knows differently, despite the Countess long having had a weak heart. And, in fact, in the Countess’ Roman missal, Maigret discovers a faked notice of the Countess’ son’s death by suicide. So now the game is afoot.

Georges Simenon has crafted another delightful Maigret page-turner. As in Agatha Christie’s 1950 novel, A Murder Is Announced, the murderer announces the crime beforehand. Did Dame Agatha glen the idea from Simenon? No matter. In both novels, readers puzzle over not only why a murderer would announce his intentions in advance but why the victim should be killed at all. And not to take away from Dame Agatha, but The Saint-Fiacre Affair proves just as entertaining — especially the shocking ending. Highly recommended.

[Mike Clinton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simenon's Maigret novels have their good points and their bad. On the debit side, the plot can be desultory, often drawn out to get to novel length, with itineraries that lack much logic and leave the reader disoriented. There are also the contrivances that appear just for the sake of moving the plot along, such as the note apprising Maigret in this novel that a murder will take place during the first All Souls' Day Mass at the church in his old hometown--who sent the note, why it was sent, etc., never gets explained. Simenon drops it in just to give an excuse for Maigret to be there.... On the credit side, the appeal of these novels has less to do with the mystery to be solved than with Maigret's psychological ruminations and Simenon's observations on the traditions and transformations of French society--such as, for instance in this novel, the final disintegration of the provincial aristocracy that culminated during the interwar years. The novels are also somehow simply absorbing and draw me into the scenes in which their flimsy plots unfold.

[Moon Stream · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
Dedektiv əsərlər oxumağı xoşlayıram. Mənə bu janrı sevdirən Aqata Kristi və Artur Konan Doyl olub. Müasir yazarlardan da əsərlərini sevərək oxuduqlarım var. Ama Georges Simenon onlardan biri olmağı bacarmayacaq deyəsən. Bu, yazardan və eləcə də Komissar Meqre haqqında oxuduğum 2ci hekayə idi.
Doğrusu, obraza isinə də bilmirəm. Demirəm çox maraqlı, ya da Şerlok, Puaro kimi özündən razı biri olsun. Ama canlı olsun. Mənsə bu obrazda sanki o canlılığı duya bilmirəm. Üstəlik bu hekayədə onu heç sevə bilmədim. Əsər boyu ancaq hər şeyi müşahidə edir. Ama heç bir şey haqqında fikir yürütmür. Yəni bir teoriyası belə yoxdur konkret. Əsərin yalnız sonunda obrazlardan biri onun görməli olduğu işi görür. Və mənə də hekayənin bu qismi maraqlı gəldi. Amma sonu yenə də sönük bitdi. Ona görə yox ki pis son idi; sadəcə yazar sonu vurucu etməyi bacarmamışdı.
Qısacası; rastıma düşsə başqa bir əsərini daha oxuyaram amma onu da sevməsəm yəqin ki yazara davam etməyəcəm. Yenə də onu deməliyəm ki, hər kəsin düşüncəsi fərqli ola bilir. Bu yazarı bəyənən yetəri qədər insan var. Bəlkə də siz daha fərqli yanaşacaqsız oxuyarkən. Odur ki istəsəniz bir şans verə bilərsiz. Ən azı baş verən hadisənin özü və son maraq doğurucu idi

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A non-Paris-based Maigret novel, as its title indicates Maigret goes back to the little village where he was born, and where his father worked as estate manager for the Comte de Saint-Fiacre. Father's buried there, but that's not why Maigret turns up just in time for All Hallows Day mass. No, he's recieved an anonymous letter saying there will be a crime committed in the church that day. Indeed--Madame la Comtesse is found to have died in her seat at the end of the mass. How? The doctor says heart failure--but was it? More mystery than police procedural this time, as Maigret seems at a bit of a loss as to how to handle the case. He discovers that things have changed hugely from his childhood days. The Big House is not held in the esteem it was during "the Master's" time, and rightly so. Turns out his widow was less than a lady, by all accounts, and her son's not much better. The "library scene reveal" at the end of the story reminded me strongly of the filmed version of The Thin Man--a mad hatter's dinner party where wine flows like water and accusations and protests fly thick in the air.

I read it straight through in one sitting, entertained and engaged from start to finish.
Good old Maigret--what would I do with out him?

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow! A Maigret I didn't like?! It might have been the translation, but I found it difficult to keep characters straight, especially in thoughts and conversations. Also, except for the dead woman and the innkeeper, all were male, so pronouns gave no clues. But I did like the return of Maigert to his home village and the glimpses of his boyhood. Funny thing is, I saw a French TV adaption of this story years ago, really liked it, and was looking forward to reading the original. C'est la vie.

[Mojdeh Kh · Rating 3 out of 5]

خب اینم صد و یکمی.
دیگه کتاب نمی‌خونم تا سال دیگه 😏

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret returns to the country estate of Saint-Fiacre where he grew up, after receiving a mysterious note saying that a crime will be committed during the first Mass of All Souls Day. At first all seems to pass without incident but as the parishioners prepare to leave, the Countess of Saint-Fiacre is found dead in her seat.

As always, the story has an atmospheric setting as an air of menace broods over the declining estate and the chilly church while Maigret waits to see what happens. He is rather a passive figure throughout this tale, rather hampered by his memories of his childhood on the estate where his father was once estate manager and of the Countess when she was a young mother rather than the foolish old woman she has become, but we see the dramatic tension increasing through his eyes as he observes the characters.

The characters are a convincing bunch of spongers and wastrels, full of human weaknesses like greed and selfishness, each contemptuous of the others while justifying their own sins and failings. As Maigret pursues his investigation, the tensions between these men begins to divide them and a final dramatic showdown reveals the true nature of each.

[AlbertoD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forse la più "biografica" tra le inchieste di Maigret, in quanto vede il commissario tornare nei luoghi della sua infanzia, un borgo della campagna francese del Berry, in cui si è consumato un crimine che tocca da vicino le vicende della sua famiglia.
Una storia di meschinità, decadenza morale e avidità, in cui come sempre la componente "gialla" passa in secondo piano, mentre a contare sono le atmosfere e la rappresentazione delle miserie umane.

[FeLegia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo dico con rammarico, ma a comunicare il contrario me ne sentirei colpevole: i gialli non fanno per me. Non trovo interesse smodato nei confronti della scoperta dell'assassino, i relativi stilemi del classico racconto con detective mi annoia e non mi sprona a proseguire. Certamente l'ambientazione e il contesto sono ben costruiti, ragionati e probabilmente riconoscibili ai fedelissimi (il testo è ambientato nel luogo di nascita e di successiva adolescenza di Maigret), ho trovato la descrizione dei personaggi forse un po' frettolosa, sono poco caratterizzati: Simenon dà priorità ai dialoghi, delle volte con risultati vincenti, altre meno.
Se ci fossero stati elementi psicologici spiccati forse il mio coinvolgimento sarebbe stato maggiore, ma questo agile volumetto - seppur scritto bene, Simenon è un ottimo scrittore - mi pare diretto agli amanti del genere. Dunque, non credo proprio di farne parte.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From TIA:
Maigret discovers that things are never the same if you go back, when an anonymous letter draws him to his place of birth.
Translated by Robert Baldick
Adapted for radio by Frederick Bradnum.

Maurice Denham - Chief Inspector Jules Maigret
Michael Gough - Georges Simenon
Brian Haines - Inspector Lucas
Sean Barrett - Inspector Janvier
Michael Spice - Maurice de Saint-Fiacre
Cyril Shaps - Gautier
Anthony Danielle - Émile Gautier
Clifford Norgate - Jean Métayer
Hector Ross - Dr. Bouchardon
Michael Deacon - The Priest
Produced and directed by Glyn Dearman

https://archive.org/details/MaigretGo...

2* Betty
4* Pietr the Latvian (Maigret, #1)
3* The Carter of 'La Providence' (Maigret, #2)
3* The Late Monsieur Gallet (Maigret, #3)
4* The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien (Maigret, #4)
3* A Man's Head (Maigret #5)
4* The Yellow Dog (Maigret #6)
4* The Night at the Crossroads (Maigret #7)
2* A Crime in Holland (Maigret #8)
3* The Grand Banks Café (Maigret, #9)
3* The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin (Maigret #10)
3* The Two-Penny Bar (Maigret, #11)
3* The Saint-Fiacre Affair (Inspector Maigret #13)
4* The Misty Harbour (Maigret, #15)
4* Lock No. 1 (Maigret, #18)
4* The Cellars of the Majestic (Maigret, #20)
3* Inspector Cadaver (Maigret, #25)
3* Maigret Se Fache (Maigret, #26)
4* Maigret's Holiday (Maigret, #28)
4* La première enquête de Maigret (Maigret, #30)
4* My Friend Maigret (Maigret #31)
4* Maigret at the Coroner's (Maigret #32)
3* The Friend of Madame Maigret (Maigret #34)
3* Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (Maigret, #38)
3* Maigret's Mistake (Maigret, #43)
3* Maigret and the Calame Report (Maigret, #46)
3* Maigret si diverte (Maigret, #50)
3* Maigret in Court (Maigret, #55)
3* Maigret and the Old People (Maigret, #56)
3* Maigret and the Idle Burglar (Maigret, #57)
3* Maigret and the Bum (Maigret, #60)
4* Maigret Loses His Temper (Maigret, #61)
3* Maigret on the Defensive (Maigret, #63)
3* Maigret Bides His Time (Maigret #64)
3* Maigret Hesitates (Maigret, #68)
3* Maigret's Boyhood Friend (Maigret, #69)
3* Maigret and the Madwoman (Maigret, #72)
4* Maigret and the Loner (Maigret, #73)
TR The Shadow Puppet (Inspector Maigret #12)
TR The Flemish House (Maigret, #14)
TR The Madman of Bergerac (Inspector Maigret #16)
TR Liberty Bar (Maigret, #17)
TR Maigret (Maigret, #19)
TR The Judge's House (Maigret, #21)
TR Cécile is Dead (Maigret, #22)
TR Signed, Picpus (Maigret, #23)
TR Félicie (Maigret, #24)
TR Maigret à New York (Maigret, #27)
TR Il morto di Maigret (Maigret, #29)
TR Maigret et la Vieille Dame (Maigret, #33)
TR Le memorie di Maigret (Maigret #35)
TR Maigret in Montmartre (Maigret #36)
TR Maigret Rents a Room (Maigret #37)
TR Maigret and the Gangsters (Maigret #39)
TR Maigret's Revolver (Maigret #40)
TR Maigret and the Man on the Bench (Maigret #41)
TR Maigret Afraid (Maigret #42)
TR Maigret Goes to School (Maigret #44)
TR Maigret et la jeune morte (Maigret #45)
TR Maigret and the Headless Corpse (Maigret #47)
TR Maigret Sets a Trap (Maigret, #48)
TR Maigret's Failure (Maigret #49)

[Filippo Bossolino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Punteggio pieno per questo romanzo (finora il secondo su tredici) in cui Maigret è alle prese con un caso dalle dinamiche atipiche; in primo luogo perché l'omicidio fulcro della vicenda "tecnicamente" non prevede un colpevole, in quanto apparentemente non esiste assassino o arma del delitto convenzionale; motivo per cui l'ispettore è più spettatore che investigatore. Gli altri elementi che conferiscono spessore sono legati al luogo. Simenon inserisce non più Parigi o una grande città, ma il piccolo paese di cui Maigret è originario, facendo ripercorrere i primi anni della sua vita con i ricordi legati all'infanzia, al padre e al suo lavoro, alla chiesa; in questi aspetti l'autore conferma la sua maestria nel creare e ricreare sensazioni vivide e intense con poche piccole pennellate (quando entra a casa del sovrintendente o nei dialoghi con il chierichetto).

Come se non bastasse, la cena finale al castello è ridondante di così tanti spunti in così poche pagine (i dialoghi, l'alcol, il piede sotto al tavolo, il conto alla rovescia, i moventi…) da renderla una perla di assoluto valore nell'ampio panorama dei gialli/noir di ogni tempo.

[KOMET · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Saint-Fiacre Affair, Inspector Maigret finds himself back in his hometown, having been in receipt of the following message: A crime will be committed ,,,during first mass .... There an old countess, whose family had long held sway over the town, has died in the pews of the local church under seemingly mysterious circumstances. Her death brings back into town her son, Maurice de Saint-Fiacre, who had lived a dissolute life in Paris with his mistress.

The story reveals a cast of characters, inclusive of Maurice de Saint-Fiacre himself, each of whom has something about him that casts a veil of suspicion about them. At times, the story meanders a bit. But as it goes along, the matter of the countess's death points to one of the town's characters as the contributor to her demise.

On the whole, The Saint-Fiacre Affair was a nice concise story. But among all the Inspector Maigret novels it has been my pleasure to read, this one is not a favorite.

[John Frankham · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Maigrets. He back in his home village (where his father was estate manager for decades) for only the second time in 30 years, after a warning that a crime will be committed at the first Mass on all-saints' day. The picture created of the isolated village in winter, the insulated villagers, and the primitive life-style, is memorable. As well as the murder in church, and the case to be solved ....