مگره و مرد تنها

Inspector Maigret #73

by Georges Simenon, شهریار وقفی‌پور (Translator)

«مگره و مرد تنها» قصه‌ی سرراستی دارد. کمیسر مگره باید معمای قتل یک پیرمرد ولگرد را حل کند. پیرمرد روزگاری کابینت‌ساز مشهور و خوش‌نامی بوده، با خانواده‌اش یک زندگی معمولی داشته و بعد ناگهان به ولگردی بی‌سر و پا تبدیل می‌شود. این معما در روند داستان به چندین و چند معما تبدیل می‌شود؛ معماهای کوچک و بزرگ. چرا باید یک ولگرد خیابانی ناخن‌های مانیکور شده داشته باشد؟ چرا پیرمردی که روزگاری زندگی با آبرو و خوبی داشته باید ولگرد بشود؟ چه کسی باید یک ولگرد را کشته باشد؟ چرا؟ و سوالات فراوانی از این دست، همچنان که کاراکتر پلیس داستان- مگره- را به فکر فرو می‌برد، مخاطب را نیز فکری می‌کند. برای پیدا کردن جواب این معماها خواننده یک نفس داستان را می‌خواند تا هر چه زودتر پاسخ سوالات خودش را پیدا کند؛ اتفاقی که در هر اثر کلاسیک خوب، در حوزه داستان پلیسی، باید بیفتد.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, France, Detective, Ebooks, Belgian

181 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

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

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chief Inspector Maigret is faced with an intriguing case. A man's body has been found in an abandoned building where he lived. He is dressed in tramp’s clothes but his appearance is extremely neat. He has a recent haircut, a well-trimmed mustache and he is shaved.

The entire floor he lived on shows he must have been a hoarder. The place is filled with discarded toys, trinkets and mechanical devices that he had apparently collected from trash.



He lived in the neighborhood but no one knew his name. The student trainee barbershop where he got his haircuts called him ‘The Dandy.’ Other homeless persons simply called him ‘The Mute’ because he never spoke to anyone. But little by little Maigret is able to determine who he was. He even finds a former wife and a daughter who have not seen him for 15 years. But they are not at all helpful in his initial inquiries. He was a loving husband so why did he walk away from their lives two days before Christmas 15 years ago?

Some key questions become why did he disappear from his home 15 years ago? And why is he back now? And where has he been in the meantime? Maigret doesn't know it yet but he will end up solving two murders by two different murderers.

Maigret gets his man/woman of course and in the process he has to visit La Baule, a French resort town, so that gives us some additional local color besides Maigret's usual Paris environment. It turns out that La Baule is a Riviera/casino/beach type resort that is not on the Riviera. It's on the south coast of the Brittany peninsula and it's very much a French resort, overrun with French, as you can see from the photo, but apparently not at all well-known or much visited by foreign tourists.

We know that Simeon wrote 75 Maigret novels and almost 500 novels in total. And the Maigrets are always good stories but I think sometimes the haste with which they must have been written shows. I'll put the remainder of this comment in a spoiler. Several times in the course of the investigation Maigret wonders why the tramp collected all these discarded items. Yet we are never offered an explanation, although we suspect that hoarders collect physical items as a substitute for interpersonal relations. Things can't leave you the way people might, and this also explains why hoarders are so reluctant to part with these items. But none of that is in the book.

Also near the end of the book, the key to solving the case comes from an anonymous phone caller who gives the name of a possible murderer as a tip. We are never told who Maigret thinks this tipster might be even though there is an explanation that could fit in with the plot – anyone involved in an unsolved murder investigation 15 years ago. It also seems to me that a good editor would have picked up on this and said to the author ‘your readers will want to know this, so just add a few lines.’



I enjoy reading a Maigret as a break from more serious topics. I’ve read a dozen or so but I won’t list all of my reviews below, just the few I’ve read that have ratings higher than 3.8 on GR:

Maigret’s Pickpocket

Maigret and the Madwoman

Maigret Has Scruples

Maigret Sets a Trap

Maigret and the Headless Corpse

Top photo of La Baule, Brittany from YouTube
A statue of Maigret in the Netherlands from Wikipedia

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've got to hand it to Simenon. Here he is, a year before he's going to retire, five hundred published books, three wives, a thousand-odd casual relationships, drinking problems, all energy gone and functioning completely on autopilot, and he still manages to assemble a competent police procedural that I was unable to put down and finished in a day and a half. It's even got a good ending. I've seen this in old chess grandmasters: they can no longer calculate, their openings are several decades out of date, but their fingers know where the pieces want to be moved without any obvious intervention from the brain and they can beat strong opponents in rapid-play games. It's even more impressive in a writer.

Chapeau, monsieur.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lunchtime Listen May 2024

A lunchtime return to the excellent Maigret, Simenon, and narrator Gareth Armstrong.

This was not a novel I had got to, during my "read all the Maigret Novels" kick , a few years ago. But like the vast majority it was excellent. A simple story of a dead tramp in a derelict house, but who was he, and why was he so well manicured if dressed in rags, and who would want to shoot him as he slept ?
With Paris experiencing its usual Summer heatwave, and half the Inspectors on their holidays, Maigret nearing retirement, whilst longing for his own summer vacation is quite short staffed, so does a lot of the slog himself, ably assisted by Inspector Torrence.
Two anonymous calls give him a hint as to who the man is , but the why remains hidden until close to the end as Maigret delves into the past and what happened at the end of WW2.

An excellent story, brilliant characters and settings, wonderfully read by Gareth Armstrong.

[Mostafa · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

داستان یک ایراد اساسی دارد... نویسنده برای پیچیده کردن داستان، تمام سرنخ ها را از بین می برد و مگره بیچاره باید بدون سرنخ معما را حل کند.... اینجاست که فردی ناشناس تماس می گیرد و می گوید به دنبال فلانی باشید........ عجب!؟!🤔 قدیم می گفتند که " قافیه به تنگ آید شاعر به جفنگ آید"" اینجا هم جورج سیمنون به جفنگ آمده... چون نتوانسته معما را به روش علمی و پلیسی حل کند، دست به دامن یک تماس از یک شخص ناشناس شده.... اگر شخص ناشناس در انتهای داستان معرفی می شد و انگیزه ای طراحی می شد برای تماس تلفنی اش با پلیس، تا حدودی قابل قبول بود البته آن هم ایرادات خودش را داشت ولی چون شخصِ ناشناسِ تماس گیرنده معرفی نمی شود، به نظرم داستان را با یک سقوط آزاد مواجه می کند......و کیفیت آن را بد جوری تنزل می دهد

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un Maigret sfolgorante nella sua asciuttezza e linearita'. Un'indagine serrata, alla vecchia maniera, fatta di grandi camminate, di interrogatori di testimoni, di piste che fanno perdere tempo e si "raffreddano" all'improvviso, di attimi di scoramento e di improvvisi e casuali colpi di fortuna. In poche parole un'indagine vera che porta il nostro commissario ad indagare nel presente ma anche nel passato, nelle bettole cittadine ma anche sulla costa vip del golfo di Biscaglia, e sopratutto in una Parigi agostana... che piu' parigina non si puo'.

[Amirsaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

سوژه‌های ژرژ سیمون، آدم‌های طبقه‌ی کارگر و پایین‌تری هستند که فقط به سبب کشته‌شدن‌شان است که مورد علاقه‌ی طبقه‌ی متوسط (از طریق روزنامه‌ها و بحث‌های در کافه‌های پاریس) قرار می‌گیرند. ماجراها همواره پیوندی است بین دو طبقه‌ی مختلف از افراد، که زمانی تاریخچه‌ی مشترکی آن‌ها را به هم وصل می‌کرده است‌.‌
علایق و عادات مگره کاملا معمولی هستند: نوشیدن و پیپ دود کردن. مگره معماهایش را با در-خیابان-ماندن حل می‌کند، کم پیش می‌آید که نشسته بر مبل خانه‌اش چیزی دستگیرش شود. خانه و زن برای او حکم تمدد اعصاب را دارند. مگره حرف‌ها را می‌شنود و مدام داستان را برای خودش --و مخاطب-- مرور می‌کند‌.

[خطر اسپویلر]
چیزی از داستان‌های معمایی که من را آزار می‌دهد این است که نویسنده اطلاعات را هروقت که بخواهد عرضه می‌کند، تا بار هیجانی و حلالانه‌ی ماجرا را حفظ کند. مثلا چرا دختر ویوین بار اولی که بازرس را دید (برخلاف بار دوم که از سر «وظیفه» به مگره زنگ زد - درست وقتی صفحاتی قبل، مگره پی به وجود نینا برده) وجود یک معشوقه را انکار کرد؟ یا این‌که چند روز بعد از حادثه، ناگهان شخصی (بنا به حدس من: آشپز) زنگ بزند به مگره و اسم قاتل احتمالی را بگوید!

(از مجموعه کتاب‌های خوانده-شده-در-اتوبوس)

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was as if I didn’t want this book to end.
I set it aside 75% read for a couple of weeks. Only as it marks the ending of this wonderful series.
A common theme in Maigret novels is a victim of low social standing murdered; from a prostitute to a vagrant. In this latest story a long-standing homeless man is shot dead in his squat.
The case is made doubly difficult in that few people know who he really is. Undeterred Maigret places as much effort into finding out the truth and unmasking the murderer as he would in any previous crime.
The story is about relationships. How people can fail to find their heart’s desire. How we adapt to change and that sometimes our past can catch up with us.
Against the odds the truth slowly emerges and it throws light on a case from some 20 years before when the Chief Inspector’s career had not taken off.
This sense of spanning the Maigret’s time as a detective brings a sense of closure as he seeks to solve an earlier mystery.
I truly enjoy the whole aspect of reading Simenon’s writing in this series. The stories are set before instant communication and computerisation. They throw light on what we would call old fashioned police work.
It is always about people and Maigret attempts to get inside the life of the victim and visualise the murderer. These at excellent police procedurals with a glimpse of Paris and in Maigret a figure who ponders and probe. Enjoying a drink, his life at home and his team of detectives. Above all though he has a need to find out the truth. He peruses this relentlessly and when he gets his “man” he presents the facts that few can dispute. Yet he remains an empathetic investigator who rarely judges those before him and gently takes their confession like a faithful priest.
Those who haven’t picked up a Maigret are certainly missing a rich seam of literary gold and I can’t recommend these books more.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ci si può chiedere come mai continuo a commentare quasi tutti i Maigret che leggo, quando c’è poco da dire di nuovo per ognuno. Infatti è così, sono ripetitiva quando dico che leggere un Maigret mi dà la carica, mi rinvigorisce il cervello e al tempo stesso mi rilassa; comunque non mi lascia mai senza una riflessione. Non mi interessa sapere chi è che ha ammazzato il vagabondo sconosciuto trovato morto dentro una casa fatiscente in mezzo a una montagna di oggetti inutili. A me interessa capire cosa ha potuto trasformare in un clochard un restauratore di mobili abbastanza conosciuto, con una moglie ed una figlia piccola; a me interessa sapere cosa ha trasformato un giovane imbianchino innamorato in un imprenditore affermato e ricco, ma infelice. Anzi, preciso, a me non interessa “cosa” abbia fatto diventare uno qualcun altro, a me interessa “come”possa accadere. A me interessa capire come la gelosia sia un sentimento devastante ogni altro, per primo l’amore. A me interessa capire come un sentimento possa essere così forte da sopravvivere per vent’anni , ben custodito e coltivato, fino ad esplodere all’improvviso con violenza.
Grazie al commissario Maigret , ed insieme a lui, posso tentare di comprendere.

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book from Georges Simenon about Chief Superintendent Jules Maigret and a death in Paris. A vagrant with impeccable grooming is found dead in an abandoned house and there are few clues as to who the victim is, let alone who committed the crime. The identity of the victim is gradually established and contact is made with his estranged family. Maigret seems to have a drinking problem in this book, but he seems aware of it.

The pace is slow at first but the whole story turns on an anonymous phone call to Maigret regarding the murderer and then the story moves at a quick pace. The murderer is identified, but the person refutes the allegations until enough evidence is produced for them to admit their built.

Maigret solves two murders in this story. To find out what I mean...read this book.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘… the little birthmark she had on her cheek which made her look so touching.’ — Chapter 8

In this, one of the last Maigret novels Simenon wrote before his death, we may fully appreciate the motto the author subscribed to and which he also ascribed to the commissaire. In the phrase Comprendre et ne pas juger (“Understand and judge not”) we are looking at Maigret’s own modus operandi, which is to get to the truth behind a crime while seeking insights into individual motivations.

When a vagrant is found murdered in an abandoned Paris building, shot three times in the chest, Maigret has the unenviable task of identifying who he is, why he led a solitary existence, and what led the murderer to kill him in his bed. His usual painstaking investigations take him from Les Halles – in the mid-sixties only a few years remained of its existence as the capital’s food market – to the seedy hotels of Montmartre, to newspaper offices in the 10th arrondissement and on to the fashionable Breton seaside resort of La Baule. Simenon conjures up the capital in summer heat particularly vividly, as I well recall from visiting in 1967 as a student, breakfasting on early morning onion soup in a bustling Les Halles.

His journey also takes him back twenty years to the end of the war, his own posting to a town near La Rochelle and a second unsolved murder in Paris. How are all these places and dates linked?

It’s almost always a delight to pick up a Maigret novel knowing that, regardless of whenever it’s set during the detective’s career, the case will proceed slowly but steadily towards a solution. By focusing on our protagonist’s point of view Simenon gives the reader a fair chance of reaching a correct conclusion before the reveal, but it’s always Maigret’s gentle – or not so gentle – probing that gives us an inkling of what drove the perpetrator to do the deed.

So this case follows the familiar plan even if the path itself proves twisty: a mystery is presented, Maigret fills his pipe, has a drink in a bar or brasserie or a meal with Mme Maigret, quietly observes comings and goings, instructs his team – Janvier, maybe, Torrence or another loyal detective – to pursue enquiries; he interviews witnesses, he confronts suspects with indisputable evidence. Each chapter generally follows the course of one day – though not always – so we get a sense of Maigret’s steady progress on the case despite frustrations and the occasional misdirection.

But it’s the people involved – their hopes and fears, their passions or insouciance, their obstructing or their helpfulness – that form the core of Simenon’s policiers, not the material clues per se, because this is how Maigret works: by observing human nature, individual tics and gestures that betray thoughts, reactions and, often, guilt. By a blush, a look, an intake of breath, a tremor.

And in this arresting case of the lone vagrant, which leads Maigret to barbers and tramps, businessmen and concierges, waiters and dressmakers, the trigger for murders turns on jealousy – and on a little birthmark.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a coincidence: this is the second Simenon's book where Commissaire Maigret solves a murder case in a beach, namely at La Baule, close to Nantes.

The first one was Les vacances de Maigret.

[Aloke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one with the homeless person. Also takes place at the end of August.

[Alan (the Lone Librarian on semi-hiatus)) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret and Mystery Tramp
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback (November 2019) of a new translation* by Howard Curtis of the French language original Maigret et L'Homme Tout Seul (1971)

Maigret and the Loner is characteristic of several of the late Chief Inspector Maigret novellas that I've now read. These often show a side of the inspector being more sympathetic to the criminals once he has unraveled the reasons behind their crimes. These are cases where a retribution has been enacted decades after an event which went unprosecuted or even undiscovered at the time. Maigret himself is slowing down somewhat and is being more careful with his alcohol intake and 'counts his beers' daily. The Maigret time-frame is stretched out, he is 55 years old here, but this original 1971 book is already over 40 years since his debut in Petr the Latvian (1930). So Maigret time passes slower than real world time, but retirement is now close. This is the 3rd last book of the long running series.

This case involves a considerable amount of time in identifying a murder victim, a solitary tramp who avoided most others but apparently lived rough for 20 years after abandoning his marriage and family. Maigret's efforts concentrate on uncovering the past history of the man which eventually leads to a solution.


The cover of the original French language edition of "Maigret and the Loner" as published by Presses de la Cité, France 1971. Image sourced from Maigret of the Month.

I read the first dozen Maigret novellas earlier this year and then intended to proceed with several of Simenon's romans durs (French: hard novels) which he considered his more serious work, as opposed to the lighter fare involving the Chief Inspector. The non-Maigrets are more difficult to source however and there seem to be less than a dozen in current editions from Penguin Classics. Anyway, to keep the Simenon pipeline flowing, I thought I'd add several of the late Maigrets to my ongoing Simenon reading survey.

In a rarity for completists, this is Maigret #73 in both the recent Penguin Classics series of new translations (2013-2019) of the Inspector Maigret novels and in the previous standard Maigret Series Listopia as listed on Goodreads.

Trivia and Links
* The earlier English translations also gave the title as Maigret and the Loner.

There is extensive background and a detailed plot description (spoilers obviously) about Maigret and the Loner at Maigret of the Month.

Maigret and the Loner has been adapted for television twice: The first adaptation was in a 1978 Japanese language television episode of Tokyo Megure Keishi (Inspector Megure of Tokyo) (1976-1978) starring Kinya Aikawa as Inspector Megure. This series reimagines the Maigret stories taking place in then current day 1970s Japan.
The second adaptation was in a 1982 French language television episode of the long-running series
Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1967-1990) starring Jean Richard as Inspector Maigret.

There is an article about the Penguin Classics re-translations of the Inspector Maigret novels at Maigret, the Enduring Appeal of the Parisian Sleuth by Paddy Kehoe, RTE, August 17, 2019.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few mystery writers I enjoy reading as much as Georges Simenon. Maigret and the Loner, one of his last books, shows no diminution of talent since he had started some forty years earlier. The body of a mysterious loner is found shot to death in a Paris apartment building scheduled for demolition. Chief Superintendent Jules Maigret must not only identify the body, but determine who shot the victim. He not only succeeds, but manages to solve a related murder committed twenty years earlier.

Why do I like Maigret so much? His thoroughness is legendary, yet he is instinctive as well. He manages to do all the right things while waiting for the answers to emerge. In this case, the key clue comes from an anonymous tipster, which Maigret follows through with as if the tipster had been God Himself.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final 'Maigret' novels are supposed to be weaker than the earlier books, the series fizzling to an unsatisfying terminus, but I rather enjoyed this one. In fact I thought the setting was poignant and intriguing, the plot unexpected. My only reservation concerns the nature of the anonymous tip off that Maigret receives midway through the book. Unless I missed something very subtle this seems to be a loose end that isn't tied up. Had it been tied up I might have enthused about this novel even more than I am doing.

There are 75 novels in the series. I have now read 74. One more to go!

[Alessandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un altro piccolo capolavoro di Simenon, un'altra gemma nel tesoro rappresentato dalle inchieste del commissario Maigret, un personaggio amatissimo dai suoi lettori non solo per l'acume e l'intelligenza con le quali conduce le sue investigazioni, ma anche e, forse, soprattutto, per la grande umanità. Maigret è un uomo prima ancora che un finissimo poliziotto, con pregi e difetti che ce lo fanno sentire vicino ed affine, almeno per certi versi. E questa sua straordinaria umanità Maigret la trasmette, con il tramite della propria empatia, a tutti i personaggi che lo circondano, alle vittime ed ai colpevoli reali o presunti prima di tutto, di fronte a cui non si pone mai con un atteggiamento censorio e giudicante, ma piuttosto con quello di chi vuole comprendere scandagliando l'animo umano, non per giustificare, ma per dare un senso ai fatti. Chi ama Maigret lo ritrova uguale a se stesso in ogni indagine, come uomo e come infallibile poliziotto. Anche lo stile di Simenon è ogni volta lo stesso:essenziale, ma efficacissimo, connota una narrazione che prende avvio piano piano per poi accelerare via via in una sorta di trascinante crescendo. Ogni volta, però, Simenon ed il suo personaggio riescono ugualmente a sorprenderci e ad ammaliarci con storie sempre diverse e bellissime.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Either the original was written with less care than usual, or the translation is clunky. Anyway, it’s lumpy to read.
And the plot is clunky too. Not one of the best.

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

Hot July night, even with the AC. 42ºC in my city today. Ergo, insomnia. I am meant to be reading Walden, but if you think I can stomach that kind of self-indulgent bathtub philosophy at 3 AM, think again! Time for some noir popcorn! The French was easy enough even for me, even at that hour.

I tapped on the first Maigret that came up, and turns out it's set in August. Maigret and les enfants are sweltering too, so I was in good company. This time Le Patron is honestly trying to cut back on the beer, hard as it is in the heat--though he has outlived Dr Paul by this time (set in the early 1960s). A homeless man is found in his digs (if you can call them that) in a condemned house, with three bullets in his chest. Whodunit? Why dunit? Why bother? And why does an SDF have such a carefully-trimmed beard and hair and such well-manicured nails?

Simenon seems to have a thing for people who fugue, in the Maigret series as well as les romans durs--those who suddenly up sticks and break with their pasts, their families, and their former lives, even though some of those actually replicate their past lives in a new place. This is about the third "clochard case" I've come across, though to my knowledge it was never filmed, certainly not by Bruno Cremer (may he rest in peace). I've seen them all, at least twice, and I miss him. Cremer is to Maigret as Jeremy Brett is to Holmes.

I really enjoyed this read, if you can't tell already. First, we get a lot of background to Maigret. He has a summer house in a village somewhere now, since he can't swim and beach holidays therefore hold no charms for him (no word on how Mme Maigret would feel about them.) He's a great deal more human than usual in this installment, and Madame has a larger part in the action than usual. She worries about him without fussing; he's aware of it and actually appreciates her silent support, to the point of eating meals he's not really hungry for. He even confesses to her: "You know, I always reach a point in tough cases where I doubt my skills." We also see how times have changed, as Maigret goes to the archives of a newspaper to consult back issues, where he merrily smokes his pipe till the air is blue in his section, and the clerk offers him more than one beer. Imagine smoking and drinking in a newspaper "morgue" today!


The dénouement was a tiny bit predictable, in content if not form, but that's okay. In my sleep-deprived state, the fact that I was able to second-guess the master made me feel much happier.

[Sjors · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Maigret and the Loner” by Simeon did not impress me. It seemed way too “by the numbers” to be entertaining. While I did appreciate the atmospheric touches of the hot summer weather and the beer drinking on the job (this is a 1965 French police procedural after all), on the whole I felt that the story came together far too easily. I was actually a bit irritated by how fluently the various witnesses recalled events going 20 years back and how well they put their statements together. No emmmms and ahhhs, no repetitions, no self-interruptions with incrementally more accurate versions of events, just every witness issuing forth a clear stream of coherent information.

I am not a great reader of the crime genre. Aside from the inevitable Sherlock Holmes (which I enjoyed for the very reason that these are pretending to be logic puzzles solved by a barely human protagonist) and a few Philip Marlowe (PI) books, I cannot recall having read any of these. Why not, I wonder? Reading “genre books” is perhaps a sort of guilty pleasure, time spent in comfortable corner of your mind with stuff that is none too taxing. Perhaps a habit best acquired when one is just starting to read. Scifi and Fantasy were my genres of choice. Crime and thriller never attracted me and I do not expect it will now.

The book is competently written, but that’s not why I enjoy reading books.

[Les Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hasn't let me down again 4.5*

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging, interesting crime fiction novella. Maigret seeks to find out why a 55 year old tramp was murdered. He discovers the tramp spoke to no one and lived by himself for nearly 20 years. He had been married twenty years ago and has a daughter. One day he disappeared from the house his wife and daughter lived in, never to return. He had run a successful business that he never went back to. A satisfying reading experience.

The 73rd book in the Maigret series of 75. First published in France in 1971.

[Spencer Fancutt · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very bare, speedy read. My first Maigret, and I was surprised at how the singular focus on plot plot plot left so little room for anything else of value- there is not a single expression or phrase that feeds the soul, nothing beautiful, new, in short, literary, about the whole book. "So, this is crime fiction" was my unimpressed parting thought. Perhaps this is not the best example from the 70-odd stories which brought Simenon such fame, but it will be a while before I try to find out.

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

🇮🇹 Stranamente, all'inizio, questo romanzo non sembrava essere stato scritto da Simenon. Dopo un capitolo, però, ho ritrovato la sua penna...

🇨🇵 D'une façon étrange, au début, ce roman ne semblait pas avoir été écrit par Simenon. Après un chapitre, j'ai retrouvé sa plume...

[Blog Uno Studio in Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un capolavoro del Giallo Classico!
Tra qualche giorno la recensione

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was OK. It was easy to read and not too hard to guess what happened but it moved along at a quick enough pace. There's a lot of eating and particularly drinking in it and Maigret's wife's life seems extremely tedious.

I'll neither seek out nor avoid others in the series

[Susana Loriente · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intriga simple y directa, sin grandes efectos ni tramas secundarias. Del estilo se puede decir que es acorde, con frases cortas y pocas descripciones porque lo importante son los hechos.

[Jason McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret is Poiroit without the superpower bullshit. Which makes him 1000% better IMO.

[Mohammad Mirzaali · Rating 3 out of 5]

تا به حال با «سربازرس مگره»ی ژُرژ سیمنون آشنا نشده بودم. با وجود علاقه‌ی نسبتا دیوانه‌وارم به داستان‌های کارآگاهی، این مگره چیز دندان‌گیری نبود؛ البته صرفا بر اساس این اولین کتابی که از خالقش خواندم

[Sorina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfecta de concediu! Atmosfera redata inegalabil, in stilul lui Georges Simenon.

[Gaetano Laureanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno strano delitto porta Maigret ad indagare su avvenimenti iniziati vent'anni prima. Con tutte le difficoltà... del caso.

Ho apprezzato questo racconto: gli stati d'animo del commissario e dei protagonisti sono, come sempre, ben descritti da Simenon e, come una brezza che disperde la nebbia, lo svolgimento dell’indagine rivela, mettendoli a fuoco, amori, gelosie, tradimenti e violenze che sono alla base dei fatti.
E purtroppo, talvolta, non solo di quelli narrati nei romanzi.