Maigret and the Millionaires

Inspector Maigret #51

by Georges Simenon

In the George V, a Paris Luxuary Hotel, a world celebrity has been found drowned in his bathtub, not far from a bottle of whiskey and items testifying to a recent female visitor. Grand hotels with international clients of the VIP variety are a territory Maigret abhors, but the case pulls the reluctant Inspector into high society.

Behind the scenes of elegant suites, bars, lobbies, and game rooms Maigret soon finds that motives are sparked not so much by need as by greed. He also discovers that a single faux pas among the financially powerful can have serious personal repercussions, but in the end solves the case with his customary finesse.

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

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

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

[Mahdi Lotfi · Rating 2 out of 5]

شخصیت سربازرس مگره که در رمان‌های دیگر سیمنون با طبقات مختلف جامعه فرانسه از جمله طبقه مرفهین، بروژاواها و فقرا روبرو بوده است .در «سفر مگره» با مهمانان و ساکنان تالارهای مجلل هتل‌ها و ویلاهای اشرافی روبرو می‌شود و نویسنده روحیات گونه‌ای از مردم فرانسه را تصویر می‌کند که به این گونه اماکن رفت و آمد دارند و از پرداختن به کوچک‌ترین کارهای شخصی‌ خود عاجزند.
سربازس مگره برای حل معماهایی که با آن‌ها روبرو می‌شود، با حوصله و خونسردی خاص خود، ابتدا می‌کوشد حال و هوای فضای وقوع حادثه را برای خود ملموس کند و سپس روحیات و ذهن شخصیت‌های ماجرا را کند و کاو می‌کند تا کلید حل معما را پیدا کند.این کارآگاه مشهور فرانسوی با جمع کردن تمامی مدارک و شواهد و به کمک بازرسانی که رهبری‌شان را به عهده دارد، نتیجه‌گیری نهایی را انجام می‌دهد و متهم اصلی را به دام می‌اندازد.

سطرهایی از کتاب:
و حالا مگره ديگر همان مرد صبحي نبود. ديگر خيال‌بافي تمام شده بود و احساس پسربچه‌اي را که به مدرسه نمي‌رود، نداشت.
او برگشت و دوباره سر جايش در تراس نشست و سفارش ليوان ديگري داد و به ژانويه که مي‌بايست فوق‌العاده هيجان‌زده باشد، فکر کرد. آيا ژانويه سعي کرده بود به وي زنگ بزند و از او راهنمايي بخواهد؟ يقيناً نه. چون خيلي دلش مي‌خواست اين قضيه را به تنهايي به سامان برساند.
سربازرس عجله داشت هرچه بيشتر در اين خصوص کسب اطلاع کند ولي حالا که در مقرّ خودش نبود، بايد مثل همة مردم، منتظر روزنامه‌هاي بعدازظهر بماند.
وقتي براي ناهار به خانه برگشت، زنش که بويي برده بود، با درهم‌کشيدن ابروها به او نگاه کرد.
«با کسي روبه‌رو شدي؟»
«با هيچ‌کس. فقط به پاردُن زنگ زدم. امشب اونها رو براي شام به کافه‌اي مي‌بريم، هنوز نمي‌دونم چه کافه‌اي.»
«حالت خوب نيست؟»
«حالم کاملاً خوبه.»
راست مي‌گفت. آن چند سطر روزنامه به تعطيلاتش معني بخشيده بود و وسوسه نمي‌شد به دفترش برگردد و قضيه را به دست بگيرد. اين بار او فقط يک تماشاچي به‌شمار مي‌رفت و وضعيت برايش سرگرم‌کننده بود...

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

November Lunchtime Listen

Firstly, I know I'm getting boring, but Gareth Armstrong as the narrator is just superb. Should they ever do another tv series, if the guy playing Maigret does not have Gareth Armstrong's voice, I will complain !

So this book opens in the exclusive and home to the very wealthy , Hotel Georges Cinq. An Italian countess is "taken ill" and rushed off to a private hospital. Next morning it is discovered that her wealthy lover and husband to be is dead. Was it murder or having drunk too much Scotch did he slip in his bath ? Maigret of course is called in, and after being lectured on secrecy and discretion, proceeds to traipse all over the hotel, up and down corridors making rather a nuisance of himself ha ha.
Anyway, by the time Maigret comes to interview the countess , she has done a flit to her ex husband in the South of France, so Maigret catches a plane and quickly follows her. By the time he gets to her hotel, she has gone again, and after interviewing the Countesses ex husband he's off again to Switzerland.
Back in Paris the next day, with his understanding of this wealthy exclusive lifestyle coming into focus, he begins to piece the murder together and with the help of his faithful Inspectors, Lucas, Janvier, Lapointe and Torrence, they soon flush out the killer.

An excellent story and a great example of Maigret's genius.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detective Chief Inspector Maigret zips here and yon in pursuit to questions suspects in the murder of an English billionaire playboy. Heavily disgruntled by the self-entitled insouciance of the billionaire class, Maigret takes a while to get his bearings. But when he does, Maigret manages to corner his prey. My trouble is that Maigret’s solution resembled more of a rabbit out of a hat than author Georges Simenon’s usual step-by-step methodology. Also published as Maigret and the Millionaires.)

[Fo · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب مثل سایر کتاب‌های سیمنون است، کتاب در مورد قتل است ولی زمینه اصلی کتاب برخورد مگره با جمعیت میلیونرها است، جمعیتی با خصوصیات خاص، دیر خوابیدن، دیر بیدار شدن، روابط غلط، لباس ها و جواهرات خاص و ...
این لایه زیرین و توصیف دقیق ان بسیار جذاب بود

[Antonella Imperiali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quella gente gli dava sui nervi, c’era poco da fare. Di fronte a loro era nella stessa posizione dell’ultimo arrivato in un club, per esempio, o in una classe, che si sente impacciato perché non conosce ancora le regole, le abitudini, le parole d’ordine, ha vergogna e pensa sempre che gli altri lo prendano in giro.

È un mondo a parte quello in cui è costretto a muoversi il nostro Commissario, un mondo dorato, ricco, lussuoso, costituito da VIP, limousine, pellicce, gioielli, grandi alberghi, fama, denaro e potere. E in questo mondo l’inchiesta lo costringe a viaggiare fino a Montecarlo, fino a Losanna in Svizzera, per poter raccogliere testimonianze, indizi e tempistiche.

Ma questo universo così patinato non offusca le capacità intellettive di Maigret, perché il movente che probabilmente è la causa del delitto è lo stesso che muove il crimine nel mondo normale: l’avidità, il denaro.

Scrittura fluida (come al solito), eventi che si susseguono in velocità (poco tempo per le riflessioni), trama che regge fino alla fine (senza essere eclatante) e la solita flemma (a volte messa a dura prova) di Maigret che condisce il tutto.

Più che sufficiente: 3,5


⛓ RC 2020 - Catena (gen/20)
📚 RC 2020 - TBR 23
🔠 RC 2020 - Alphabet Autori: S
📚 GRI 2020 - Monopoli 1
✍️ G.S./Maigret

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georges Simenon was a prolific writer of mysteries during his long career. Over the years, I have particularly enjoyed reading his novels -- not only the 75 books featuring Inspector Jules Maigret, but also the so-called romans durs which didn't.

Maigret Travels takes us to the world of the super-rich, when a billionaire is murdered by drowning in his bathtub. Inspector Jules Maigret is driven to his wit's end when most of the witnesses, billionaires themselves, seem to patronize him for not understanding how very very important they are.

Maigret flies to Monte Carlo and Lausanne, Switzerland, in search of a Countess who aroused early suspicion. It is this after which the book is named. Curiously, this triangular route does not bring him any closer to solving the crime.

Only when he decides to hang out night and day around the posh Hotel George V where the murder occurred that a way to solving the case presents itself.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a billionaire dies in a luxury hotel, Maigret is plunged into the circles of the wealthy elite, globetrotters who spend their nights in expensive restaurants and nightclubs, moving between luxurious residences in Switzerland, France and so on. Initially wrong footed by the smooth manners and implicit sense of superiority of his pool of suspects, Maigret follows a fleeing countess to Lausanne, meets another billionaire, and slowly finds his bearings, finally wandering the corridors of the hotel where it all started in an extended scene where he wanders between the precincts of the jetset and the 'backstage area' where the staff work - one of the most fascinating sequences in the book. The resolution is delivered on time and engineered with the typical Maigret steadfastness once the key epiphany has been arrived at. An engaging outing into an outwardly more glamorous world from the one Maigret more often pursues his prey through.

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

All 'Maigret' novels are good, and this one was good too, but it lacked something. Maybe it just felt a little rushed towards the end. Or maybe it wasn't that. I don't know.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine example of Maigret’s methods in what is a most unusual story in the detectives’ saga of investigations.
Maigret comes at it a little late after a female guest from an elite Paris hotel, only going to the hotel himself to investigate the murder of billionaire industrialist.
Initially he can not get an angle on it all and hopes that the countess will throw some light on matters once she is discharged from hospital. Yet it appears the case is solved when she calls on her friends to pay for a flight out of Paris.
Maigret with little thought and definite plan, in the knowledge he can not seek extradition once they arrive in Switzerland. Maigret is on a steep learning curve, it is a world not known to him and he cannot comprehend. That “the countess” and David Ward spent their lives travelling from Paris, The Rivera and Lausanne and the people with money and time to spend. Established entrepreneurs, famous names who met each other across the world in hotels that bore little difference whether it was Paris or Nice.
Maigret watches and learns, listens on in interest. He also is surprised by the non-news stories the band paparazzi and achieves his first wins in the case when he ensures the countess is not returning with him by air.
Back in Paris he learns who was about the environs of the hotel how someone may have be able to pass unnoticed and whose alibis he needs to review in full.
With some creative methods, short on evidence and with a mismatch of humanity to pose as witnesses back at base, an arrest seems imminent.
This world is not so removed from our own experiences with cheap travel, same hotel different cityscape.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

On re-reading this book after many years I have upgraded my rating from 3 to 4 stars.

Although the plot is not particularly interesting, the skill of the writer and the depth of his understanding of human nature is, to me, incredible. The main thrust of the story is Maigret's interaction with and understanding of the super-rich. The sort of people who can afford to keep suites permanently reserved at the top hotels in the world but can't manage any normal functions of life without servants. Probably Simenon gleaned a lot of the knowledge from his own experience as he was, I reckon, one of the super-rich himself by the time he wrote this.

Great stuff. (less)

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret's questions, which seem normal, no longer apply to these people - who is that person? You should know. Did you love her? Well, she is amusing. Equally disconcerting to Maigret, all of the staff are so concerned about protecting their clientele and avoiding scandal that they treat the investigation with suspicion and disdain.

[keikohuchica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simenon ha il dono di saper scrivere e questo rende interessante anche una trama non all’altezza dei suoi migliori Maigret. Un finale tra l’altro più frettoloso del solito e già l’autore non è prodigo in tal senso.

[John Frankham · Rating 5 out of 5]

More widely known as Maigret and the Millionaires, this involves Maigret trying to solve a murder-in-the-bath in a louche society set of rich and high-born socialites amongst whom Maigret feels uncomfortable. Based in Paris, Nice, and Lausanne, Maigret also has to endure air travel to solve the crime. Cunning does it! A good`un.

The GR blurb:

'When multi-millionaire David Ward is found dead in the same hotel as a countess who attempted suicide only hours earlier, Maigret presumes that the two cases are connected. When the countess flees Paris after the murder Maigret follows her to Nice and then to Switzerland to uncover the truth.

Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret and the Millionaires
'His artistry is supreme' John Banville
'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian. '

[Davidg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret enters the world of the super-rich, or at least the super-rich as they were in the mid 1950s. So, no oligarchs and yachts with offshore accounts, but still several homes in the world's major cities and staying in luxury hotels that are different but all the same. With such a small elite, they all know each other, have affairs with each other and marry each other.

When a older playboy is found in his bath and his younger mistress has just attempted suicide, probably, Maigret has to work out who would gain and why. But these are the super-rich; photographed in all the papers and gossip columns, with friends in high places. So, discretion is needed and hotel managers don't want police officers traipsing through the main entrance, lowering the tone.

Yet in the midst, Maigret finds the space to sit and think and work things out, whilst wondering why he feels uncomfortable and out of place.

3.5 stars probably, but I'll be generous.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read for Francophiles. Typical Georges Simenon novel featuring Inspector Maigret. I was glad to discover the Penguin series of his novels; they are all quite good. Reading this book, I can escape into Paris, the Riviera, and Switzerland temporarily . . . Escapism at its best, vivid descriptions.

[NoID · Rating 2 out of 5]

En lisant Maigret, je me suis souvent retrouvé avec beaucoup d’alcool. Pour cette fois, je me suis dit, je note !

Et sur les 186 pages de Maigret en vacances, dans l’ordre, ça donne ça :
Une bouteille de bière danoise, une bouteille de champagne, une bouteille de whisky, du soda et un seau de glace, une coupe de champagne, une bouteille de champagne vide, une bouteille de whisky au trois quarts, une bouteille de Krug 1947, une bouteille non entamée, non débouchée de Johnny Walker, du whisky, un scotch, un whisky, une gorgée d’alcool, un verre de whisky, une bouteille de champagne et celle de whisky aux trois quarts pleine, un whisky, un grand verre de gin mélangé d’un jus de tomate, un whisky, un verre de bière, un whisky, un verre vidé d’un trait, un verre embué qui contenait un liquide clair, un martini, vraisemblablement, un truc très sec, une gorgée de martini, une bouteille de champagne, du scotch (quelques verres), un bouteille de champagne vide, une gorgée de whisky, un verre au bar, une bouteille de champagne, un martini, un verre au bar, café ou thé ? le bruit caractéristique d’une bouteille qu’on rebouche, une odeur d’alcool, une bouffée d’alcool, une gorgée de whisky, du champagne, une bouteille, une coupe de champagne de temps en temps, deux trois fois un verre de whisky, un dernier verre, son whisky, le tiers d’une bouteille, un peu de whisky, une gorgée, juste une gorgée, le whisky, un verre, une gorgée de whisky, un petit vin blanc du pays qu’on avait servi frais dans une carafe embuée, des verres remplis avec une lenteur voulue, assez de champagne, un café, champagne et whisky, des consommations, une bouteille de whisky, du soda et quatre verres, une bouteille de champagne et une bouteille de whisky, de l’eau minérale, un martini, un vin très clair, très frais, un coup de plus, un dernier cocktail, du calvados, whisky, champagne, fine Napoléon, du whisky au goulot comme une pocharde des quais s’envoie un grand coup de rouge, les cocktails, des omelettes flambées, un café crème, le même champagne ou le même whisky, du calvados, toutes les marques de whisky, la même chose, il avait beaucoup bu, un bon quart d’heure devant son verre, des bouteilles de bière sur un plateau, des bouteilles qui sortaient de la cave à vin, quatre ou cinq cocktails avant chaque repas, un verre, une rasade, la bouteille de whisky, l’alcool, la pompe à bière, un demi, un verre d’eau fraîche [sic], un second verre de bière, un verre (offert), un verre (offert aussi), du thé.

Et sinon ? Le commissaire, part du Georges-V pour Nice, Genève et Lausanne et défraie dans la haute société (ce qui explique les alcools plutôt atypiques pour Maigret qui se pique généralement de fine, bière et gros rouge)

https://www.noid.ch/maigret-voyage/

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret interviews a number of very rich people to determine who murdered a world celebrity who was found drowned in his luxury hotel bathtub. The celebrity had been married three times and over the last two years was in the process of divorcing his third wife. However whilst she had agreed to the divorce, reaching an amicable settlement was delaying the divorce finalisation.

This book is not my favourite Maigret novel. The ending is a little too abrupt. Simenon’s descriptions of ordinary people are more convincing. Readers new to Maigret should start with ‘Maigret and the Man on the Bench’ or ‘The Yellow Dog’.

This book was first published in France in 1957. 51st novel in the Maigret series.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was fantastic! I think my favourite Maigret so far! Following Maigret as he faces and processes his own class assumptions and social insecurities is fascinating. Simenon's portrayal of what we'd now call The 1% is both devastating and humane.

Maigret goes through some character development here, though as I'm reading them out of order due to what my library has available, I'm unsure whether that progresses through the series or if, like many serials, the next installment resets to the initially established character. Still, 5 ⭐

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret complète ici sa collection de milieux sociaux par un jet-set qui, en 1957, volait encore dans des avions à hélices, mais pouvaient compter sur des hôtels et restaurants où tout le monde se connaissait, et se revoyait. Le commissaire résoudra l’énigme en faisant appel à ceux qui voient ce monde sans en être vus, et avoir regardé derrière les coulisses qui se trouve entre le Tout-Paris et le Paris qui est le sien.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret was outside his usual environment in this one, among the rich and slightly famous, and he was uncomfortable. It was an interesting change, and still a gripping, well crafted plot. Very enjoyable.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending to this one struck me as quite naive when the killer confesses with very little pressure from Inspector Maigret. But it was an enjoyable romp as our French detective scoots from one luxury hotel to another, hobnobbing with the rich and famous along the way.

[Aloke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one with the rich people. Lausanne sounds nice.

[Maria-Francisca Abed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed thoroughly Simenon's novel! His psychological knowledge of characters in the story engages the reader. It was hard to put down.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just watch him work. The mosaic picture develops. It’s about the process. Literary fiction masquerading as detective fiction.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one. Maybe because there are only a few books left in the series for me to read, but for me it contains the perfect measure of many aspects that make Simenon and this character and this series so great: Janvier, Lucas and Lapointe falling over backwards to help their chief, and yet not always fully understanding (or maybe even feeling sufficiently appreciated by) him; Maigret hitting that maximum of "sick animal" confusion before epiphany hits; and finally perhaps most resonantly, the juxtaposition of Maigret's firm belief that human behavior is ultimately as calculable as, well, a calculation, and yet that conviction occasionally being upset, here as it is thrown down an unleapable chasm of class and privilege. Perhaps, Maigret seems to wonder as the novel progresses, there is a level of money and power so profound that it can subvert even his skills. There's an almost throwaway line in the last quarter of the book I loved: "Not sure where to put himself, he prowled again, sometimes on the guest side, sometimes on the staff side." This is the opening of a fascinating sequence where he traipses up and down the service stairwell, through the "hidden" side of the hotel scene of the crime. There is more than one level, more than one divide, in the tiers and terraces of power, and Maigret himself occasionally realizes the views afforded him by his elevation. (The mythos of the formidable inspector is particularly, humorously, brought out late in the novel by a streetwalker's explosive laughter as she is caught red-handed trying to surreptitiously hide the inner workings of her block.) I realize this is a bit of a rambly review, but more than anything I'm trying to convince my future self why this should be a top candidate for a Maigret re-read years from now.

[Tony Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book might better have been called “Maigret feels uncomfortable around people who he doesn’t understand and really doesn’t like”. A rich English industrialist is found dead in his bath at a swanky Parisian hotel, and at the same time his “girlfriend” takes an overdose, from which she recovers. These are all smart people - very rich, entitled, occupying suites at top European hotels, being seen at parties and casinos etc. Maigret has to tail the “girlfriend” to Geneva via a rather complex route (hence the title). The story is a simple one of greed - the Englishman's good friend, helpmate and advisor, Arnold, wants to marry his current wife (for whom divorce proceedings are pending) and inherit his money. Maigret has to spend time trying to get inside the mindset of these people, pacing the corridors of the hotel, and handling the irritation he causes amongst the hotel management (“no scandal please”). His annoyance for their arrogance, sense of superiority, and lack of connection to the real world leaps off the pages of the novel - attitudes no doubt shared by Simenon. In the end it is “the ordinary people of Paris” whom Maigret uses to achieve a confession - people such as prostitutes, barmen, bell-hops - all characters the murderer passed by during the time he committed the crime, but of course just ignored. They (mostly) however remembered him. Good story, Maigret is shown with weaknesses which maybe lower him a little in the sight of his team.
First published August 1957 as “Maigret Voyage”. Originally translated as “Maigret and the Millionaires”. Read on Kindle.

[Phillip Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret and the Millionaires was first published as Maigret Voyage in 1958, and was translated into English by Jean Stewart. This is a competent little detective tale but it is notable more for the social comedy of the stolidly lower middle class Maigret dealing uncomfortably with the clientele of international hotels, and the millionaires of the title, as he investigates the murder of a VIP. Also amusing is the contrast drawn between ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’, between the guests and the people who serve them. Maigret comes to the conclusion that the rich need the level of service they receive, would be helpless without it. And that in some circumstances some of them might kill to retain the status quo that protects them. Once he intuits his motive he draws the net around his man. Perhaps one of the weaknesses of Simenon’s approach to the detective story, with its emphasis on understanding criminal psychology, is that in so many of them the criminals confess, seem to want to confess, as though they want others to understand. Are there many criminals like this? This is a novelist’s emphasis, not the result of the bureaucratic machinery of detection that exists in real life. This story of a personal assistant who murders his employer to protect the income of the divorcée he wants to marry shows the brilliant insight into character typical of Simenon, but here it serves the simple plot device of a tale of detection. Entertaining, none the less.

[Donato · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book (used: 2.50€) because I liked the cover: the nose of an airplane with "Maigret Viaggia" where the airline name might be, and a man underneath, one hand holding his hat from the wind, the other a briefcase. It wasn't really the image itself but the colors, the minimalism, not to mention the size of the book itself: pocket-able! At the same time, I'd also bought Julio Cortázar's Il viaggio premio (literally "the awarded trip" but translated as "The Winners" in English), with a picture of a steamship traveling the ocean). I was with my cousin from Argentina. The theme that evening was certainly travel.
Anyway, as for the book itself, it's not really anything to write home about. The most interesting thing could be the note that someone scrawled on the last page: "Se vuoi essere veramente universale, farlo del tuo paese -- Balzac" (my translation: "if you really want to be universal, do it from your own country"). The note almost seems to coincide with an idea in the novel that you always come back to where you came from (Maigret travels to search for clues but solves the problem back in Paris), but that's just silly. For one thing, Maigret's travels did help him think about the case in a different light. In other words, while you might always return, the journey wasn't for naught.

[Andy Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a bit of a gem among the Maigret novels. It has considerable atmosphere in the Parisian sections that top and tail it, much set in the first choice hotel of the monied classes, the George V. The structure is interesting too with the middle third being the travels of the title. The book has a central theme of wealth and how it effects people and of the relationship between the haves and have nots. This is subtly and well handled as we listen in on Maigret's philosophising in the playground of the rich. The motive of the murder fits the theme nicely and we are drawn with Maigret towards the conclusion that fits.

[Seán Rafferty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is standard Maigret. Very little suspense and not really a whodunnit but rather a whydunnit. Simenon takes the opportunity to sneer at the moneyed, idle upper classes. He thrusts Maigret into the unfamiliar world of billionaires, fancy hotels and airports. Maigret's discomfort illustrates how vacuous this world is. Characters are drawn unsympathetically and the reader is left in no doubt as to how Simenon regards this social set. As ever very enjoyable but without the usual sinister edge.