مگره و شاهدان گریزان

Inspector Maigret #53

by Georges Simenon, فائزه اسکندری (Translator)

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian

When the head of a powerful Parisian family business is murdered in his bed, Maigret must pick apart the family's darkest secrets to reveal the truth

The curious thing was that there seemed to be no grief here, only a strange dejection, a kind of uneasy stupor...

Maigret is called to the home of the high-profile Lachaume family where the eldest brother has been found shot dead. But on his arrival, the family closes ranks and claims to have heard and seen nothing at the time of the murder. Maigret must pick his way through the family's web of lies, secrets, and deceit, as well as handle Angelot, a troublesome new breed of magistrate who has waded into the case. And it's the estranged black sheep of the family, Veronique, who may hold the key to it all with her knowledge of the depths to which the family will sink to protect their reputation.

Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses is an engrossing mystery that examines the intricate tangle of artifice that can entrap even the most influential families.

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

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

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

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people are obsessed with the glorious past and are prepared to maintain their illusions at all costs.
Some crimes are inevitable.

[Mohammad Ali Shamekhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

من از این کتابش لذت بردم عمدتا به خاطر جنبه های انسانی داستان - هم دغدغه های مگره، هم توصیفاتی که از سارقای بدبخت ارائه می کنه، هم از آدمای اتوکشیده ی تحصیل کرده ای که بدبخت بیچاره ها رو پس می زنن و هم از آریستوکرات هایی که با ظاهرسازی می خوان زندگی سنتی ولی مرده شون رو حفظ کنن. البته این جور مضامین انسانی از محورهای همه ی داستان های سری مگره است - حداقل تا اونجا که من خوندم. خود داستان جنایی اونقدی که این چیزا جالب و جذابن، جذاب نیست - البته بدم نیست. ولی بعید می دونم بدون اون جنبه های انسانی سیمنون کسی می شد

اصل حرف این داستان، دغدغه های مگره ایه که داره به سن بازنشستگی نزدیک می شه، پیری رو تجربه می کنه و جوونایی رو دور و بر خودش می بینه که جای اونو می گیرن. اما مسأله فقط شخصی نیست - یعنی صرف پیر شدن و از دور خارج شدن. این آدمای تازه تو یه دنیای دیگه ان. اتوکشیده ان و تحصیل کرده اما دور از مردم بدبخت بیچاره ای که جون می کنن برای زنده موندن. مگره می ترسه مجرمایی که مگره باهاشون همدلی داره و دلایل خلافاشونو حداقل درک می کنه، وقتی دست این آدما بیافتن نادیده گرفته بشن و صرفا برچسب بزهکار بخوره رو پیشونیشون


تجسم این آدما در این داستان قاضی دادگاه بخشه که یه جوونه تازه کاره. شاید محور این کتاب رو بشه تو این سوال مگره از خودش خلاصه کرد

Le juge d’instruction se serait-il montré aussi soucieux de régularité s’il s’était agi du Chanoine, par exemple, de n’importe quel voleur professionnel ou d’un manœuvre du quai de Javel

Would the examining magistrate have been so punctilious in dealing with the Canon, for example, or some other professional thief, or with a bargeman from the Quai de Javel

آیا آنژلو، قاضی دادگاه بخش، اگه با امثال "سوراخ کلید" یا هر سارق حرفه ای دیگه، یا کارگر ساده ای در اطراف باراندازِ ژاول هم سروکار داشت همینجوری مو رو از ماست می کشید بیرون

حاشیه: ترجمه ی جمله رو تغییر دادم. نمی دونم مترجم طبق چی "کنون" انگلیسی یا "شنوآن" فرانسوی رو به سوراخ کلید برگردونده. من هیچ معنی نزدیک به سوراخ کلید هم براش پیدا نکردم. تنهایی معنایی که به آدم مربوطه یه جور کشیشه

ترجمه

ذیل کتابای دیگه ی کاظم اسماعیلی تجربه هامو از ترجمه اش گفتم. این کتاب نسبت به ترجمه های دیگه اش از سیمنون تا اونجا که من دیدم بهتره و غلطاش هم واقعا معدوده - در حد اینکه بگم ترجمه اش معقوله. اما به هر حال ویرایش ترجمه در چند مورد واقعا خوبه. همچنین درست کردن ساختار جملات فارسی هم در مواردی ضروریه. دو نمونه اشتباه ترجمه ای که من دیدم

Maigret had begun by finding around him, and later under his orders, inspectors who had never been on traffic duty, or taken their turn at the railway stations, but came from colleges

مگره هنگام شروع به کار، بازرسانی را از کارمندان اداره و سپس افراد مناسب دیگری را به دستور مستفیم خود برگزیده بود که هرگز در حوزه ی وظایف ترافیکی کار نکرده و یا در ایستگاه های راه آهن به گشت زدن نپرداخته بودند بلکه از دانشکده فارغ التحصیل شده بودند

That’s probably why you seemed astonished to find me in the kind of getup the magazines call frothy

احتمالا به همین علت است که به نظر می رسد از دیدن من در لباس خانه به جای لباسی که مجله های آن را پرجلال اما چرند می نامند، تعجب کرده اید

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting story and very personal for Maigret in the sense he is presented with a number of instances where he feels he is getting old. That perhaps his ways and his methods are likely to be confined to the past like his faithful stove, recently removed.

The case itself mirrors this since it involves a family stuck in the past, hardly managing, in debt but driven to keep the family business of biscuit manufacturing going when it is no longer a commercial success.
When the principal brother and key to the family’s empire is murdered in s burglary gone wrong Maigret visits the house to ask basic questions. He is thwarted on one hand by a new investigating magistrate who wants to follow every step of the case and by a family closing ranks and saying nothing. When they bring a young lawyer in he is further inhibited in gathering simple ideas of what actually happened.

Great police procedural as Maigret goes out of his way to gather pieces of information the family will not disclose.
I found the book so much more enjoyable second time around as it toys with the chief inspectors methods and his reluctance to think his thoughts out load. I love the fact he feels old and struggles with his upcoming retirement. I really liked the throwback to better times with the arrest of Monk and the little wink Maigret affords him.
You are left with feeling that Maigret sees his time is perhaps passed and a new generation is ready to take over. It probably will not be for the better and this is perhaps best demonstrated by the brilliant way he solves this case.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lunchtime Listen September 2024

Well, after a long break, see status update for reason, lunchtime listen returned with , who else, but the wonderful Maigret.

This time he is called upon to investigate the current head of one of the oldest families in Paris. They have been biscuit tycoons for many years, but have now fallen upon hard times. But who murdered the current head of the Lachaume family and why, what is there to inherit , but a failing business on its last legs.
The family closes ranks and the remaining servants become morose and surly when questioned. A new young magistrate becomes a real interference as Maigret and his boys investigate the case. Eventually Maigret finds the estranged black sheep of the family , Veronique, will she be able to give him the information he needs to solve the murder.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret is two years from retirement. It’s November, raining and he has a sore neck and is grumpy. A murder has occurred with a strange family who own a biscuit company. One of the brothers has been shot through the heart during an apparent burglary gone wrong

Maigret finds that the company only survives from the money of Pauline the wife of the brother not murdered.
The investigation into the murder involves a young by the books magistrate who exasperates Maigret.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Maigret finds that Pauline is having an affair with a wastrel who the estranged sister of the family was going to marry. He realizes that Pauline was going to get a divorce which meant the company would close. The brother tries to kill her but she shoots him and the family cover up the crime.

The story is about Maigret’s unconventional method and how the next generation will use different tactics or go by the books. A great atmospheric story about a once successful family trying to hold on to the past.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more you read Simenon, the more you like Maigret stories.
And this one looks like one of his best: easy to read, many dialogues (it could be very well a play!), interested characters and an unexpected final.

[S. ≽^•⩊•^≼ I'm not here yet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, my tenth Maigret became the best!

How does his mind work really (the writer or Maigret)?!

And

If you think you know what this was about or solved the mystery, I suggest reading the last page twice, try thinking like Maigret...

Wow

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have now read 72 'Maigret' novels and this was the 72nd. Only three more to go!

I love Maigret but I am slightly bored with one particular scenario found in the series, namely the old upper-middle-class family with secrets who are uncooperative. However, this novel turned out not to be what I had feared, despite the fact it features an old upper-middle-class family with secrets who are uncooperative, because they are an old upper-middle-class family who are living in decayed grandeur, in a house that is crumbling, overseeing an ancient biscuit business (it made money for the family in previous generations) that is failing. There is a feeling of gloom and hostility everywhere and paradoxically this freshens the atmosphere of the novel.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family dynamics…

When Léonard Lachaume, head of the long-established Lachaume biscuit firm, is found shot dead in his bed, Maigret finds his family’s behaviour unusual. No one seems to be openly grieving and, unlike what normally happens in Maigret’s long experience, the family have not gathered together to support each other – instead they all seem to be keeping to their own rooms. It looks on the surface as if the shooting may have been the result of a burglary gone wrong, but right from the beginning Maigret has doubts about this theory. He wants to question the family more deeply but they have brought in their lawyer – another oddity at this stage in the investigation, Maigret feels – and the new young examining magistrate in charge of the case expects Maigret to play it strictly by the book, and do nothing without consulting him first. Maigret is feeling old…

Sometimes the short length of Maigret novels seems perfect to me for the story he tells, but occasionally I feel there’s more in there to be revealed and so the end seems very abrupt. This is one of the abrupt ones. The story is very good with quite a lot to say about the changes in French society at the time of writing – the mid ’50s. Maigret himself is within a couple of years of retirement and is feeling that the changes to the investigation system, with examining magistrates now taking precedence over the police detectives, make him and his methods out of date. Not that he admits to having a method, really – he simply asks questions till he gets to the right answers. And now that magistrates have the right to take over the questioning, he feels his hands are tied.

I was very surprised at the talk of dowries, which are central to the story. I had no idea this system had continued so long in modern France. The Lachaume family has a respected name but no money, since their biscuits have long fallen out of favour with fickle public tastes. So the two sons of the family, Léonard and Armand, must marry for money. The two women they choose are daughters of self-made men, with plenty of money but no family pedigree. It all sounds quite medieval – although marrying for money still goes on informally in all societies, here it’s all contracted and formal, registered by a notary, and with little, if any, talk of love or even affection between the contracting parties. Needless to say, it doesn’t add up to a happy household, especially once the dowry money is all spent in a fruitless attempt to prop up the failing business.

Despite the restrictions on his usual methods, Maigret finds ways to work within the rules the examining magistrate sets him. His persistent but sympathetic questioning of witnesses allows him to get an understanding of the family dynamics, and this, together with his ability to guess at the hidden meaning of physical clues, enables him to finally get at the truth. However, it all comes together very suddenly in the end, and left me with one or two unanswered questions. An extra twenty or thirty pages could have turned this good novella into a great one. Still enjoyable, though, and well worth the few hours it takes to read.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Prospero · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It was as if suddenly, long ago, life had stopped here, not the life of the man lying on the bed but the life of the house, of the world it represented, and even the factory chimney that could be seen through the curtains looked obsolete and absurd..."
p.16

"Everything was decrepit, the house's contents as well as its occupants. The family and the house had turned in on themselves, taking on a hostile appearance."
p.45

"The strange thing was that he couldn't sense any grief, just a weird dejection, a sort of dazed anxiety...he had never had such a sense of unreality."
p.34

"At first sight it's a stupid, inexplicable crime. However, the murderer was a severely disabled ex-serviceman who'd been trapanned twice and spent his days in pain in an armchair. He lived off his pension. The neighbour was a foreign-born tailor who had problems after the Liberation and had got out of them...My point is this...What at first sight seems a ridiculous motive - a little more or less music - becomes, if you think about it, a burning question for the disabled ex-serviceman. In other words, given the circumstances the crime is explicable, almost inevitable."
p. 143

--

Maigret, ace detective, finally encounters an adversary he cannot outsmart - time. Getting on in years and only two years away from retirement, Le Commissaire finds himself plagued with the realization that his time on the stage is drawing to a close, and that a new generation, with new ideas and expectations, and "a lack of curiosity" and "genuine indifference" to the achievements of the earlier generations, is now beginning to take over the reins of the world.

But not to worry: he has a case to crack that will help him get "caught up in the routine of work" so that he doesn't have time to "scrutinize his life or question himself". The eldest son of a once-famous Parisian biscuit manufacturer family has been found shot dead in the family home, and the remaining occupants of the building have closed ranks. Worse, the young and pedantic new examining magistrate "dogging his every step" is severely indifferent to Maigret's storied career, and expects a speedy resolution to the case to burnish his credentials. Caught between perennial politics and the passage of time, Maigret's experience shines like a bright star on the tail-end of its long and glittering trajectory.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging crime fiction novel about detective Maigret investigating a murder, where a once wealthy Lachaume family becomes very secretive when one of their own is shot. Maigret is two years from retirement and must put up with a young, bothersome new magistrate, whilst slowly discovering the Lachaume family’s secrets. The Lachaume brothers, Armand and Leonard, both married rich women.

This book was first published in France in 1959. The 53rd book in the Maigret series.

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simenon really is the best. Precise, not filling in pages, but writing what must be said.

[Iman Rouhipour · Rating 3 out of 5]

آقای « Mohammad Ali » در ریویوش گفتنی‌ها رو بسیار عالی گفت.

[Antonella Imperiali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ma che bella famiglia!
In questa vicenda tutti remano contro il commissario: ambiente, testimoni, avvocati, notai, giudici.
Ci vogliono tutta la pazienza e l’educazione di Maigret per non reagire, andare comunque avanti praticando altre strade e arrivare alla soluzione... per poi essere costretto a farsi da parte e a lasciare la scena (e il merito) alle nuove leve che si impongono con prepotenza, quasi senza rispetto.
Capisco la sua voglia di tornare al più presto nella “sua” stazione di polizia, nel “suo” ufficio, in un ambiente a lui più familiare.
Quanta amarezza...
In questa particolare situazione si avverte tutta la stanchezza di un uomo, ormai prossimo alla pensione, che ha passato la propria vita a contatto con il crimine, uscendone quasi nauseato.

Letto d’un fiato e con, sotto sotto, la voglia di prendere a ceffoni non pochi personaggi.


🔠 NCC/O - ombrello (dic/20)
✍️ GS

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un Maigret de bonne facture pour plusieurs raisons. Le commissaire vieillissant doit se confronter avec les changements de la société, tout en enquêtant sur un cas chez des gens qui refusent justement toute adaptation au changement, et se voient condamnés à la dégringolade sociale.
Pour une fois, les personnages féminins qui sont destinés à subir les conséquences de cette réaction conservatrice sur leur peau, et qui se rebellent contre le sort qu’on leur essaye d’octroyer, ont la sympathie du commissaire, et apparemment de l’auteur.
C’est presque comme s’il voulait se refaire des excès de misogynie montrés dans le précédent « Les scrupules de Maigret ». Mais n’exagérons pas : Simenon féministe ? On verrait plutôt manger des saucisses de porc dans une mosquée.

[Géraldine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une famille bourgeoise sur le déclin tente, dans un sursaut d'orgueil, de faire tourner une fabrique de gaufrettes (/maison fondée en 1871/. -presque 150 ans d'existence) .

Mais, la gaufrette Lachaume n'a pas pris le tournant de la publicité et de la grande distribution. Elle est restée vieillotte, comme une galette au goût de carton, qu'on retrouve au fond d'une armoire dans une boîte en fer, en vidant la chambre d'une grand-mère décédée . Comme la famille Lachaume, les parents âgés, les deux fils et la servante hors d'âge. Comme la triste villa dont les meubles anciens, usés ou cassés , sont une trace de la grandeur passée.

Une belle-fille est chargée d'apporter sang et argent neuf.

Un matin, un des fils Lachaume est retrouvé assassiné dans son lit.

Maigret vit ses dernières années en tant que Commissaire et pense à la retraite. Lui aussi a du mal à lâcher le passé pour laisser place au futur, lequel prend la physionomie d'un jeune juge d'instruction, sans expérience de terrain mais diplômé ; il sent la violette, est manucuré, et entend suivre toutes les règles. Un bras de fer silencieux se mène entre les deux hommes.

[John Frankham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read of this confirms my previous review. [Jan '19]

An atmospheric Maigret from 1958 (no. 53).

Maigret has two years before retirement and the world at work and in Paris is changing. His melancholy is stopped by a new murder - of the managing director of a decaying family firm, in the decaying house where three generations live live and work, trying to keep the wolf from the door.

In this unfamiliar milieu, and harassed by a new, young, examining magistrate, and a new, young, family lawyer, Maigret uses his out-of-date (?) nous to solve the crime, thumbing his nose at the 'efficient' modern methods!

Wonderful!

[Ineke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helemaal een volle acht verdient deze aflevering met Maigret niet, maar toch was het een fijn boekje om te lezen. In 1959 geschreven en met een mooie melancholieke toon, want Maigret ziet de wereld om zich heen veranderen, moderniseren, verjongen en hij voelt dat zijn afscheid nadert. Vermoedelijk zal hij dan midden vijftig zijn, wat destijds voldoende reden was om melancholiek naar een oude kachel terug te verlangen en je verdrongen te voelen door jongere mensen. Altijd en eeuwig in de watten gelegd door een verder onzichtbare echtgenote, door de dag heen gesterkt door talrijke glazen grog, bier, wijn en cognac en zijn geliefde pijp, gerespecteerd en geacht, worstelt de knorrige oude man zich door het leven. En doorziet gelukkig altijd weer met een scherpe blik en menselijk mededogen de zwakheden van zijn medemens, die tegen wil en dank tot misdaad is gedreven.

[John Peel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maigret investigates the death of a biscuit factory owner, killed in his family-filled house - but everyone claims that they never heard or saw a thing. Hampered by this lack of cooperation, Maigret also has to contend with an interfering young magistrate who feels he knows better than the veteran inspector. Like most Maigret novels, this is rather vague and meandering, and the fate of the killer is left unrevealed.

[Franziska Nyffenegger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bei der Lektüre war ich etwa ähnlich schlecht gelaunt wie Kommissar Maigret (aus ähnlichen Gründen: anhaltendes Regenwetter und Unmut über das Altwerden) und habe sie etwa ähnlich schnell hinter mich gebracht wie er die Lösung seines Falls.

[Tiarnán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 3 out of 5]

La presente novela es parte de un libro que reúne tres títulos de Simenon.
Igual lo considero como un libro aparte para Goodreads.
Se lee fácil, imposible no poner a Maigret en ese podio de clásicos con Sherlock Holmes y Poirot.

Nota: El libro que tengo entre manos perteneció a la "Biblioteca Mario Levrero" la cual fue vendida por los sucesores de dicho autor a sus lectores el año pasado.
Por lo tanto el libro en sí, físico, tiene más valor como objeto.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A family member is shot to death in an old house; several family members were there at the time, but no one heard a thing. With no one in the household willing to help him, Maigret must draw out the truth on his own.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that this was a poor effort by Simenon's high standards. Usual good characterisations and Paris atmospherics but a very feeble plot. Also the book is very short, more like a novella. Disappointed.

[Annie Yotova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret is feeling old - he has only 2 years until his retirement and even though initially he was very enthusiastic about the future, these days he would rather stay and work longer. The novel gets its main feeling from that mood - it is melancholic and steeped into the past. The murder victim adds to that mood - the oldest brother in once affluent family, with a family trying to keep their business and their good name afloat with any means necessary. These days all they have is the business, which makes no money and requires additional funds to be added monthly, a house which is about to fall down around them and their name - which appears to be their only read currency.

When a family member dies, you would expect that the family will do all they can to assist the investigation. And yet, the Lachaumes refuse to answer any question they do not deem strictly necessary and even call a lawyer to assist them. The surviving brother, the elderly parents, the sister-in-law and even the very old maid - they all seem to be hiding something. And then there is the son of the murdered man - a 12 years old boy which get spirited away to school and turned into a boarder there thus making it very hard for the police to even see him, let alone talk to him.

To add to the frustrations of the case the old examining magistrate Judge Coméliau had retired and Maigret's is stuck with a new one, Angelot, who wants to do things his own way and throws our detective out of his game. The new way is supposedly by the book and yet, Angelot somehow decides not to disclose a personal connection in the case. Simenon never comments on it, neither does Maigret - but it is left there for the reader to ponder at and evaluate the "new" and "old" ways.

As usual, to figure out the murder, Maigret needs to figure out everyone's history and with noone willing to talk, he has to rely on other means and other people's ideas about the family. The story that starts to emerge is tragic and shows not only the moral corruption of the once powerful family but also the ability of people to ignore what they are seeing for the sake of proprietary and the past. By the end, when we finally learn who the killer is and why Léonard dies, one wonders who they should reserve the sympathy for - the dead man or the killer. Mine went to the latter.

It is a slow and calm novel, dealing with the past as much as it deals with the present and Maigret's issues with the new magistrate and with the impeding retirement (both indicating change - the thing he really is afraid of - in case one does not pick on that earlier, his reminiscence about his old heater which was taken away from him should really make you realize it) take as much of a central role as the murder mystery. It is probably not a good novel to start with if you never read the series before but it is a decent entry in the series.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, I enjoyed this little Maigret mystery, although I didn't find it to be in the top tier of Simenon's output. The plot is a bit intricate and sometimes confusing to follow; Maigret is called to the crumbling home of the Lachaume family, known for their wafer manufacturing company, with a reputation dating back to 1817. Leonard Lachaume, the current head of the family business, has been found shot in his bed. He lived with his aged parents, his preteen son, his brother, his brother’s wealthy wife, and a hunchbacked servant almost as old and decrepit as the house.

Unfortunately, early on, Maigret’s investigation is impeded because he is being watched by a young magistrate, Angelot, who is allergic to Maigret's intuitive style, and the Lachaume’s family lawyer, Radel. Thus he is not able to ask the questions he would like nor get a feel for the inner workings of this strangely tight-lipped family.

Discovered only later in the course of Maigret’s investigations is Véronique Lachaume, the wayward daughter who refused to be married to a man she didn’t love. She now leads a seemingly quiet life, independent of the family, and works in a certain kind of nightclub dressed as a man (this is an exceedingly odd and ambiguous detail, and one that is never entirely clarified for the reader). Lately, she has s been seeing a man, a ne’er-do-well, who has also been seen in the company of Pauline Lachaume, the wife of Leonard’s younger brother, Armand.

As is his wont, Maigret employs a fleet of detectives to gather information, and the method is quite at odds with that of Angelot. “Various inspectors, at least ten of them, were still going around in the rain, ringing doorbells, questioning people, trying to jog their memories.” Maigret, meanwhile, tries to imagine the interpersonal relationships of the family and mulls over the evidence gathered.

Before Maigret is entirely ready, Angelot arranges an interview in his office with various members of the family. Maigret has to rush to marshal all of his facts and the appropriate cast of characters, and in part because of this haste, the case concludes tragically.

What is most interesting about the book is Maigret's sense that, as he nears retirement, he is a fossilized type, and the newer generation of detectives and police inspectors is passing him by, to their detriment. Thus there is an air of melancholy over the book, which is only reinforced by the emotional reticence of the family being investigated.

Again, I did enjoy the book a great deal, but because Maigret is so hampered by circumstance in this one, I couldn't revel in his usual display of intuitive brilliance.

[Tony Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret is feeling old. Simenon has never followed a consistent timeline, but here Maigret is once again not long off retirement, many of his sparring partners from his career have already gone, and he finds himself surrounded by a younger generation. In particular he is plagued with a novice examining magistrate who insists on close and personal involvement in the investigation. Maigret is also suffering a little, both physically and emotionally - his health and stamina are declining, Paris is changing, the bars are being modernized, police procedures are being updated, even the weather seems not like it used to be. This story concerns the death of the head of an old established Parisian biscuit manufacturer who is found dead, shot, in his bedroom, apparently as the result of a bungled burglary. The biscuit business is nearly bankrupt, the dysfunctional family that run it barely cooperate with the investigation, and Maigret has to try and make progress as best he can with a spaniel at his heels. The decline of the ancient business and family, a proxy for Maigret and his methods maybe. In the end it was all about money - the rich woman who married into the family and who has kept it afloat wanting a divorce, the family keen to stop her, and an accident occurred, followed by a cover-up. Good story though, and as usual brilliantly written. Maigret can't of course retire, we have some twenty books to go.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

- چترت را فراموش نکرده ای؟
- نه.
مگره که قبلا به طرف پلکان به راه افتاده بود، تا لحظه ای دیگر در آپارتمان پشت سرش بسته می شد. بهتر است شال گردنت را دور گردنت بپیچی.
مادام مگره به تندی دوید که شال گردن را بیاورد، بدون اینکه متوجه باشد آن کلمات ساده با اثری خسته کننده و یاس آور تا مدت ها در ذهن شوهرش باقی خواهد ماند.
ماه نوامبر فرا رسیده_ سوم نوامبر بود_ و هوا آن طور که شاید و باید هنوز سرد نشده بود....
سربازرس «مگره»، مامور تحقیق درباره قتل پسر بزرگ خانواده «لاشوم»، صاحب کارخانه قدیمی بیسکویت‌سازی شده و در اولین مراحل تحقیق متوجه می‌شود گویا خانواده مقتول، حاضر به صحبت بی‌پرده نبوده و سعی در پنهان کردن موضوعی دارند. او که سخت از سوی قاضی منطقه تحت فشار است، تلاش می‌کند که از اندک اطلاعات، بیش‌ترین بهره را برده و راز قتل را کشف کند. مگره درمی‌یابد لاشوم‌ها ورشکسته شده‌اند و از طریق ثروت فراوان عروس دوم خانواده، خود را سرپا نگاه داشته‌اند.
او احساس می‌کند سر نخی به دست آورده و با تجسسی فراوان و سئوال‌های بسیار از هر آن که به نظرش با جریان در ارتباط بوده و کمی اعمال فشار بر عروس ثروتمند، سرانجام به راز ماجرا پی می‌برد؛ مگره از طریق اعتراف صریح او درمی‌یابد که مقتول، مدت‌ها بوده او را زیر نظر داشته، چون متوجه شده که قصد دارد از همسرش جدا شود و به این طریق تمام موجودیت خانواده، به خطر می‌افتاده، سعی در تحت فشار قرار دادن او داشته است. بنابراین شبی درگیری پیش می‌آید و زن جوان به مقتول شلیک کرده، او را از پای درمی‌آورد...

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses (1955), #53 in Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret series, has Maigret aging, two years out of retirement, dealing with the Chief Magistrate who breathes down his neck every day on the case. Maigret is called to the home of the high-profile Lachaume family where the eldest brother, Léonard Lachaume, has been found shot dead.

Maigret’s “method” of drinking, not talking, knowing nothing, sitting grumpily and just waiting, periodically interviewing people to “understand” them, versus grill them for facts on the case, is in question due to the new young Magistrate. And then the family doesn’t want to talk to him, which is a theme in Maigret's cases with upper-crust families. They disdain him and feel superior to him, umtil. . he reveals he is superior to them, though he rarely condemsn anyone. He rarely judges.

But the family biscuit biz is failing, there’s no money, and increasingly we get a gloomy, gothic feeling about the home and family:

"Everything was decrepit, the house's contents as well as its occupants. The family and the house had turned in on themselves, taking on a hostile appearance."

The finish is worth reading a couple times. I did. Deliberately unclear on the killer, as he sometimes does, going against the crime fic grain.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterclass in writing crime fiction from Simenon. In this short novel he not only fleshes out his hero Maigret, with his mood approaching retirement and his frustration at having to deal with a new, young magistrate and an apparently obstructive lawyer, but he gives a vivid picture of a family of biscuit manufacturers who, as their business is failing, have retreated into a large, gloomy house, where time has apparently stood still. The head of the firm is murdered, but why are the family such 'reluctant witnesses'? Whilst his Inspectors do the leg work, Maigret himself does the head work, in an understated, reticent way, and Simenon leads the reader along with Maigret's mental processes so that the mystery gradually unfolds through interviews, dialogue and contemplation. No explosions or high drama, but an intensely satisfying study in family and human relationships, individual psychology and a combination of careful construction and concise writing - ably conveyed by an excellent translation. Another great read, and if you are not already a devotee how lucky you are that you have so many Maigret novels to discover!