A Maigret Christmas: And Other Stories

Inspector Maigret #short story

by Georges Simenon, David Coward (Translation)

Three seasonal stories set in Paris at Christmas, from the celebrated creator of Inspector Maigret.

It is Christmas in Paris, but beneath the sparkling lights and glittering decorations lie sinister deeds and dark secrets...

This collection brings together three of Simenon's most enjoyable Christmas tales, newly translated, featuring Inspector Maigret and other characters from the Maigret novels. In 'A Maigret Christmas', the Inspector receives two unexpected visitors on Christmas Day, who lead him on the trail of a mysterious intruder dressed in red and white. In 'Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook', the sound of alarms over Paris send the police on a cat and mouse chase across the city. And 'The Little Restaurant in Les Ternes (A Christmas Story for Grown-Ups)' tells of a cynical woman who is moved to an unexpected act of festive charity in a nightclub - one that surprises even her...

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, France, Classics

ebook

First published January 1, 1951

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

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this collection of three Christmas stories, as I have really liked the Maigret books. So I settled down for this festive read, looking forward to spending Christmas in Paris. To my horror, there was only one story, the two others are missing. I really enjoyed it albeit I would have preferred it to be longer. I think it was a shame the trio of short stories had two missing. It is difficult to write a review on this collection on the basis of one. Perhaps the publisher will correct this? Many thanks to Penguin Classics for the one story ARC.

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret was in my memory of television films that were a bit old, soft, and not very glamorous. I never really got into reading novels.
I tried it, and I found this somewhat relaxing atmosphere with little action and ultimately not enough thought since, as Maigret says, all the investigation elements happen by themselves, more by chance than by calculation. This short novel is pleasant to read, thanks to its engaging action, which mainly unfolds in the Maigret apartment, where the protagonists of the investigation follow one another. Certain poetry emerges, a little sad, with the evocation of the commissioner's childhood, a little girl slightly spoiled by life, and the interior of Maigret's: a familiar story of ordinary people. It's a lovely Christmas story that ends with an excellent gift made by Madame Maigret's husband, who is more human than a cop. I will try another novel out of curiosity.

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of three short pieces

Thanksgiving is next week so Christmas is close enough for me to begin reading Christmas stories.

In A Maigret Christmas the inspector becomes involved in an unexpected case while at home on Christmas Day. No spoilers so I will say only that he and Madame Maigret receive a joyful and surprising Christmas present.

The second story, SEVEN SMALL CROSSES IN A NOTEBOOK, is not a Maigret tale. It is, however, definitely a story of the Paris police. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day a brave little boy gets involved in the hunt for a serial killer.

Next is THE LITTLE RESTAURANT NEAR PLACE DES TERNES, A Christmas Story for Grown-Ups. Mostly sleazy people in seedy locations in Paris on Christmas Eve. A lady of the evening chooses a strange way to take a stint as father Christmas. Again, no Maigret. I didn't like this one.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were pretty good and definitely has an atmosphere of post war Paris. Maigret is a cop and so he deals with the down and out and the seedy side of life. The first story I had read before and it was good, so a reread was alright. I didn't really care for the way he treats his wife. Maigret's wife is depicted as a silly person. But again, it was written in 1951.

The cover is beautiful, dark and dreary, but somehow comforting too.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is based upon the one story I received - A Maigret Christmas - there was no sign of the other two stories mentioned in the description.

In 'A Maigret Christmas', the Inspector receives two unexpected visitors on Christmas Day, who lead him on the trail of a mysterious intruder dressed in red and white.

This is a short story/novella that I enjoyed but wished was longer than it actually was. I love Maigret on TV and the book had that same traditional and authentic feeling about it akin to the TV show. George Simenon is a classic author and it was relatively easy to get into the story.

I was drawn to the beautiful cover art which is perfect for the festive season, clever repackaging! I feel it is Maigret's character and determination that make the series different to other similar crime titles. I hope to read the rest of the novels Simenon has written in the near future.

I would like to thank George Simenon/Penguin (UK) and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion.

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maigret is in the first of these three stories by Georges Simenon, but not the other two. In these two stories, his 'supporting' cast come to the fore, people such as Janvier, Lognon, and Lecoeur. The second story, Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook, is the best. All the story is set in a control room with the action taking place at the end of the phone and in your imagination, accompanied by the deductions and logical reasoning of the Parisian police.

A Maigret Christmas is also set in a small area, namely in Maigret's apartment and in another apartment opposite where Father Christmas has been sighted by a child and when Maigret starts asking questions, the child's mother starts acting suspiciously.

Indeed, care and protection of the young is a pattern in all three stories. In the third story The Little Restaurant near Place des Ternes, a young woman is out and about on Christmas Eve and needs saving from herself, before she gets into trouble. A slightly older version of herself, it seems to me, almost like a ghost of Christmas future, comes to her rescue in an inelegant and scruffy way.

Once again, Georges Simenon or The Postman as he should be called, delivers a first-class package of beautiful, simple writing.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector Maigret woke to the sounds of his wife leaving their bed, trying not to wake him. She would pop out for croissants for his breakfast as was the norm. It was Christmas morning and although she had told him to sleep in, he didn’t feel the need.

The unexpected arrival of two women from nearby apartments set the scene for a different and rather busy Christmas day for Inspector Maigret. The mysterious visitor one of the women had received in the middle of the night, in the small child, Colette’s room, and dressed as Santa was a mystery which made Inspector Maigret uneasy – he knew there was something more to the story than there seemed. Would he locate the mysterious Santa? Or was it a storm in a teacup?

A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon is a fast paced, entertaining novella which I raced through and thoroughly enjoyed. I was expecting three short stories – as the blurb says – but there was only the one, which I was disappointed about. I haven’t read this author before and will look into more of his work. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy to read and review.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was not snowing. When one was past fifty it was absurd to be disappointed because there was no snow on Christmas morning, but elderly people are never quite as sensible as the young imagine.”

Maigret is supposed to sleep late and be served breakfast in bed on Christmas. It’s not his idea, but what his wife thinks is proper for him on this “holiday.” Simenon tells us that this never works out because Police Superintendent Jules Maigret can’t be bothered with sleeping late and doesn’t enjoy breakfast in bed, though he will do it in order not to “ruin” the day for his wife.

This Christmas is no exception and is complicated by a visit quite early from two women who live in the apartment building across the street and the child of one of them has seen Father Christmas enter her bedroom during Christmas Eve. Among the things that Maigret become aware of is that this investigation is different from “the usual.” “In the present case, which was not really a case since he was not officially in charge of anything, the situation was quite different. For the first time, things were happening in a world that was close to his own, in a house which might have been his own house.”

This is our man, Maigret, captured very pure, very distilled in this story.
4.5*

[Nasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea που λένε και οι φίλοι μας οι Άγγλοι. Θα ξαναδοκιμάσω, όμως, να διαβάσω κάτι με τον επιθεωρητή Μαιγκρέ!

[Ends of the Word · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume brings together three Simenon stories with a Christmas theme, in a new translation by David Coward. The title of the collection might be slightly misleading – of the three tales, only the first features Simenon’s famous creation. On Christmas Day, Maigret is visited at his apartment by two neighbours with a mystery on their hands – a little girl claims to have seen Father Christmas in her room. Given that Santa has also deemed it fit to pull up a couple of floorboards, it seems unlikely that the night visitor is the real McCoy. Maigret solves the enigma without moving much from his home, thanks to nifty brainwork, judicious phone calls and a little help from his friends and colleagues.

The protagonist of the second story – Seven Crosses in a Notebook – is a humble policeman who has spent his career away from the limelight, manning a police station’s switchboard and keeping a list of the crimes carried out in the French capital. One Christmas, he finds himself thrust into the midst of an investigation, one which concerns his closest family. A boy is chasing a murderer across the streets of Paris – or perhaps it’s the other way round – and by the time the Police find them, someone might be dead. This story is actually better than the Maigret title piece – it is, in effect, a finely-crafted and well-paced mini-thriller. It also has almost Dickensian undertones as it brings us face-to-face with the “other” Christmas: that of the lonely and the downtrodden, that of the workers who need to spend Christmas night awake and away from their families, that of the poor who can barely afford to buy presents for their children.

This “social” subtext is also an important element in 'The Little Restaurant in Les Ternes (A Christmas Story for Grown-Ups)'. On Christmas night, two women witness a suicide in a little bar. One is Long Tall Jeanne, a prostitute and cynical woman of the world. The other is Martine, a young girl who happens to come from a town close to Jeanne’s birthplace and who is alone in Paris for reasons we do not learn. The women, shaken by the evening’s events, go out into the night. Jeanne, almost on an impulse, follows Martine, determined to save her from the clutches of dubious men who might take advantage of her. Nothing much happens in this story, but it’s an interesting psychological study. We are never sure what fuels Jeanne’s actions – is it a sense of sisterly affection, is it nostalgia for an innocence which she has lost, or a sense of jealousy towards a girl who is younger, fresher, more attractive?

I greatly enjoyed this anthology even though I read it two months after Christmas. Part of the pleasure is derived from the atmosphere of a retro Paris, where people still write letters, and even telephones are a luxury. A word of warning though – some of the attitudes portrayed are out of date as well. For instance, in the age of #MeToo, the image of Maigret lounging about in a dressing gown whilst his wife frets about serving him Christmas breakfast in bed, might raise a few eyebrows. But this is part of the package – a package which is, on the whole, très jolie

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”
Back in 1951 Georges Simenon released his last Maigret short story which is the longest and closest to the length of his novels. Many current TV shows have Christmas specials and Agatha Christie wrote about Hercule Poirot at Christmastime in 1938.
This short story is just five chapters long and begins on Christmas morning at their home in the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. Being a day off for the Inspector his wife wants him to have a lie in, but he hears every creak of the bed as she tries to get up without disturbing him. He then hears Madame Maigret pottering around, preparing coffee and nipping out of the apartment to get fresh croissants from a local shop. She is disappointed to find him up with no desire to have breakfast in bed, but he does take his time over his coffee and filling his pipe. Maigret’s nod to the season is he remains still in his dressing gown, content to watch his wife and contemplate his neighbourhood from their window.

This scene of domestic bless threatens to be cut short when he sees two women who live on the other.side of street looking up at him as though hurrying to his door.making for the door. His wife is not averse to this interruption as no arguments are raised and she opens the door for them to enter their home.

This story is undoubtedly one of the most sentimental and enlightening of these Maigret stories for a number of reasons:

It opens a vista onto the private life of the their marriage, a intimacy that is clear but also strained due to the couple’s home being childless, not because they have left Home but since they have no immediate family other that Mrs Maigret’s sister.

It takes place at Christmas a special time for children to receive presents and for playing with their new toys out and about the neighbourhood.

It is a case that Maigret doesn’t know even if it can be classified as an investigation but involves a small child who has lost her Mum, killed in a car accident and Dad unable to face up to life as he was driving at the time. The child has been place with her Aunt who appears to love money and the idea of wealth more than a nurturing love for her Niece and her current parental responsibilities. But because it is literally so close to home, mirroring his own way of life can not immediately find the distance to observe clearly and see. In his breakthrough it is perhaps the promptings of his wife and their immediate concern for the child.

The story is about this young girl Colette whose sleep on Christmas Eve was disturbed by a visit from Father Christmas. A nosy neighbour appears the driving force while the Aunt seems to play events down and appears embarrassed for disturbing the great detective at Christmas. When she later slips out to shop for items already in her cupboards Maigret sees she knows more than she is willing to disclose. Yet Madame Maigret and he are growingly more concerned over the safety of Colette and this becomes his motivation to solve this case.
Beautifully written, evoking the magic of Christmas but showing that hearts set on crime have little time for sentiment. The gift of luck seems to be bestowed on Maigret and his team who eventually gather at his home. Marvellous insights into their family life, the yearning for children and the need to Mother. A simple relationship but undoubtedly strong and the stable home with the constant that is his wife is clearly the main reason Maigret can be so devoted and driven
A lovely story devoid of glitter and show but capturing a real sense of time and place and short enough to read every year at Christmas as meaningful as a glass of sherry, sloe gin in Maigret’s chosen Tipple and a mince pie.
Enjoy and have a great Christmas!

[Paula Bardell-Hedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 84-year-old mother is a great crime fiction buff. When she saw I was reading A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon, she commented that it was a great pity “Mr Bean” had been given the part of the French detective in ITV's recent adaption, because “although he [Rowan Atkinson] is a very good actor, one keeps on expecting him to remove his trousers or do something equally silly in the middle of an important case.”

Mr Bean aside, the TV drama has merely brought renewed interest in Simenon's shrewd, trilby-hat wearing, pipe-smoking commissioner of the Paris 'Brigade Criminelle'. In 2013, Penguin Books started releasing new translations of his seventy-six Maigret novels, originally published between 1931 and 1972, and this collection of seasonal stories is the latest in their Classics' series.

Simenon (1903-1989) was a prolific author, his novels, novellas and autobiographical works numbering almost five hundred. He was Belgian born, the son of an accountant, starting out as a cub reporter for the Gazette de Liège, before moving to Paris in 1922 following the death of his father. However, it was during his time as a young journalist that he came to know the seedier side of his city – his familiarity with local prostitutes, criminals and notorious drinking dens prepared him well for his profession as a writer of detective fiction.

A Maigret Christmas is the title story from this newly translated book of short fiction, in which the burly detective receives an unexpected visit from two ladies on Christmas morning. Maigret and his stoical wife, Louise (referred to throughout as Madame Maigret) are a childless couple in their fifties, trying to be festive, though actually feeling rather melancholy in their silent apartment. He is thus quietly relieved when his services are required by his neighbours following the appearance of a sinister intruder in their home. An intriguing case ensues.

The gruff but kindly Maigret was apparently based on Simenon's good friend, Chief Inspector Marcel Guillaume, a man said to be the greatest French detective of his day. Whether “Mr Bean” was quite what he had in mind for his serial protagonist, we shall never know, but his most famous fictional character would appear to be more popular than ever.

Many thanks to Penguin Books (UK) for supplying the ARC of a single story from this collection.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read The Cat recently, I was keen to read more Simenon. I’m afraid I found these short stories very long winded and not particularly clever or interesting. I enjoyed the depictions of Paris and the mysterious element of the stories, however, although they’re well written, they read very much like the translation that they are. While I appreciate this isn’t the author’s fault - if it’s anyone’s it’s mine for not being able to read them in the original French - I’m disappointed in them. 3 stars at a (big) push from me.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Embora digam que no Natal o amor transborda nos corações, há sempre um lugarzinho para o crime e quejandos; seja o roubo, a infidelidade (não sei se pode ser considerado crime...), o assassínio, e até o suicídio (este também não sei...). E com estes ingredientes base - temperados com amor, solidariedade, solidão,... - Georges Simenon elabora um menu de consoada composto de três narrativas muito interessantes.
A primeira tem como protagonista o inspector Maigret, que num domingo - enquanto a sua solicita esposa lhe prepara os acepipes -, resolve um mistério na vizinhança.
A segunda é uma história triste em que o cenário é um posto de polícia parisiense.
A terceira uma bonita história de generosidade de uma mulher para com outra.

Não me lembro se já tinha lido algo de Simenon, e não sei se das cerca de duzentas obras do autor terei feito a escolha certa...

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small confession to begin: I only read the first story as I ran out of Christmas. I'm saving the final two for next year.

So well written, so easy to follow and such wonderfully rounded characters. Something not so easy to accomplish in only a few chapters.

Loved it!

[Vesna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's difficult to "rate" genre fiction. It doesn't aim at the literary quality of great classics yet it needs a special talent to pull off the brilliance in genre writing. Not all mysteries appeal to me but George Simenon and Agatha Christie draw me like magnet. Simenon excels in a police procedural, Christie remains the queen of the whodunit. Simenon never cared much for his Maigret novels (he reserved his literary aspirations for his "romans durs") though someone like André Gide was an admirer and a number of Maigret books were included in the prestigious Pléiade collection. I agree with Simenon and my final rating splits the difference between two (subjective!) scores:

literary merit - 2.5 stars
genre writing - 5 stars
3.5 rounded up

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only thing "Christmassy" about these three stories was that they were mysteries happening during Christmas time, but hey! It's Simenon and that means a great story any time of year.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm, these three short stories were very odd for a Christmas read. They do take place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; I'll give them that! The first two were entertaining enough, but the third was downright bizarre! I kept wondering if the novels of the Maigret mystery series were written in this style, so different from today's mysteries. I'll just have to read one and see.

Why I'm reading this: It's the season for holiday reads and this was available from my local library.

[Claudiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cel mai frumos este sa citesti carti despre Craciun, vara.
(Iarna este doar vag schitata, actiunea se petrece in ziua de Craciun si cam atat despre sezonul rece. Iar actiunea... Tot ca sezonul rece!)

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

Maigret's Christmas
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback (2018*) translated by David Coward from the French language original Un Noël de Maigret (1951)


Detail from the front cover of the 2018 Penguin Classics edition. Original photograph from Keystone-France.

A Maigret Christmas collects 3 short stories with Christmas themes, in which the Chief Inspector himself only appears in the title piece. Maigret associates do appear in the others though, Inspector Janvier in Seven Little Crosses in a Notebook and Inspector Lognon in The Little Restaurant near Place des Ternes, not as leads, but as cameos.

A Maigret Christmas finds Jules Maigret at home on Christmas morning refusing to sleep in and allow himself to be pampered by Madame Maigret. He manages to even find a case when a neighbour comes to report that her little girl had Father Christmas as a visitor on Christmas Eve with a doll left behind as proof.

Seven Little Crosses... takes place in the central Paris Police switchboard where one officer's notations of various crimes across the city become clues to help solve a Christmas disappearance of a child and the identification of a serial murderer. This was the standout story of the book, especially due to the use of such as restricted location to tell the wide-ranging story.

The Little Restaurant... is the shortest tale and the grimmest. It starts with a suicide inside a restaurant followed by streetwalker Long Tall Jeanne seeking to prevent an assault on a young woman who she imagines as someone that she babysat in her long ago youth in the countryside.

* There is an earlier and larger English language collection Maigret's Christmas: Nine Stories (1976 and some later editions) with different translations by Jean Stewart.

[Seregnani · Rating 3 out of 5]

«Lei ci crede che stanotte è venuto a trovarmi Babbo Natale? ».
« Ne sono certo».
«Mamma Loraine non ci crede. Non mi crede mai».

3,5 ⭐️ Sono tre racconti brevi di “giallo” in cui c’è sempre presente il commissario Maigret, solo l’ultima storia è quella che è ambientata nel Natale

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Maigret that I have read, though it is not the first Simenon that I’ve read. I’ve read this after watching the Rowan Atkinson version of Maigret.

And those are great.

This book is actually three stories – one of which stars Maigret and his wife, while the other two use characters from the Maigret series.

The first story is the title story and is about Maigret solving a mystery on Christmas day when he is at home with his wife. No, it does not involve a missing Christmas turkey. The culprit is pretty obvious. You do not really mind because the charm of the story is the interactions of everyone with Maigret.

The other two stories are a bit different. “Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook” focuses on the police who have to man what seems to be something like a dispatch center. There is wonderful description in this short story. The story takes it name from the crosses that one of the police officers puts into his notebook.

In many ways, the best story is the last story, “The Little Restaurant near Place des Ternes”. It is supposedly a fairy tale for grown-ups. It actually treats women of the evening quite sympathetic and the present is a rather unique one. Because in the last story, the police form more of a backdrop, the story is actually in some ways the most touching of the three. The ending and feeling are so wonderfully quite and lovely. Like snow falling from the sky.

[Jack Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars. I really liked the collection. The author wrote about 100 Inspector Maigret novels and short stories and multiples of both not featuring him. "A Maigret Christmas and Other Stories" accents a Maigret novella but also includes 2 non-Maigret short stories which are just as good. Simenon has a way of taking the reader and his characters from their every day existence into tense situations with a progressive build up. "A Maigret Christmas" is just that. Jules and Louise are enjoying a quiet Christmas morning when there's a knock on the door. Visitors from across the street who need his expertise. One of the women is the guardian of a delightful 7 year-old girl. She saw Father Christmas last night in person and he gave her a doll. Really. Very strange. It develops into much more than that with a previous crime becoming the main event. "Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook" brings together two apparently unrelated matters - police phone boxes being broken across Paris and a nighttime killer who may have struck again. Lastly, "The Little Restaurant near Place des Ternes" will show you a new kind of Christmas spirit. Read that one carefully. All enjoyable. (July 2021)

[Nigel]

I was a fan of Simenon's work so many years ago it almost (!) embarrasses me to admit it. Maigret was certainly one of the early crime fiction characters that really worked for me. There is a relaxed ease in his handling of his cases that I still find endearing. This one is no exception.

It's Christmas Day and Madame Maigret is out shopping for croissants for breakfast. Two people from a neighbouring building cross the road wanting to talk to their legendary detective neighbour. The niece of one of the woman says she saw Santa during the night taking up a floorboard and he left her a gift. Is this really a case of Monsieur Maigret?

Of course it is. It has all the usual characters in including Lucas and Torrence. It has an interesting tale and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Sadly my review copy only contained the one story so I'll not give a rating for the book. However I'd be surprised if fans would not want to read this.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all interesting collection of shorts. Can't recommend. Too disgusted to even recap the stories.

[Barbarroja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como cada año, comienzo 2018 con la lectura de una novela policíaca. Además, una novelita ambientada enteramente en el día de Navidad, ahora que aún estamos en pascuas, como aquel que dice.
Es esta mi primera aproximación a Maigret. No será la última. El inspector de Simenon me ha resultado muy "amable", por decirlo de alguna manera, de una cercanía y calidez que no se suelen encontrar en las novelas del género. La historia es ligera, amena. Se lee en un rato. Como reflexiona el narrador casi al final de la trama, parece "una partitura perfectamente orquestada", donde todo se da como se tiene que dar, para alcanzar su resolución. En fin, una lectura muy recomendable para una tarde junto al fuego. O para una mañana al sol en la playa, por qué no.

[Ken Kirkberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Maigret's Christmas' - Georges Simenon
Where should there be more romance at Christmas then Paris? Not for Simenon and his trusty Inspector Maigret. Glittering decorations cannot hide the sinister deeds that take place in these three seasonal stories.
'A Maigret Christmas' has the Inspector receive two unexpected visitors interrupting his Christmas day. Maigret is lead on the trail of a mysterious intruder, clothed in red and white.
'Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook' place, our Inspector and his gendarme colleagues in a cat and mouse type chase across the city.
'The Little Restaurant in Les Ternes' has a woman of the night show an unexpected act of charity. An adult story that ends with some real Christmas spirit in a wonderful and lovely manner.

[SueLucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

With thanks to Penguin Classics for the opportunity to dip into Georges Simenon's Maigret series - my first foray and unlikely to be my last. I can well see why Penguin is republishing them, along with new translations and gorgeous cover artwork.

Since this is a short story, the plot is insubstantial. That didn’t matter to me, though, as I was overwhelmingly struck with the depiction of Maigret’s domestic life, his daily rituals and his interaction with his wife. I hope to find much more of this when I lay my hands on some of the other books in the series. I liked the dialogue very much, too, great deadpan humour there.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of two Christmas-themed novellas rounded off by a short story.

In the first, Maigret tries to figure out who broke into a little girl's bedroom dressed as Santa Claus, and started pulling up the floorboards. A nice little festive tale which Maigret largely solves from his front room.

In the second, a policeman's nephew tries to catch a murderer. Like the previous story, the whole tale takes place in the police control room, as people report in what they've found. Maigret puts in an appearance to hear the police uncle's theory (he's never named, but the inspector is smoking a pipe).

The third and final one is a little story about how good intentions can strike even the hardest person at Christmas.

A decent, quick read for people who like a bit of mystery at Christmas.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume features three stories, all set in Paris, and taking place on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.
Maigret only plays a role in the first story A Maigret Christmas. Because it is a day set on the holiday, he is at home with his wife. Having only encountered Maigret on the TV series featuring Rowan Atkinson, I was only familiar with the role his wife plays in the books by seeing these. In this story, she is very much as she is portrayed in the series - patient, and a woman who has a close relationship with her husband.

As Maigret starts a leisurely Christmas day, a neighbor knocks on his door. She is a woman who lives in the building facing his across the street. Her neighbors are caring for a 10 year old girl who is bed bound, the result of a broken leg. The neighbor frequently sits with the girl when her "foster" mother goes out. Her "foster" father is a traveling salesman and away much of the time, including Christmas. The night before Christmas when the girl is alone, she awakes to find a man in her room, He has lifted floorboards, and when she wakes up, he tells her he is Santa. Despite the holiday, Maigret puts those working in his station to work. His methods are so thorough and of course, there is a solution found to the mystery.

The Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook is also set on Christmas Eve and Day. It involves a series of murders of women, usually older, who live alone.At the same time, someone is running around Paris breaking the glass on Police boxes but not talking to the police. A murder occurs on Christmas Eve that fits the pattern of the serial killings. At the same time, the 19 year-old nephew of one of the employees in the police station, disappears. A convoluted story, but one that is brought to a a satisfactory conclusion.

The third and final story The Little Restaurant near Place des Ternes was the shortest and least interesting story. It is set on Christmas Eve and centers on two women, one young and one older, both end up in a small bar. A man comes in at 9PM and shortly after kills himself. Both women decide to leave and end up ia a disreputable bar. From there, problems ensue.