Un échec de Maigret

Inspector Maigret #49

by Georges Simenon

C’est à peine si Joseph, le garçon de bureau, fit, en grattant la porte, le bruit léger d’une souris qui trottine. Il entrouvrit l’huis sans un craquement, surgit si silencieusement dans le bureau de Maigret qu’avec son crâne chauve auréolé de cheveux blancs presque immatériels, il aurait pu jouer les fantômes. Le commissaire, penché sur des dossiers, la mâchoire serrée sur le tuyau de sa pipe, ne leva pas la tête et Joseph resta immobile.

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

192 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1956

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

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read. I think I liked it in part because it was short, 153 pages. The plot was sufficient to keep me engaged…I think if it had been twice as long, I would have been mightily bored.

A who-dunnit and even Maigret did not guess who did it until the culprit had escaped. I have not read enough of Simenon’s Maigret detective novels to figure out if there have been other times Maigret did not get his man/woman or if this was the only time he muffed it. There certainly were enough people who did not like the man who was murdered, Monsieur Fumal, who Maigret had known as a boy and who he heartily disliked. There was Fumal’s secretary, his chauffer who was the secretary’s lover, Fumal’s wife, whose father hung himself because of something Fumal had done, the wife’s brother who Fumal had ruined, a business associate , Gaillardin, who Fumal was in the process of running, his man-servant, Victor, who he hired because he knew he could always blackmail him if he wanted to so that Victor would have to be loyal to him—Victor had killed a gamekeeper on an estate when he was a poacher and claimed it was an accident but Fumal knew better. Fumal was a butcher and was shady and his nickname as a boy was Jujube. Jujubes always got stuck in my teeth. I was not terribly fond of jujubes. I wonder how they made jujubes…to be so hard…I digress! 🙃

A GR friend had liked this Maigret book, so I put it on my TBR list and got it from the library. It was a first edition hardback (1st English edition, Hamish Hamilton) that sold for 9/6 net in 1962. I think that is 66 cents! If 240 pence are equal to one pound, and 9/6 is 114 pence…well you do the math. 🧐

I liked how the chapters had titles to them (examples: The Drunken Woman and the Stealthy-footed Photographer; The Home-loving lady and the Food-loving Girl) . Simenon would also take like a time out and present what was in Maigret’s head at different times in the novella as he was processing who might have killed Fumal, making it a bit easier for the reader to get all of those names and their relationships to Fumal clearer in the head. Ah, so you want to know who killed Fumal? It was Victor, the former poacher. He ran off with a boatload of money from Fumal’s safe while Maigret had all the other suspects in a room where he was going to get to the bottom of things. And so the real killer, Victor, vamoosed with 15 million francs. He eventually got caught 5 years later but not by Maigret. He was put into prison to await trial, but he was never convicted of the murder because he was sickly by then and died. The only person who visited him in prison was Maigret “who went to see him, two or three times”.

Reviews:
• http://crimereview.co.uk/page.php/rev...
• https://www.abelard.org/jules-maigret... (This is really interesting....this guy read all of the Maigret novels [apparently]…he has comments and links to 79 Maigret volumes!!!!) 😊

PS: They apparently still make jujubes. $2.29 for a 5.5 oz. theater box of them: https://www.oldtimecandy.com/collecti....

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weather in Paris is wet, policeman are suffering from colds & detective Maigret has a dead body on his hands.
I've only read a few of the huge amount of Simenon's Maigret stories so far & I usually pick one up when I want a short & gentle read. Maigret is always an interesting character & the books are always good, but they are never better than good. So, for me, Maigret's Failure is not appearing in a really great read....so far.
If anyone out there has read a lot of Maigret books please let me know three or four that are really excellent & I'll give them a go! I cannot face ploughing through all 76 novels & 28 short stories until I find the best ones!! Thanks very much.

[Peiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

مگره سربازرس و قهرمان داستانهای کارآگاهی ژرژ سیمنون هست که چندین کتاب با حضور اون نوشته و ناکامی مگره هم یکی از اون کتابهاست. کتاب های پلیسی و کارآگاهی طرفداران خاص خودشون رو دارن و این کتاب هم داستان جالبی داره و هم جزییات رو بدون زیاده گویی تعریف کرده. داستان از اونجا شروع میشه که یکی با سفارش وزیر کشور به دیدن مگره میاد که اونجا متوجه میشه از کودکی هم رو میشناختن و خیلی هم از هم خوششون نمی اومده و حالا تقاضای کمک داره چون مدتی هست نامه های تهدید آمیز بدون امضا دریافت می‌کنه. حالا این وسط یه پیرزن انگلیسی هم توی پاریس گم شده که مگره به هر دو پرونده رسیدگی می‌کنه البته که داستان اصلی راجع به همون آشنای قدیمی هست.ه

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret seems out of his stride in this case.

Already harangued by the press about the inability to find a visiting middle aged tourist from England he has the unfortunate task of meeting a lad from his school.
Where once he was a boy for ridicule he has risen to a successful businessman in the meat trade.
The son of the village butcher has made his money at the expense of others often destroying people and leaving them financially bankrupt and seeking suicide as a way out. Fumal has even wormed his way into the lives of government ministers who support him to seek out Maigret when is life if threatened by several anonymous letters.

Maigret seems to be half hearted in his approach to the man with thoughts of the deceitful boy he was and the nasty man he has become. Although he responds appropriately his commitment remains superficial and he is seemingly caught out when Fumal is found murdered.

Maigret is seen to be even less inclined to lead the investigation into the death since everyone seems to be justified in wanting him dead and the Chief Inspector in his heart feeling he should shake the murder’s hand rather than handcuff them.
He goes through the motions, countless statements are taken. It seems like a closed house murder based on opportunity and revenge. Maigret has many suspects but at times seems to lack the drive to reach the conclusion he feels his mind has reached.

Finally it comes to him in a dream, the simplicity of it all but his conscious self seems to even wrestle this truth away.
Hence the title. Where does Maigret’s failure lie in this case? Is it a blot on his career or a solution he came to too late to satisfy the media? Great reading and brilliant insight into the mind of the fallible detective.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What always strikes me most about the Maigret novels is their overpowering mood of resignation. Many English-language mysteries focus on the detective's singular intellect or personal heroism, and there's a pervading sense that injustice must be put right. Maigret's cases, however, are always kind of tawdry and there's a sense that they just drift towards their inevitable conclusion. In Maigret's Failure, this is especially true, as Maigret must first protect, then investigate the death of, a horrible bully who he's known and hated since childhood. He feels guilty, but he just can't bring himself to care that much about this guy's death.

I don't know if this attitude is characteristically French or just unique to Simenon. Either way, I find it an interesting contrast to particularly American ideas about personal agency and what people are owed in life. Not necessarily better or worse, but good to know that there are other ways to think about things.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore these fabulous 1950's era French mysteries - Simenon is a subtle and fabulous stylist and Maigret is a really masterful creation - what I think is amazing is the detail that he fills these novels with but - compared to our contemporary mystery offerings - many of these books are under 200-pages but have fabulous plots and supple psychological insights! Camilleri seems to me to be a true to the marvellous Simenon!

[Ali Malekpoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

سیمنون هیچ وقت مگره را شخصیت پردازی نمیکند.قتل ها نقطه شروع داستان نیستند و مثل آثار آرتور کانن دویل یا آگاتا کریستی محور کتاب محسوب نمیشوند.حالا خودتان باید دلیل اینکه چرا اینقدر ژرژ سیمنون را دوست دارم پیدا کنید.

[John Frankham · Rating 5 out of 5]

5* rating confirmed in this 2021 re-read. What a brilliant evocation of Paris in a wet and dreary period of awful weather.

2018. Another fine Maigret, here almost a locked house mystery, with a host of well-observed characters from a range of class and background. Compelling.

The GR blurb:

'Maigret is not infallible. Had prejudice forced him into failure in the Fumal case? He had been unable to mask his antipathy for the bloated meat-merchant when he called on him, with a recommendation from the Minister of the Interior, to seek police protection. It had made it no better to discover he had been at school with this tough, malicious Midas. He had hated Fattie Fumal, even then. Everybody had: it seemed everybody still did.

When in spite of precautions, Fumal is brutally murdered in his own home, Maigret has to examine his conscience. Could he have done more? And now... which of Fumal's dubious, drunken entourage had acted as executioner for the rest?'

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging character based crime fiction novel set in Paris, where detective Maigret investigates the murder of Mr. Fumal, a successful meat trading businessman. Mr. Fumal “was too sure of himself, contemptuously self-confident in a way that was insulting to ordinary people.” (Page 12). Mr. Fumal is the son of a small town butcher. Mr. Fumal had gone to school with Maigret. Maigret fans should find this novel a very satisfying reading experience.

This book was first published in 1956.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fast moving 'Maigret' novel. A lot happens early on and there are some genuine surprises along the way. Maigret is faced with a moral dilemma: he is given a new case to work on and wants to do his job properly but he worries that old resentments might get in the way. I very much enjoyed this book in the series. I enjoy them all, but this one had an extra zing to it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georges Simenon's Maigret's Failure tells how Superintendent Maigret responded to political pressure from a politician to aid a wealthy businessman who had been receiving death threats in the mail -- and this added to a British tourist who vanished in Paris. It turns out that the wealthy businessman knew Maigret and was a horrible bully. The death threats come true: he is shot to death in his home office.

No one mourns the businessman, who continued as an adult to be a horrible bully -- to his family, to his mistress, to his servants, to his business associates. Maigret worries that he will be blamed for the death, but hears no more from the politician who made the request.

This is not one of Simenon's best, but it is still interesting as at his worst he is better than most writers at his best. It says a lot for him that both William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway were big fans of his. In all, Simenon wrote 75 Maigret novels (and a host of others besides) with not a stinker in the bunch.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I take exception with the title of this book. I would suggest renaming it “The Bad Man’s Karma”. The main victim in the book, Mr. Fumal, contacts the police believing someone is going to kill him. He admits that no one likes him - including his wife, his mistress, all of his employees, and everyone he’s ever met in business. When he is murdered, Maigret doesn’t know who to suspect. We think of the “CSI effect” or “ DNA effect” as very recent developments that put pressure on police to solve cases immediately. First published in 1956, this book shows local newspapers are just as unrealistic when viewing the realities of police work. The daily headlines blame the police for not closing the cases now. Maigret feels low much of the book because of 2 unsolved cases. This is another great Simenon book that kept me awake reading far into the night!

[4cats · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a well known business man visits Maigret worried about death threats, Maigret allows the past to cloud his judgment.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s old home week for Chief Inspector Maigret in this 49th book in this irresistible series: A cruel, ruthless meat wholesaler comes to Maigret with threatening letters, demanding police protection. The man, Ferdinand Fumal — and much of his household — comes from Maigret’s birthplace of Saint-Fiacre, previously featured in The Saint-Fiacre Affair, No. 14 in the series.

As Fumal humiliated all of his underlings and competitors, he had no end of enemies, including his wife, brother-in-law and all of his employees. I won’t spoil it by saying more except to add that Maigret has more than one failure. Highly recommended.

[Fil · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3,5
Rounded down as both the plot and the ending were less good than the previous ones..

[Sandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il mio voto "standard" per tutti i libri di Simenon con protagonista Maigret è 5 stelle!

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It was not quite the mystery I was expecting - there was far less emphasis on the investigation and the clues and so on. I'm not sure if that's usual with this series, since this is the first I've read, but I will learn, since I enjoyed it enough that I will look into getting hold of the others. I was a little frustrated by the ending - it wasn't clear to me how Maigret had solved it (though the events at the end of the book meant that anyone could have drawn the correct conclusions), and I was annoyed that we didn't get to know what brilliant insight he'd had in his dream.

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simenon tiene una vasta obra, más de doscientas novelas desde 1930 hasta 1970. Fue un éxito popular; algunos de sus trabajos, como el presente, de no más de 150 pags se publicaron en Le Figaro en veinte episodios. Eran otros tiempos, pero parecidos a los cliffhnagers de las series televisivas de ahora.

Maigret es un Sherlock Holmes que dio un paso más allá. Aplica el método deductivo, pero intento descubrir los motivos del crimen, conocer al asesino de turno, comprenderle sin juzgar.

Está novela, es típica Simenon. Abunda el gris en el clima, el malo de turno está motivado por la avaricia y Maigret piensa y analiza con lógica y sencillez.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have given this book 4 stars despite the fact that the plot is a bit weak and the ending definitely unsatisfactory.

Simenon was such a great writer that even his not so good books are difficult to put down.

The victim in this book hardly appears while alive but the reader will detest him so much that he will readily understand why anyone would want to kill him. Even Maigret himself feels this.

All the characters and locations are marvelously described. Brilliant !!

I thoroughly enjoyed it as I do nearly all Maigret stories.

[Mikee · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Maigret never liked him, even when they were both kids in Saint-Fiacre. So when Fumal turns up demanding protection from death threats it is without much enthusiasm that the Superintendent undertakes his work. Never mind. The ""meat king"" ends up dead and there isn't a soul who doesn't secretly gloat. So it goes."

[Paul Jellinek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit it, these Maigret books are addictive... What can I say? You either love them or... Well, you know.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The death of an acquaintance from his past, now wealthy, but just as contemptible, throws Maigret just a little off his game.

[Les Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm never been disappointed with the Maigret books. I found this one unputdownable.

[Carles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A “Maigret y los aristócratas ”, Maigret era un jove policia, novell i acabat de casar. Faltaven molts anys per esdevenir inspector i posteriorment cèlebre comissari en cap.
Però ja llavors, Simenon especulava amb la possibilitat, tot imaginant l’eminència en que es podria acabar convertint.

Todo el mundo iría a consultar a ese hombre como se consulta a un medico. En cierto modo, habría sido un indicador de destinos.

Curiosament, en aquesta novel·la, el pensament torna, ara a la ment del propi Maigret.

¿No dijo una vez que hubiera querido ser “arregla-destinos”...?

També a “Maigret y el cuerpo sin cabeza ” el comissari rumia aquesta situació.

Maigret es preguntarà si ho està fent bé o no. Diverses vegades. Una preocupació que el corsecarà per dins. Van el seus prejudicis confondre-li el senderi?. Hi somiarà. Ho veurà en somnis i es despertarà per aprehendre-ho. Ai las!, que era?

Diversos sospitosos. Qui no té un all, té una ceba.
Finalment...

Finalment, tot acaba. D’una forma o altra, tot acaba. I llavors, entre tantes persones, només hi serà ell, Maigret.

[Antonio Ippolito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certo che rispetto al mondadoriano "Lo scacco di Maigret" il nuovo titolo adelphiano "Maigret prende un granchio" è bruttino..
Un Maigret abbastanza sintetico, un'indagine di atmosfera molto buona: in una Parigi come sempre brumosa, il nostro commissario si trova a dover proteggere (grazie a una raccomandazione niente meno che ministeriale) un odioso ex compagno di scuola riemerso dai ricordi di Saint-Fiacre: Maigret pensa che sia l'ennesimo sopruso di un compagno prepotente, questi però la mattina dopo viene trovato morto, e per il nostro eroe cominciano gli scrupoli di coscienza: aveva fatto davvero tutto il possibile, oppure agendo di malavoglia aveva trascurato qualcosa di essenziale?
A questo primo scacco ne segue in realtà un secondo, perchè il commissario, perduto in un labirinto di odii verso la vittima, forse influenzato da un certo disprezzo e quindi sospetto verso la piacente segretaria apparentemente fedele al padrone che pure la umiliava sessualmente, individua il vero colpevole solo quando costui si è appena reso uccel di bosco.
Ritorna anche potente, come in altri suoi romanzi, il tema dell'alcolismo.
SPOILER
Ancora una volta siamo lontani dal poliziesco tradizionale: non solo non ci verrà detto se le lettere minatorie se le scriveva davvero la vittima da solo, ma nemmeno quale fosse il vero movente dell'assassino: è sufficiente che avesse il carattere giusto..

[Markku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tästä juuri pidän Maigreteissa - asiat etenevät vähän kerrassaan ja pikkuasiat ovat pääosassa. Edetään pikemminkin intuitiolla kuin dokumenteilla.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 perché la fine è un po' debole. Ma tutti i personaggi sono interessanti e la storia è un'acchiappata. Questo romanzo svela dei dettagli sull'infanzia di Maigret... Mi procuro l'integrale!

[Katia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 ⭐️

[Tras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent in every respect.

[Nick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite work from the “Golden Age” of the detective novel is Trent’s Last Case. This is largely because the detective misunderstands the case and gets it wrong. I thought it was an interesting variation – or negation – of the omnipotent detective. I thought Maigret’s Failure might have the same interest. It only partly does. An acquaintance from Maigret’s childhood claims that he is suffering death threats. Maigret did not like the man when he was a child and now he is a successful butcher with a chain of shops throughout Paris and the north of France – and Maigret still does not like his arrogant and bullying attitude. He then hears from one of the man’s employees that he had written the threatening notes himself. Maigret is slightly dismissive of the case, but then the man is murdered. And then at the end there is a second failure: Maigret realises who the culprit is, but a moment too late and the person escapes – although we find out the person later returns to France to face the penalty. The failures aren’t massive: someone gets murdered, but that would probably have happened anyway (and we wouldn’t have a story if someone wasn’t murdered); the culprit gets away, but is later detained. (And it could be argued that in a detective novel understanding and explaining a case is more important that actually capturing the culprit.) Beyond that the book follows the formula. Maigret is his grumpy self. His method of detection – observing the suspects, noticing details, until suddenly everything clicks together: detection as a form of instinctive creation – is highlighted: when frustrated and feeling at an impasse Maigret has a dream: waking he thinks the dream held an important insight, but can’t remember it – Maigret’s method is explicitly shown as based on unconscious impulses. Maigret has his usual team, but I always find them forgettable, never remembering the names of the old one or the young one, etc. The suspects are more vivid and Simenon is good at suggesting a character by a few broad brush strokes.