Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our May/June 25 buddy read of Signed, Picpus Published in 1944, aka To Any Lengths / Maigret and the Fortune Teller and Book 23 in the Inspector Maigret series.

A small, thin man, rather dull to look at, neither young nor old, exuding the stale smell of a bachelor who does not look after himself. He pulls his fingers and cracks his knuckles and tells his tale the way a schoolboy recites his lesson.

A mysterious note predicting the murder of a fortune-teller; a confused old man locked in a Paris apartment; a financier who goes fishing; a South American heiress ... Maigret must make his way through a frustrating maze of clues, suspects and motives to find out what connects them.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

An excellent Maigret with all the disparate plot points tied together into an understandable package. I worry about the tramp though. He's had a good meal and a new pipe but now what? And that horrible woman is left free.

All wrapped up in a single read. And the fish on the book's cover were explained.

Yes, I thought this was one of the best in the series. And good point about the tramp - he's glad to get out of the household, but it's not clear what the future will hold for him now.

I really liked the way all the connections came together but felt we’d seen a lot of the tropes before - body hidden in a previous residence, downtrodden clerk, Maigret spending nights in a hotel in the provinces.

I still loved the vivid descriptions and the way Maigret dominates the guilty with his brooding presence. And I agree about the poor old tramp, but I guess now the money has dried up he’ll be back to hanging around the port.