Maigret by Georges Simenon

JetBlackDragonfly
Apr 9
3 min read

Updated: Jun 3

In the eclectic series of Detective Chief Inspector Maigret mysteries by Georges Simenon, this time Maigret helps solve a personal crime after he has retired.

"Uncle! It's me!" In the middle of a silver-coloured February night, Maigret's nephew Philippe arrives at his home stating he is in big trouble if Maigret doesn't come back to Paris with him. "I don't know how I could be so stupid!"

A young police inspector, Philippe was to watch club Floria owner Pepito overnight before arresting him in the morning, but Philippe decided to look clever and go inside. He hears a shot and finds Pepito dead on the floor. His first mistake was to handle the smoking gun, his second to nervously fire a shot at the wall - his third, to run into a witness while exiting.

Before Maigret responds, Madame Maigret asks, "Which suit are you wearing?"

Now retired, Maigret visits his favourite cafe, meeting old colleagues and his replacement, Chief Inspector Amadieu. Philippe is arrested for his own safety, and Maigret's assistance is begrudgingly tolerated by headquarters.

Club Floria was surveilled for the large cache of drugs moving through it. A new 'owner' has already been installed, and it remains full of crooks selling women, cocaine, and whatever else. When Maigret visits, he meets Fernande, a streetwise prostitute who invites him to buy her drinks, and of course, pay for her night. Two years ago she would have recognized him as an officer. She knows everyone, and agrees to help the case.

Cageot doesn't bother to hide he is the kingpin of bars and brothels, sentenced many times. Earlier, a fellow gangster was killed and now Pepito is gone. The police would hardly have been bothered by gangland killings if that idiot Philippe had not -

Maigret spends a day in the cafe Tabac Fontaine, silently watching each of the Cageot gang arrive to play cards, for any one of them to show weakness, for it could be any one of them who broke first - or any one killed next. The next day when police round them up, they deny ever knowing each other. Cageot is clearly responsible for the killings, now the challenge is to get him to admit this truth. The two play cat and mouse but Maigret is ingenious in tricks to trap his prey.

This had the unique plot of having Maigret solve a personal case in retirement. This is book 19 of 75, so how Maigret continues to solve crimes as I read them all, I will have to wait and see. Simenon mysteries are uniformly captivating, the writing is excellent, and always recommended.

1934 / Tradeback / 140 pages