The Shadow Puppet by Georges Simenon

The Shadow Puppet is the twelfth Detective Maigret mystery in the series, published under several names - L'ombre chinoise (The Chinese Shadow), The Shadow in the Courtyard, and Maigret Mystified - each an apt title. This time the mystery is condensed to an old Parisian apartment courtyard, where each resident overlooks the other, "Rear Window" style.

It was 10pm, and the street surrounding the Place de Vosges was empty. The concierge meets Maigret outside the building, reluctant to call police attention as upstairs, Madame de Saint-Marc is about to give birth. On the second-floor of the courtyard, a light illuminates the body of a dead man behind the frosted windows of Doctor Riviere's serum laboratory. It is Monsieur Couchet, the owner. Shot.

Father-to-be, Monsieur Saint-Marc, paces the courtyard, the birth imminent. In the apartment above the Saint Marcs, there they go again with the grammophone! Monsieur Martin wanders the building in his old overcoat and bowler, looking for a lost glove. The concierge watches the darkened facade, trying to be invisible. And the madwoman Mathilde, who lives with her housebound sister, shrieking in the hallway.

Inside the office, Maigret finds Couchet at his desk, slumped against the open door of a safe, empty now, the office payroll of 360,000 francs gone. Couchet's mistress arrives, a dancer at Moulin Bleu - everyone calls her by her first name, Nine. She had been waiting for Couchet at their usual bar, for their regular date.

In another window Madame Martin stands over her husband yelling, her usual stance, two or three big scenes a week. They claim to know nothing, however their bedroom window offers an unimpeded view of Couchet's office. Madame Martin was also Couchet's first wife, their son a layabout who rooms next to Nine at the Hotel Pigalle. She divorced Couchet before he struck it rich in the serum business, sour now that she is stuck with Monsieur Martin, a lowly city official. Couchet had remarried into a fine respectable family, his wife shunning Nine and Madame Martin.

Maigret is notified: a will has been found - unsigned and unsealed - leaving Couchet's fortune in thirds to his wife, his ex-wife Madame Martin, and his mistress, Nine. Nothing to his son.

Maigret deftly navigates this small nest of neighbours, wondering if the murder and the safe theft are connected or seperate. He befriends Nine since her benefactor is gone, interviews Couchet's new wife, and pieces together what each resident saw in the dark courtyard that night.

At first, this semed the most disjointed of the Maigret mysteries, with too many characters without enough motive, but slowly it forms an intriguing picture of Parisian life. Especially when you remember this was written in 1932. Set your mind back to imagine the look and motives of the characters at that time. Each of Simenon's detective stories are unique and I haven't found one not to enjoy. Like Hitchcock's Rear Window, it is fascinating to look into the residents windows.

Again, the mysteries of Detective Maigret are all recommended, and widely available in print, eBook, and audio.

1932 / Tradeback / 160 pages