Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine by Georges Simenon

A newcomer’s perspective
This is my first experience with a Maigret novel. Though not an avid reader of detective fiction, I had heard good things about Georges Simenon and thought I’d give it a try. What I encountered was an unconventional crime novel that left me feeling satisfied but not impressed.

Maigret visits a condemned prisoner shortly before his execution. This prisoner, Lenoir, confides to Maigret that he once witnessed a man dumping a body into the Canal Saint-Martin. He then blackmailed this murderer for months. Lenoir provides Maigret with neither the identity of the murderer nor that of the victim, but he recalls that the killer used to hang out at a tavern on the Seine called the Guinguette à Deux Sous. Even with so little to go on, Maigret decides to pursue the case. He soon locates the tavern in Morsang, and becomes involved with the clique of regulars who flee Paris every weekend to gather there for recreation.

Some suspension of disbelief is required to make it through chapter one. Why would this prisoner, apropos of nothing, confide such a secret to Maigret? And what reason would Maigret have to believe him? The main reason, of course, is that if Maigret didn’t follow up on the dubious lead, there would be no novel. Maigret displays a rather passive method of detection. He insinuates himself into the crowd of possible suspects, becomes a fixture among them, then says little, and waits for them to spill the beans to him. Which they do. On the one hand, I was disappointed by the lack of action, suspense, and even intellectual challenge in this mystery. On the other hand, I admire Simenon for eschewing the cliches and conventions of the genre, and creating a police procedural that is truer to life than the stereotypical heroes vs. villains narrative. He is less concerned with any cat-and-mouse game and more interested in the workings of human psychology. What I enjoyed most about the book was just the atmosphere that Simenon creates. The view he presents of life in France is refreshingly unglamorous and unglorified. While an American author would have given us gunfights under the Eiffel Tower, Simenon instead provides a realistic portrayal of how the middle class lives. Despite the lack of excitement, I can’t deny that I did look forward to diving into each new chapter. Simenon is known for stripping all the unnecessary adornment from his prose. Often the words between two periods fail to constitute a complete sentence. The choppy rhythm of his phrasing takes some getting used to, but soon the cadence becomes second nature and the pages flow by briskly.

Though the Tavern by the Seine achieves mixed results, I’m eager to give Maigret another chance in hopes that he may surprise me yet. If, however, what I’ve read online is true, and this is “one of the best” offerings in the series, then I’m probably not going to stick with him for long.
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