The Grand Banks Café by Georges Simenon

Maigret and the sea captain’s murder

The 9th novel in Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret series was originally published in 1931 under the French title of Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas. It has since been published in English as The Sailor’s Rendezvous, Maigret Answers a Plea, and The Grand Banks Café. Maigret receives a letter from an old classmate, Jorissen, who is now a teacher in Brittany. One of Jorissen’s former students has been arrested for murder, and the teacher asks his old friend for help in clearing the young man’s name. Maigret had plans to take a trip with his wife to Alsace, but he changes their destination to Normandy and brings Madame Maigret along on a working vacation.

A commercial fishing trawler, the Océan, has returned to the Normandy seaport of Fécamp after having made a voyage to the fishing grounds of the Grand Banks near Newfoundland. Shortly after the boat has docked, the captain of the vessel is found murdered, his body dumped off the wharf. Pierre Le Clinche, Jorissen’s student, was the radio operator on that journey. The crew reports that there was some evident animosity between Le Clinche and the captain during the journey, so the police arrest Le Clinche largely on circumstantial evidence. When Maigret arrives in Fécamp, he searches the Océan for clues and visits Le Clinche in jail to get his side of the story. Maigret also spends much of his investigation in the Grand Banks Café, a waterfront watering hole where all the sailors of Fécamp’s ships spend their time and money.

What’s unusual about this Maigret novel, as opposed to the 20 others I’ve read, is that I had this one figured out—the who, the how, and the why of the murder—about halfway through the book. Normally, I get to the final two chapters of a Maigret case, and he reveals all sorts of details I never thought of. This mystery, however, was not very mysterious, relatively speaking. That’s not to say it’s a bad novel, though. I really like how Simenon draws the reader into the lifestyle of these fishermen on the Normandy coast. The Grand Banks Café is a vivid setting out of an old waterfront film noir. The cast of characters is interesting, and as always Simenon gives them realistic psychological motivations. He brings to life small human dramas that escalate into desperate crimes. There aren’t many viable suspects for the murder, however, so depending on how important you consider the puzzle of a mystery novel, this may not be the Maigret book for you. Like most of Maigret’s adventures, however, I still found this novel a very addictive read.