The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon

A jolly, bedridden Maigret

The Madman of Bergerac is the 16th book in Georges Simenon’s series of Inspector Maigret detective novels. It was first published in 1932 as Le Fou de Bergerac. Traveling by train to visit his friend Leduc, who lives in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, Maigret spends the night in a sleeping car. He has trouble sleeping, partially due to the man in the berth above him, who won’t stop fidgeting and intermittently sobs. The stranger descends from his compartment, and Maigret sees him jump from the moving train. Without really knowing why—driven by a detective’s instinct I suppose—Maigret jumps off the train in pursuit. When the mystery man discovers he’s being followed, he fires a shot at Maigret, wounding him in the shoulder.

Maigret wakes up in a hospital in Bergerac, a small city in the Dordogne. He is soon moved to a hotel on the town square, where he receives outpatient medical treatment, as well as the loving care of Madame Maigret. Maigret spends the rest of the novel in bed, but still manages to conduct an investigation into the man who shot him. In addition, a serial killer is afoot in Bergerac. Two women were strangled to death and stabbed post mortem in the heart by some kind of needle-like instrument. From his bed, Maigret meets and questions various citizens of Bergerac. Despite being confined to his hotel room, he is able to form a picture of the town and uncover some of the hidden secrets of its citizens.

Although Sherlock Holmes or C. Auguste Dupin sometimes solved crimes without ever leaving their chairs, an immobile Maigret is an oddity in the series. His bedridden convalescence leads to a lot of second-hand action. Important events take place “offstage,” and Maigret and the reader only find out about them through indirect accounts. Also unusual is how uncharacteristically jolly Maigret is throughout this book. He seems to be having the time of his life solving crimes from his bed. He enjoys tormenting the suspects and making them squirm. The phrase “madman of Bergerac” is coined to refer to the killer, but some of the mystified Bergeraciens sometimes wonder if Maigret himself might have a screw or two loose.

I got hooked on this novel from the get-go, and it held my rapt attention for the first several chapters. I found the ending a little disappointing, however. In pursuing the case, Maigret is more interested in the private lives of his adversaries rather than the fact that people have been murdered, which is treated almost as an afterthought. As usual, Simenon has developed a compelling back story for his characters, a family drama drawn with psychological authenticity. It seems to me, however, that I’ve seen elements of this conclusion in other Maigret novels (Repetition between books, of course, would depend on the order in which you read them, which in my case has been kind of random). Also, the ending seems to materialize out of thin air. Simenon doesn’t leave a lot of bread comes for the reader to follow. There doesn’t seem to be much cause and effect between investigative work and final revelations. The bed-bound Maigret just seems somewhat omniscient.

Though The Madman of Bergerac is not the best Maigret, any Maigret is good Maigret. Compared to the consistent quality of the Maigret books, this one falls a little short, but it’s still better than the vast majority of detective fiction out there.

The Misty Harbour by Georges Simenon

Maigret on the Waterfront

The Misty Harbour, published in 1932, is the 15th novel in Georges Simenon’s series of Inspector Maigret mystery novels and the 30th book from that series that I have read and reviewed so far. The book’s original French title is Les port des brumes, and it has also been published in English under varying configurations of Death of a Harbor Master. The Maigret books are consistently good but not always excellent. The Misty Harbour is one of the better ones. This mystery grabs you from page one and keeps you gripped until the very end.

As the title indicates, The Misty Harbour takes place in a fog-bound seaside town: Ouistreham on the coast of Calvados, Normandy. This town serves as the seaport to the city of Caen, to which it is connected via a canal. In Paris, where Maigret serves as the superintendant of the Police Judiciaire, a John Doe is found wandering the streets. He has no memory of his identity, appears to have suffered some brain damage, and has lost the power of speech. The man has a gunshot wound to his cranium that appears to have received some medical attention. The Paris police send out newspaper articles to help ascertain the mystery man’s identity. His housekeeper responds, identifying him as Yves Joris, the harbor master at Ouistreham. She has no idea what happened to him or why he’s in Paris. Maigret accompanies Joris and the housekeeper on the train back to Ouistreham to investigate the cause of the harbor master’s injury. Shortly after arriving in the coastal town, Joris drops dead, apparently murdered by poison.

In Ouistreham, social life revolves around the waterfront tavern la Buvette de la Marine. Maigret makes several visits to the establishment to toss back a few beers with the local inhabitants and find out what they know, but nobody’s talking. The population of the town consists mostly of sailors and other working men who make their living from the sea. Many of them speak the Breton language. These men make frequent trips to England, the Netherlands, or Norway to ship goods to and from Caen. A few upper-class inhabitants, who have made their fortunes in the shipping industry, also have homes in Ouistreham. Among these is the town’s mayor, Monsieur Grandmaison, a particularly prickly character who seems to have something to hide. He repeatedly butts heads with Maigret and challenges the inspector’s authority.

Having read so many Maigret novels, I’ve gotten to the point where I can sometimes foresee where Simenon’s mystery plots are going, but this case was sufficiently perplexing that I couldn’t figure out what was going on until all is revealed in the final chapter. Atypical of Maigret novels, this one sports a few action scenes, violence included, in which Maigret gives and takes blows with the rough and tumble sailors of Ouistreham. Sailors and bargemen are frequently featured in Maigret novels. Simenon clearly has an affinity for those who live and work at sea or on the canals of France, as seen in such novels as Lock 14, The Grand Banks Café, The Flemish House, Maigret and the Headless Corpse, and Maigret and the Bum. One of the joys of reading the Maigret books is learning about different aspects of life in France, and The Misty Harbour provides a vivid glimpse into the maritime lifestyle on the Norman coast in the 1930s. In all respects, The Misty Harbour is an exceptional example of Simenon’s and Maigret’s work, one well worth reading for fans or newcomers to the series.

The Flemish House by Georges Simenon

Ho-hum Maigret mystery

The Flemish House, first published in 1932, is the 14th book in Georges Simenon’s series of Inspector Maigret detective novels. Though the most recent paperback edition from Penguin Books is called The Flemish House, all previous editions were titled The Flemish Shop. The original French title is Chez les Flamands.

Maigret is invited to look into a case in Givet, a town on the border between France and Belgium, along the Meuse River. A friend of a friend, Anna Peeters, asks Maigret to help clear her family name. A young woman named Germaine Piedboeuf has gone missing. It is known that she has an illegitimate child by Anna’s brother Joseph, who is engaged to marry another woman. The locals feel that the Peeters family killed Germaine to get rid of her and any claims she may have on Joseph. Anna Peeters argues that there is no hard evidence connecting her family to the woman’s disappearance. They are merely the victims of prejudice based on nationality and class.

In this border town, animosity and resentment exist between the French and Flemish residents, which, here on the French side of the border, amplifies the locals’ dislike of the Peeters family. The Peeterses run a successful grocery store/bar serving mostly Flemish customers, and as a result they are relatively well-to-do, financially. The Piedboeufs, on the other hand, are a family of working-class factory employees, so Joseph Peeters’s seduction of Germaine leaves a bad taste of the rich man exploiting the poor girl. All this fuel added to the fire contributes to Anna Peeters turning to Maigret for help in clearing this matter up.

Beyond the mystery, these Maigret novels are often enjoyable for what Simenon shows us of French life of the time period in question. The River Meuse is a thoroughfare for barge traffic, and Givet one of its more popular stops, so Simenon once again gives some glimpses into the lives of the bargemen and families who ply this trade. Canal life is also covered in Lock 14, Maigret and the Headless Corpse, and Maigret and the Bum. In The Flemish House, the Meuse is “in spate,” with high flooding and strong currents that have halted any boat traffic and left the barges stranded along the riverbanks. The depiction of Givet is similar to that of other provincial towns in Maigret novels (The Grand Banks Café, for example). The majority of the residents are shown as close-minded conspiracy theorists. The Belgian border adds a touch of uniqueness to this novel, as the reader gets an inkling of insight into Flemish culture through the daily lives of the Peeters family in their home and shop.

Upon finishing the book, I really have no idea how Maigret solved this case. He just kind of hangs out with the suspects until he gets a feel for them. There’s no case-cracking clue that tips the scales in his favor. The reader can make an educated guess as to who may have committed the crime, and in the end it seems like that’s just what Maigret does. The solution is neither obvious nor surprising. When the perpetrator is revealed, the reader just feels apathy. Habitual readers of Maigret novels know that the inspector always solves his case, but he doesn’t always subject the culprits to the full extent of legal justice. Sometimes he makes a moral judgment that the crime was justified or committed under extenuating circumstances, and he cuts the criminal a break. In this case, however, it is difficult to understand why Maigret would exercise leniency to the extent that he does. The Flemish House failed to capture my attention the way most Maigret mysteries do. This is just an average mystery novel, and a below-average book for Simenon.

The Shadow Puppet by Georges Simenon

Only murder in the building

First published in 1912, The Shadow Puppet is the twelfth novel in Belgian author Georges Simenon’s series of mystery novels starring Parisian police detective Jules Maigret. The original French title of this novel is L’Ombre chinoise, meaning literally “the Chinese shadow,” which refers to a certain type of shadow puppet. This novel has also been published in English under the titles of Maigret Mystified and The Shadow in the Courtyard, the latter title being the most accurate. If this were a Hardy Boys mystery, the story would actually involve a shadow puppet, but here the title is strictly metaphorical, referring to a human silhouette viewed through a window shade.

A concierge at an apartment building on the Place des Vosges calls the police to report a murder, and Maigret reports to the scene of the crime. Passing through an arched entryway, he enters the large courtyard of this apartment complex. On one side of this courtyard resides the laboratory of a serum manufacturer (medical elixirs, I presume). The owner of the company, Monsieur Couchet, has been found seated at his desk, shot to death, and his safe emptied of its contents, estimated to be 360,000 francs. Couchet, a very wealthy man, doesn’t actually reside in this building, but through an unfortunate coincidence, his ex-wife does. Both have remarried since their divorce. Couchet also had a mistress, not much of a secret, for whom Maigret develops a sympathy. Although on the surface this crime appears to be a typical armed robbery killing, Maigret comes to suspect that the murder may have been committed by one of the building’s residents. As he delves into the case, he uncovers the secret lives of these tenants and their tangled web of relationships.

The fact that an industrial pharmaceutical laboratory would exist on the ground floor of an apartment building is one of those little historical details that makes Maigret novels interesting. From reading these mysteries, you learn a lot about what life was like in Paris, and France at large, in the early twentieth century. The reader gets to see aspects of Parisian life they’d never find in a tourism brochure. One facet of French society that Simenon often addresses in these novels is class consciousness and social status. In The Shadow Puppet, differences in financial status—between the rich Couchets in their mansion on Boulevard Haussmann, the middle-class tenants of the apartment block at the Place des Vosges, and the hard-up mistress and her peers living in Montmarte—play an important part in the story. As usual, Simenon goes beyond mere stereotypes and caricatures to create complex characters with realistic psychological motives.

I became very involved with the lives of these characters; that aspect of the novel is expertly done. The mystery story itself, however, is not one of the most artfully constructed puzzles in Maigret’s casebook. To set up this unusual web of relationships between the characters, Simenon had to rely on maybe one too many coincidences. It is a little hard to believe that some of these people just happened to end up as next-door neighbors to each other. This murder also suffers from a shortage of viable suspects, leading to a conclusion that’s not unforeseen, though there are some creative revelations in the details of the crime. As always, this Maigret novel is a compelling read, thoroughly entertaining, but would it make a top-ten list of Maigret books? Probably not.  

The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin by Georges Simenon

Guest-starring Maigret

Published in 1931, La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin is the tenth novel in George Simenon’s series of Inspector Maigret mystery novels. In English the novel has appeared as Maigret at the “Gai-Moulin” or The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin. The title references the name of a nightclub in Liège, Belgium, the city of Simenon’s birth, where this novel takes place. Even though Maigret works for the Paris police, his investigations sometimes lead him farther afield, jurisdiction be damned.

Two teenage boys are hanging out at the Gai-Moulin one evening. René Delfosse, 18 years of age, is the wealthy child of a factory owner and somewhat of a juvenile delinquent. Jean Chabot, 16, is a poor boy, generally well-intentioned, who has fallen in with the wrong kind of friend. Both of them are enamored with Adèle, a dancer at the Gai-Moulin. She is friendly towards them, but treats them like pets and doesn’t put out for them. On this particular evening, Adèle can’t spend too much time chatting with the boys because she has to pay attention to a real big spender. This stranger has a Turkish look about him, which results in him being frequently referred to as “the Turk,” whether accurate or not. Unbeknownst to Adèle, Delfosse and Chabot have not come to the Gai-Moulin merely to drink cocktails. Their intention is to rob the place. They hide in the basement until after closing, then enter the bar to empty the till. Before they can do so, however, they find the body of the Turk dead on the bar floor.

By now, you might be asking yourself, “What does all this have to do with Maigret?” The odd thing about this Maigret novel is that Maigret himself doesn’t even appear until halfway through the book. Even then, he largely confines himself to the sidelines while the Liège police do all of the leg work. The absence of the book’s star for much of the novel’s length seems an odd choice on the part of Simenon, but I guess when you write around 500 novels you can afford to experiment. This book kept calling to my mind Arthur Conan Doyle’s book The Valley of Fear, a Sherlock Holmes mystery in which Sherlock Holmes barely plays a supporting role. That Doyle book, in my opinion, was definitely a failed experiment, but this Maigret novel fares a little better with the absentee detective strategy. The final chapter of the novel, in which Maigret does his thing, is really very good as Simenon rolls out one of the more ingeniously intricate crime-solution plot webs in the series.

The notable absence of Maigret for much of the novel, while unexpected, does not ruin the book. I wouldn’t recommend this novel for Maigret newbies, because one learns almost nothing about the main character, but if you’re already a fan of the series then this mystery will not fail to satisfy. It’s not one of the best books in Simenon’s consistently high-quality series, but it’s better than many Maigret cases and far above average when compared to the novels of other 20th-century mystery writers.

The Inspector Maigret Novels of Georges Simenon

Keeping them all straight

From 1931 to 1972, Belgian-French author Georges Simenon published 75 novels in his Inspector Maigret series of mysteries. (There are also 28 short stories, none of which I’ve read.) The star of these books, Jules Maigret, is superintendent of the Police Judiciaire in Paris. He works out of the police headquarters on the Quai des Orfèvres, where he heads a team of detectives—Janvier, Lucas, Lapointe, and Torrence—who appear as recurring characters throughout the series. Rather unusual for a detective series born in the 1930s, Maigret is married. Madame Maigret appears in almost every book and occasionally has a major role in a case. Although his home and office are in Paris, duty often calls Maigret farther afield to locations all over France, elsewhere in Europe, and even to the United States. The variety in Maigret’s cases allows the reader glimpses into different aspects of French society: metropolitan and provincial, rich and poor, urban and rural, and various regional distinctions.

I never set out to read all these books, but I keep finding them in used book stores and library sales at very inexpensive prices. When I pick up a Maigret novel, I’m pretty sure I’m in for a good read. The worst of these novels are above average for the mystery genre, and the best of them are excellent. 

When I find a Maigret novel, however, it is often difficult to tell whether I’m buying the same book twice because the English editions have been published under so many different titles. I decided I need a checklist to keep them all straight. Below is a list of all the novels in the series. The books I’ve read and reviewed are highlighted in blue. Click on the titles to read the complete reviews.

 

Harvest/HBJ paperback editions (circa 1990s)
uncredited cover designs

1. Pietr-le-Letton (1931)
English titles: Pietr the Latvian, The Strange Case of Peter the Lett, Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett, Suite at the Majestic 

2. Le Charretier de “la Providence” (1931)
English titles: Lock 14, The Crime at Lock 14, Maigret Meets a Milord, The Carter of La Providence

3. M. Gallet décédé (1931)
English titles: The Late Monsieur Gallet, The Death of Monsieur Gallet, Maigret Stonewalled 

4. Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien (1931)
English titles: The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, The Crime of Inspector Maigret, Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets 

5. La Tête d’un homme (1931)
English titles: A Man’s Head, A Battle of Nerves, The Patience of Maigret, Maigret’s War of Nerves 

6. Le Chien jaune (1931)
English titles: The Yellow Dog, Maigret and the Yellow Dog, Maigret and the Concarneau Murders, A Face for a Clue

7. La Nuit du carrefour (1931)
English titles: The Night at the Crossroads, The Crossroad Murders, Maigret at the Crossroads 

8. Un crime en Hollande (1931)
English titles: Maigret in Holland, A Crime in Holland 

9. Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas (1931)
English titles: The Grand Banks Café, The Sailors’s Rendezvous, Maigret Answers a Plea

10. La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin (1931)
English titles: The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin, At the “Gai-Moulin”, Maigret at the “Gai-Moulin” 

11. La Guinguette à deux sous (1932)
English titles: Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine, The Guinguette by the Seine, Maigret to the Rescue, A Spot by the Seine, The Bar on the Seine, The Two-Penny Bar

12. L’Ombre chinoise (1932)
English titles: The Shadow Puppet, The Shadow in the Courtyard, Maigret Mystified

13. L’Affaire Saint-Fiacre (1932)
English titles: The Saint-Fiacre Affair, Maigret and the Countess, Maigret Goes Home, Maigret on Home Ground

14. Chez les Flamands (1932)
English titles: The Flemish House, The Flemish Shop, Maigret and the Flemish Shop

15. Le Port des brumes (1932)
English titles: The Misty Harbour, Death of a Harbor Master, Maigret and the Death of a Harbor Master

16. Le Fou de Bergerac (1932)
English titles: The Madman of Bergerac

17. Liberty Bar (1932)
English titles: Liberty Bar, Maigret on the Riviera

18. L’Écluse no. 1 (1933)
English titles: Lock No. 1, The Lock at Charenton, Maigret Sits it Out

19. Maigret (1934)
English titles: Maigret Returns, Maigret

20. Les Caves du Majestic (1942)
English titles: The Hotel Majestic, Maigret and the Hotel Majestic, The Cellars of the Majestic

21. La Maison du juge (1942)
English titles: Maigret in Exile, The Judge’s House

22. Cécile est morte (1942)
English titles: Cécile is Dead, Maigret and the Spinster

23. Signé Picpus (1944)
English titles: Maigret and the Fortuneteller; To Any Lengths; Signed, Picpus

24. Félicie est là (1944)
English titles: Félicie, Maigret and the Toy Village

25. L’Inspecteur Cadavre (1944)
English titles: Maigret’s Rival, Inspector Cadaver

26. Maigret se fâche (1947)
English titles: Maigret Gets Angry, Maigret in Retirement

27. Maigret à New York (1947)
English titles: Inspector Maigret in New York’s Underworld, Maigret in New York

28. Les vacances de Maigret (1948)
English titles: Maigret’s Holiday, A Summer Holiday, No Vacation for Maigret

29. Maigret et son mort (1948)
English titles: Maigret’s Dead Man, Maigret’s Special Murder

30. La première enquête de Maigret (1949)
English titles: Maigret’s First Case

31. Mon ami Maigret (1949)
English titles: My Friend Maigret, The Methods of Maigret

32. Maigret chez le coroner (1949)
English titles: Maigret at the Coroner’s, Maigret and the Coroner

33. Maigret et la vieille dame (1949)
English titles: Maigret and the Old Lady

34. L’Amie de Mme. Maigret (1950)
English titles: Madam Maigret’s Friend, Madam Maigret’s Own Case, The Friend of Madame Maigret

35. Les Mémoires de Maigret (1951)
English titles: Maigret’s Memoirs

36. Maigret au “Picratt’s” (1951)
English titles: Maigret in Montmartre, Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper, Maigret at Picratt’s

37. Maigret en meublé (1951)
English titles: Maigret Takes a Room

38. Maigret et la grande perche (1951)
English titles: Maigret and the Tall Woman, Maigret and the Burglar’s Wife

 

Harvest/HBJ paperback editions (circa 1980s)
Bob Silverman cover designs

39. Maigret, Lognan et les gangsters (1952)
English titles: Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters; Inspector Maigret and the Killers; Maigret and the Gangsters

40. Le Revolver de Maigret (1952)
English titles: Maigret’s Revolver

41. Maigret et l’homme du banc (1953)
English titles: Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard, Maigret and the Man on the Bench, The Man on the Boulevard

42. Maigret a peur (1953)
English titles: Maigret Afraid, Maigret is Afraid

43. Maigret se trompe (1953)
English titles: Maigret’s Mistake

44. Maigret à l’école (1954)
English titles: Maigret Goes to School

45. Maigret et la jeune morte (1954)
English titles: Maigret and the Dead Girl, Maigret and the Young Girl

46. Maigret chez le ministre (1954)
English titles: Maigret and the Calame Report, Maigret and the Minister

47. Maigret et le corps sans tête (1955)
English titles: Maigret and the Headless Corpse

48. Maigret tend un piège (1955)
English titles: Maigret Sets a Trap

49. Un échec de Maigret (1956)
English titles: Maigret’s Failure

50. Maigret s’amuse (1957)
English titles: Maigret’s Little Joke, Maigret Amuses Himself, None of Maigret’s Business

51. Maigret voyage (1958)
English titles: Maigret Travels, Maigret and the Millionaires 

52. Les Scrupules de Maigret (1958)
English titles: Maigret Has Scruples, Maigret’s Doubts

53. Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants (1959)
English titles: Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses

54. Une confidence de Maigret (1959)
English titles: Maigret Has Doubts, Maigret’s Secret

55. Maigret aux assises (1960)
English titles: Maigret in Court

56. Maigret et les vieillards (1960)
English titles: Maigret and the Old People, Maigret in Society

57. Maigret et le voleur paresseux (1961)
English titles: Maigret and the Lazy Burglar, Maigret and the Idle Burglar

58. Maigret et les braves gens (1962)
English titles: Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse, Maigret and the Black Sheep 

59. Maigret et le client du samedi (1962)
English titles: Maigret and the Saturday Caller

60. Maigret et le clochard (1963)
English titles: Maigret and the Bum, Maigret and the Dosser, Maigret and the Tramp

61. La Colère de Maigret (1963)
English titles: Maigret’s Anger, Maigret Loses His Temper 

62. Maigret et le fantôme (1964)
English titles: Maigret and the Ghost, Maigret and the Apparition 

63. Maigret se défend (1964)
English titles: Maigret Defends Himself, Maigret on the Defensive

64. La Patience de Maigret (1965)
English titles: Maigret’s Patience, Maigret Bides His Time, The Patience of Maigret

65. Maigret et l’affaire Nahour (1966)
English titles: Maigret and the Nahour Case

66. Le Voleur de Maigret (1967)
English titles: Maigret’s Pickpocket, Maigret and the Pickpocket 

67. Maigret à Vichy (1968)
English titles: Maigret in Vichy, Maigret Takes the Waters

68. Maigret hésite (1968)
English titles: Maigret Hesitates

69. L’Ami d’enfance de Maigret (1968)
English titles: Maigret’s Childhood Friend, Maigret’s Boyhood Friend

70. Maigret et le tueur (1969)
English titles: Maigret and the Killer

71. Maigret et le marchand de vin (1970)
English titles: Maigret and the Wine Merchant

72. La Folle de Maigret (1970)
English titles: Maigret’s Madwoman, Maigret and the Madwoman

73. Maigret et l’homme tout seul (1971)
English titles: Maigret and the Loner

74. Maigret et l’indicateur (1971)
English titles: Maigret and the Informer, Maigret and the Flea

75. Maigret et Monsieur Charles (1972)
English titles: Maigret and Monsieur Charles

 

Penguin paperback editions (2013 to present)
Alceu Chiesorin Nunes cover designs

The 13 Culprits by Georges Simenon

Pre-Maigret short stories

The introduction to The 13 Culprits opens with a fun quote from author Georges Simenon: “I haven’t written that much. I’m already 29 and I’ve only published 277 books . . .” A few years before that statement, in 1929, Simenon was hired to write a series of short mystery stories for the French magazine Détective. Those stories were called The 13 Mysteries, The 13 Enigmas, and The 13 Culprits. These 39 Détective stories are formatted in such a way that the reader is presented with the facts of the case so that he or she can try solving the mystery themselves before the detective weighs in at the end with his conclusions. These stories may have eventually been published in book form in French, but I believe the Culprits are the only ones to have made it into English translation thus far, and not until 2002. 

In The 13 Culprits stories, the suspect in the case has already been tracked down and in some cases apprehended before the story starts. The details of the crime are revealed to us through the interrogation of the suspect. These questionings are conducted by an examining magistrate named Froget. He bears more than a passing resemblance to Simenon’s famous detective Inspector Maigret, who would make his debut in 1931. Froget is a large laconic man of pale skin and surly temperament. He only says as much as he absolutely needs to, and he intimidates his quarry with uncomfortable silences. Froget definitely seems more tightly wound than Maigret. You wouldn’t want to be questioned by either one of these formidable law enforcement professionals, but at least Maigret seems like someone with whom one might enjoy drinking a beer.

I’ve read about 30 of Simeon’s novels, but this is my first experience with his short stories. I can’t say that I was thrilled with this collection. The solve-it-yourself format of the stories amounts to a lot of confusing details being dumped on you before Froget declares his verdict. You already know that the culprits are guilty, for the simple reason that Froget is questioning them. With the whodunit already figured out, it is still left for Froget to ascertain the how and the why. The process of solving these cases is very similar to that employed by American teenaged sleuth Encyclopedia Brown. The suspect slips up with some contradictory or erroneous detail in their testimony, by which Froget nails them. In most cases, Froget really doesn’t have enough evidence for a conviction, but that’s not even considered since the whole point of the story is merely to solve the puzzle.

Unlike Encyclopedia Brown, however, the crimes here are more hard-boiled than some kid stealing a bike. Simenon delivers the gritty film-noir look at the underbelly of Paris that one expects from him. He also doesn’t shy away from sexual content. One story even has a transvestite, which was pretty racy for 1929. Just as in his Maigret novels, Simenon comes up with some really interesting and compelling back stories for these culprits, but they feel very rushed in this short format. One thing that’s interesting about these mysteries is that almost none of these culprits are French. Instead, they come from all over Europe, plus one African from the Congo. 

If you’re a fan of Simenon, these stories may be worth a look, but don’t expect anything that measures up to a Maigret novel. The 13 Culprits stories feel like a series of quick sketches leading up to the creation of Maigret. Since Simenon wrote about 500 books, however, he’s got plenty of other mysteries that are more worth your time than this.

Stories in this collection

Ziliouk

Monsieur Rodrigues

Madame Smitt

The “Flemings”

Nouchi

Arnold Schruttinger

Waldemar Strvzeski

Philippe

Nicolas

The Timmermans

The Pacha

Otto Müller

Bus

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.  

The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien by Georges Simenon

A suicide, but why?

Originally published in 1931 under the French title of Le Pendu du Saint-Pholien, this is the fourth book in George Simenon’s series of Inspector Maigret mystery novels. In English translation, this book has been published as The Crime of Inspector Maigret, Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets, and The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien. The title of the novel is a bit of a spoiler, so it’s best not explained.

Maigret has been in Brussels, conferring with the police there about a case. While patronizing a café in that city, Maigret spots a shabby, destitute-looking man handling a sizeable wad of cash. Maigret estimates the stack of bills to be at least 30,000 Belgian francs, which the suspicious character stuffs into an envelope that he addresses to a Paris address. Assuming this man is engaged in some form of thievery, Maigret decides to follow the guy, eventually tailing him to the train station. With apparently nothing else to do, Maigret follows his suspect on board a train traveling through Amsterdam to Bremen, Germany. There, the sleazy-looking fellow engages a hotel room, and Maigret takes the adjoining room. Spying on his suspect through the keyhole, Maigret watches as the man takes out a gun and, before Maigret can intervene, commits suicide.

After an examination of this mystery man’s belongings, Maigret determines that there is more to this story than meets the eye. Wondering where the money came from and why this man would so suddenly decide to blow his brains out, Maigret decides to investigate the suicide victim’s past. He immediately encounters an obstacle, however, when he discovers that this man, supposedly named Louis Jeunet, is traveling with a fake passport under an assumed name. The ensuing investigation into the dead man’s identity leads Maigret on a search stretching from Bremen to Paris, Rheims, and Liège.

This mystery makes for an intriguing puzzle that grips the reader’s curiosity and keeps one engaged throughout, but the story does have its problems. As happens in quite a few of these Maigret novels, the resolution doesn’t rely so much on Maigret’s detective work but rather on the suspects’ arbitrary decision to just spill their guts to him, as they do for roughly the final four chapters of this book. Simenon was an expert at constructing his crime novels around realistic and moving human stories, but the result is that sometimes the criminals’ and victims’ back stories take precedence over the actual mystery itself, as is the case here. The opening premise of the novel, with Maigret just following some guy on a whim, feels like a rather lazy, contrived means of setting up the revelations of alias Louis Jeunet’s past, which is really where Simenon directs most of his effort. Another element in this novel that I found a bit disturbing is that Maigret is actually responsible for the death of an innocent person, and he knows it, but it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.

Like most Maigret novels, once I picked this book up I didn’t want to put it down. Simenon’s prose is brisk and riveting. On the other hand, this is one where I felt like I had to suspend disbelief at times, and when I got to the end, I was left with a feeling of hmmm . . . that was odd. It defies expectations, and not always in a good way.

The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon

Maigret in Finistère

First published in 1931, The Yellow Dog is the sixth novel in Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret series, a series that would grow to include 75 novels, the last being published in 1972. Originally published in French as Le Chien jaune, The Yellow Dog has also been published under the titles of Maigret and the Yellow Dog, Maigret and the Concarneau Murders, and A Face for a Clue.

The story takes place in Concarneau, a town in Finistère, the western-most department of Brittany. Though he is employed by the Police Judiciaire of Paris, Maigret has been stationed in the nearby city of Rennes, where he is acting as a consultant to the police department there. When a shooting occurs in Concarneau, he is called in to investigate. At the time Simenon wrote the book, Concarneau had a population of about 6,000. The portrait he paints of the city is that of an insular coastal town, where a few of the town’s notable gentlemen, although provincial small fry compared to wealthy Parisiennes, nevertheless manage to lord their minor aristocracy over the common folk of Concarneau. These leading citizens form a small group of regulars at the Admiral Hotel, where they drink, play cards, and mess around with women. One night, one of these card players is walking home after an evening at the hotel bar. When he stops in the doorway of an abandoned house to light a cigarette, he is shot through the door. Given the circumstances, it seems like it may be a random violent act, but when Maigret arrives to discuss the case with the in-crowd at the Admiral, they discover poison in their glasses, indicating that someone is out to get them.

I enjoyed the setting of the novel because I have actually traveled to Finistère, not Concarneau but some cities nearby. As usual, Simenon reveals aspects of French life to his readers beyond what the typical tourist sees, and he brings to his mysteries a perspicacious understanding of human nature that rings true to life. Even in a small town where the disparity between the haves and have-nots may not be as wide as one would find in a major urban center, there is nonetheless a line drawn between the two. Those on the right side of that line, who are friends with the right people, can get away with much. The town’s prominent residents hide some ethically questionable behavior behind their moral facades as upstanding citizens. Simenon also illustrates how small-town crimes generate rumors and paranoia that sweep through the populace like wildfire.

The Maigret novels are consistently very good, so as one would expect, The Yellow Dog is a finely crafted mystery. Even so, I don’t think there’s anything truly memorable or remarkable about this particular Maigret novel that sets it above Simenon’s usual standard of quality. (The title is unusual for a Maigret novel, but the yellow dog in question is more of a bystander than an integral participant in the case.) Because Maigret is removed from his normal milieu of Paris, it seems like less of his personality is explored than in most Maigret mysteries. I don’t believe his wife, for example, is even mentioned in this novel. The resolution to the mystery ends up being an admirably complicated affair with several moving parts, some of which the reader can see coming, but some of which are a total surprise. In summation, this is probably not among Maigret’s best, but even his average cases are better than the rest.  

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Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses by Georges Simenon

Biscuit family murder

First published in 1959, Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses (Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants in the original French) is a later entry in Belgian-French author Georges Simenon’s series of novels and short stories to feature the Parisian police superintendant Jules Maigret (his 81st of 103 outings, to be exact). Nevertheless, the series loses no steam with this taut and intriguing entry, one of the better Maigret books that I’ve come across. This one grabbed my attention from the get-go and kept me riveted until the very end.

Maigret is called to investigate the murder of Léonard Lachaume, the reigning CEO of Lachaume’s Biscuits, a popular brand of packaged cookies that Maigret remembers from his childhood. In recent times, however, the biscuit industry has not been booming. Maigret surmises that the family business has fallen on hard times, judging by the decrepit and depressing look of the Lachaume mansion, where the victim lived with his elderly parents, a younger brother and his wife, and a particularly crotchety old servant woman.

The most shocking aspect of the Lachaume home, however, is the fact that no one in the house seems particularly surprised or saddened by Léonard’s death. Each member of the household meets Maigret’s questions with a marked reluctance to share any statements about what they saw or heard on the night of the murder. Maigret finds the attitude of stoic resignation that permeates the mansion to be truly baffling. In the course of his investigation, he uncovers family secrets—including financial details revealing how Lachaume’s Biscuits has managed to stay afloat—that could indicate a motive for the killing.

This is really one of the better Maigret novels that I’ve read, and I’ve read about two dozen of them. Maigret is always a compelling character to follow, but much like any good TV series, the success of a particular episode often hinges on its guest stars. In this case, the Lachaume family makes for a fascinating supporting cast. The plot in this novel strikes a fine balance between the procedural details of Maigret’s detective work and the psychological examination of the suspects. Some Maigret novels err too much toward one or the other of those elements, but Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses succeeds at both. This is a good, perplexing murder mystery, but, like any Simenon novel, it also digs deeper into the psychological drama and motivations of the characters than most typical entries in the genre.

For non-French readers, the Maigret novels also provide outsiders with revealing insights into modern French society and private life. For that reason, some interest in French life is probably required to fully appreciate the Maigret series, much like some interest in Victorian England is likely a requirement to enjoy a Sherlock Holmes story. For anyone who likes a good classic mystery novel, however, Maigret rarely disappoints, and Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses is an exemplary entry in this fine series.
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Maigret Goes to School by Georges Simenon

Substandard Maigret murder mystery

First published in 1954, Maigret Goes to School is the 72nd work (if you count both novels and short stories) in Georges Simenon’s series of detective fiction featuring Inspector Jules Maigret. In the recent series of Penguin reprints, it is novel number 44. Though Simenon was born in Belgium and wrote his books in the French language, he penned this novel in Lakeville, Connecticut, where he lived for five years. Maigret Goes to School was adapted for television in 1992 as part of the British TV series starring Michael Gambon as Maigret.

A visitor shows up at Maigret’s police station to solicit his help. Joseph Gastin is a schoolmaster from the small town of Saint-André-sur-Mer on the western coast of France in the region of Charente. Gastin informs Maigret that a murder has been committed in his town, and that he, Gastin, is the prime suspect. An elderly woman, a retired postal employee, was shot in the eye as she looked out the window of her home. Gastin, an outsider in the town and unliked by everyone, knows that he will be charged with the crime and possibly attacked by the townsfolk. He wants Maigret to save his bacon by finding the real killer. Maigret, eager for a Spring outing, decides a trip to the sea might be nice.

When Maigret and Gastin arrive in Saint-André-sur-Mer, the schoolmaster is arrested and put in jail. Nobody really thinks he committed the crime, but they’d rather see this stranger in jail than one of their own. No one in town really liked the victim either, and everyone seems to be happy that the cranky old lady is dead. Nevertheless, a murder was committed, and it needs a resolution, so Maigret gets to know the citizens of this seaside town.

I’ve read two dozen of Simenon’s Maigret novels. Though not always mystery masterpieces, the books in this series are consistently very good and not infrequently great. Maigret Goes to School, however, has got to be the most boring Maigret novel I’ve come across so far. I usually like it when Maigret leaves Paris and solves small-town crimes because it often allows Simenon to show the reader a slice of French life not frequently seen in popular French fiction, which is so often set in Paris. The Night at the Crossroads, Maigret Afraid, and Maigret’s Rival are all fine examples of the Maigret-in-the-country category. Here, however, Saint-André-sur-Mer is really rather dull and filled with characters who are difficult to distinguish from one another. Just about anyone could have committed the murder, but no one really seems to care who did. There’s never any real sense of urgency to the story, nor is there much of the psychological insight that Simenon usually brings to his mysteries. Maigret seems to approach the case with ambivalence and apathy, and the reader can’t help but feel the same. After seven chapters of talking with these rather nondescript characters, Maigret reveals the mode and motive of the murder, bringing up a few clues out of the blue that weren’t mentioned earlier. When at last the killer is revealed, the reader feels no real sense of accomplishment, relief, or satisfaction.

Perhaps Simenon’s intention with Maigret Goes to School was to depict a provincial town as an insular enclave inhabited by shallow and surly persons. If so, he might have accomplished that, but it doesn’t make for a good novel. Simenon supposedly wrote over 400 published novels, 75 of them starring Maigret. Despite such a prolific output, it’s been my experience that he rarely delivers a dud, but Maigret Goes to School is one case where he missed the mark.
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