Simenon, Georges Books

The Strangers in the House (New York Review Books Classics)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Dirty, drunk, unloved, and unloving, Hector Loursat has been a bitter recluse for eighteen long years—ever since his wife abandoned him and their newborn child to run off with another man. Once a successful lawyer, Loursat now guzzles burgundy and buries himself in books, taking little notice of his teenage daughter or the odd things going on in his vast and ever-more-dilapidated mansion. But one night the sound of a gunshot penetrates the padded walls of Loursat’s study, and he is forced to investigate. What he stumbles on is a murder.

Soon Loursat discovers that his daughter and her friends have been leading a dangerous secret life. He finds himself strangely drawn to this group of young people, and when one of them is accused of the murder, he astonishes the world by taking up the young man’s defense.

In The Strangers in the House, Georges Simenon, master chronicler of the dark side of the human heart, gives us a detective story that is also a tale of an improbable redemption.

Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard (Inspector Maigret Mysteries)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"Walk along the street of sorrow, The boulevard of broken dreams 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams." Harry Warren/Al Dubin.

Georges Simenon was prolific in both his literary and public life. Simenon turned out hundreds of novels and his obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he found he could only write twelve novels in the year they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). These hard stories typically involved a person's descent from normality (or a life that seems to bear the appearance of normality) into nihilism and despair. NYRB has reissued a number of hard stories and Penguin has republished quite a few Maigret stories. Georges Simenon's "Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard" is one of Penguin's latest Inspector Maigret reissuance. The other new releases are Inspector Cadaver (Inspector Maigret Mysteries) and My Friend Maigret (Inspector Maigret Mysteries).

When Louis Thouret is found murdered just off the Boulevard Saint-Martin Inspector Maigret is called to investigate. Maigret thinks of this as a run-of-the mill stabbing that occurs but when Mrs. Thouret is asked to identify the body she seems shocked by the fact that he is not wearing the same clothes (including some shockingly racy brown shoes his wife would never have permitted him to wear) he had on when he left for work that morning but his wallet contained far more money than he normally carries. These oddities pique Maigret's interest. What brought Thouret to this Boulevard? What caused him to wear a second set of clothes and those fancy brown shoes? How did Thouret manage to acquire the hefty wad of cash found in his wallet? As the plot develops Maigret seeks to unravel the mystery of Thouret's murder and also the explanation behind what appears to be Thouret's double-life as it played itself out on and around the streets and alleys near the Boulevard Saint-Martin.

The tone and style of Simeon's hard stories differ significantly from his Maigret mysteries. In "Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard", however, we have a character, Thouret, whose dual life seems to mark him as someone who could have been the subject of a hard story. Here, it seems as if Maigret appears just when the hard story ends, and his investigation takes a look back in time to discover how this life ended the way it did. I enjoyed this connection between the two types of Simenon stories. I always enjoy the Maigret mysteries but this walk along a boulevard of broken dreams was, for me, one of Simenon's best Maigret efforts.

L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

Three vintage Maigret novels by legendary mystery author Georges Simenon

One of the world ’s most successful crime writers, Georges Simenon has thrilled mystery lovers since 1931 with his matchless creation Inspector Maigret. In My Friend Maigret, Inspector Maigret investigates the murder of a small-time crook on a Mediterranean island. Told in Simenon’s spare, unsentimental prose, Inspector Cadaver is a haunting exploration of provincial hypocrisy and snobbery, in which Maigret encounters a rival sleuth from his past. In Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard, Simenon’s tenacious detective pieces together the life of a man who for three years lived a secret life—until he is found stabbed to death in an alleyway.

Dirty Snow (New York Review Books Classics)

Georges Simenon, Louise Varese, William T. Vollmann

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Despair is an expression of the total personality 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

doubt only of thought. Soren Kierkegaard

Frank Friedmaier, the protagonist of Georges Simenon's novel "Dirty Snow" seems to have no doubts about his life. In fact he seems to be more a creature of base animal instinct than of anything resembling thought. If he has doubts about anything they are not evident. But his words and deeds bespeak an unconscious despair so profound that the reader can feel it with every page.

Simenon was nothing if not prolific in both his literary and public life. Born in Belgium in 1903, Simenon turned out hundreds of novels. Simenon's obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he could only write twelve novels in the twelve month period in which they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). "Dirty Snow" is one of Simenon's hard novels and to call it noir is an understatement. "Dirty Snow" is darker than noir, devoid of any light or optimism. In the hands of Simenon it is an absorbing (entertaining seems an inapt word) look at the darker side of life.

Frank Friedmaier lives in his mother's brothel in a small apartment building. The brothel is in an unnamed city in occupied France during World War II. Frank divides his time between the brothel and a local bar inhabited by an assortment of shady characters that include low level criminals, women of `easy virtue', and the occasional German soldier. When he returns home at night he camps down with whichever one of his mother's employees suits his fancy. What follows may best be described as nasty, brutish, and short. There is no affection, not even feigned affection, just feral activity.

The book follows Frank's descent into increasingly lower levels of behavior. He decides the time has come to kill a man, lies in wait in some snow that had been dirtied by the day's activities, and then takes a knife to a German soldier and stabs him to death. He reveals his presence to a passing neighbor, the father of a young girl who Frank seems to like, just so that the neighbor will know that Frank has murdered the soldier. Frank is confident that the neighbor will keep the information to himself. Frank next plans a robbery. The robbery is successful but Frank soon finds himself in a German prison subject to repeated interrogations. By the end of the book Frank has completed a journey that has taken him on a journey through what Dante would have considered different layers of hel l.

The fascinating aspect of Dirty Snow for me lay in the narration. Simenon has pulled off a neat trick here. The narrator is Frank and we are privy to his innermost thoughts, such as they are. Yet it is the absence of thought and the inability to evince any feeling in a rational manner that grabs the reader. There are sections, particularly those involving the daughter of the neighbor who witnessed the killing, where you can almost sense that Frank would like to act on a normal level with normal emotions. He may come close but he always retreats. As Dirty Snow ends, in a courtyard in the prison, Simenon has Frank perform one simple act involving an article of clothing. It is an act that Frank has long observed of the other prisoners. His instinctive performance of that act brings Franks journey and the book to its inevitable end.

Dirty Snow is a fascinating, if dark, look at one small aspect of the human condition. I found it well worth reading. L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

Dirty Snow, widely acknowledged as one of Simenon's finest books, is a study of the criminal mind comparable to Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me. It tells the story of Frank, a pimp, a petty thief, and collaborator in occupied France. Through the long and unrelenting cold and darkness of a long winter Frank pursues all the possibilites of perdition until at last there is nowhere left to go.

Hans Koning has described Dirty Snow as "one of the very few novels to come out of German-occupied France that gets it exactly right." Simenon maps a no man’s land of the spirit in which human nature is driven to destruction—and redemption, perhaps, as well—by forces beyond its control.

Red Lights (New York Review Books Classics)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

It's quarter to three, there's no one in the place 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Except you and me
So set 'em' up Joe, I got a little story
I think you should know
We're drinking my friend, to the end
Of a brief episode
Make it one for my baby
And one more for the road

Frank Sinatra's haunting signature song, "One for My Baby, (And One More for the Road) is an eerily suitable theme song for Georges Simenon's ode to a late night drinker, "Red Lights".

Simenon was prolific; he wrote hundreds of novels, most notably his Inspector Maigret mysteries. But Simenon's best work in my opinion can be found in what he called his "romans durs" ("hard stories"). In those stores you typically find a middle-aged male, leading a middle class life. In each story the protagonist hits a bump in the road (often of his own making) and this slight bump takes him off the level, boring road of respectability and puts him on a wild downhill road to the depths of darkness. "Red Lights" puts the protagonist, Steve Hogan, on a wild road, both literally and figuratively.

It is 1955 and the Friday of the Labor-Day Weekend. Steve and Nancy Hogan meet up at their local bar in Manhattan for a drink before setting off to Maine to pick their children up from Summer Camp. Steve wants another drink or two before he goes. He can sense he is heading to one of his periodic `tunnels' a dark place he finds within himself whenever he's had a bit too much to drink. His resentments, particularly toward his wife, come to the surface as they find themselves stuck in holiday traffic. He pulls over to a roadside bar (this was before the days when the interstate highway system covered the country) and tells Nancy he's going in for a drink. She tells him she's not going to wait. Steve walks into the bar and both their lives are changed forever. Each spouse embarks on a separate journey through hell, Steve's a self-inflicted trip, and Nancy's one set in motion by Steve's drinking. Both Steve and Nancy are in for a horrifying ride.

Simenon's prose, particularly his narration of Steve's thoughts as he drinks the night away, is compelling. Simenon is no `rank sentimentalist' to be sure but in Red Lights he does introduce a concept not often seen in his "romans durs", hope. It is not a false hope but a hope based on a shared experience. Whatever the outcome, "Red Lights" did not ring false for me. It was a quick and compelling read with a story line that would make a suitable script for a Twilight Zone episode. (In fact, a movie based on the book but set in France was released in 2004).
As "Red Lights" ended, I could hear Sinatra's One for My Baby end as well:

Well that's how it goes, and Joe I know your gettin'
Anxious to close
Thanks for the cheer
I hope you didn't mind
My bending your ear
But this torch that I found, It's gotta be drowned
Or it's gonna explode
Make it one for my baby
And one more for the road

Editorial Review:

It is Friday evening before Labor Day weekend. Americans are hitting the highways in droves; the radio crackles with warnings of traffic jams and crashed cars. Steve Hogan and his wife, Nancy, have a long drive ahead—from New York City to Maine, where their children are in camp. But Steve wants a drink before they go, and on the road he wants another. Soon, exploding with suppressed fury, he is heading into that dark place in himself he calls “the tunnel.” When Steve stops for yet another drink, Nancy has had enough. She leaves the car.

On a bender now, Steve makes a friend: Sid Halligan, an escapee from Sing Sing. Steve tells Sid
all about Nancy. Most men are scared, Steve thinks, but not Sid.

The next day, Steve wakes up on the side of the road. His car has a flat, his money is gone, and there’s one more thing still left for him to learn about Nancy, Sid Halligan, and himself.

Inspector Cadaver (Inspector Maigret Mysteries)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Place de la Peyton 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Georges Simenon was the author of over 100 Inspector Maigret mystery stories. They were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1960s. Inspector Maigret stories also appeared in film and TV versions. Simenon also authored dozens of books described as "romans durs", or `hard stories' that had a darker tone than his Maigret novels. Simenon seems to have fallen under the radar in recent decades but in recent years he seems to have been rediscovered by a new generation of mystery/detective story fans. Penguin Books has begun to reissue some of those Maigret mysteries (usually in groups of three mysteries) and the New York Review of Books Press has reissued many of his `romans durs'. "Inspector Cadaver is one of Penguin's latest Inspector Maigret Mystery reissues, along with My Friend Maigret (Inspector Maigret Mysteries) and Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard (Inspector Maigret).

"Inspector Cadaver" finds Maigret in the village of Saint-Aubin-les Marais. Although the town itself is fictional it is planted by Simenon squarely in the Vendee region of France, southwest of Paris near the Atlantic coast. Simenon lived in the area during WWII (the story was originally published in 1943 under the title "Maigret's Rival") and, as portrayed by Simenon, Saint-Aubin was an isolated, self-contained area which rivals Peyton Place as far as its perchance for gossip and sense of isolation from the rest of the world is concerned.

Maigret finds himself in Saint-Aubin at the request of a Magistrate in Paris. A young working-class man has been found dead apparently run over by a train. The town gossip seems to point its ugly finger in the direction of the Magistrate's brother-in-law and Maigret agrees (reluctantly) to travel to Saint-Aubin to help the brother-in-law out. Maigret is surprised to discover that a former policeman, Inspector Cavre (known as Inspector Cadaver) now working as a private detective, is also destined for Saint-Aubin. As the plot develops Maigret and the reader is introduced to life in this isolated village. Simenon does a wonderful job describing the sense of isolation Maigret feels at entering into this self-contained and xenophobic world. Maigret's unofficial investigation is made more complex (but more interesting to the reader) as he deals with old family ties, small town snobbery, class-distinctions, and a general aversion to strangers. The efforts by Inspector Cadaver also make Maigret's life more difficult (and actually lead me to conclude that the original title is the more apt of the two.)

Simenon's Inspector Maigret mysteries are often compared to Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries. There are many resemblances to be sure. There are some major differences however worth noting. The chief differences seem to me to be Simenon's darker touch and his rather cynical feelings toward the more `respectable' members of French society. This is very evident in "Inspector Cadaver" but it is not so intrusive that it gets in the way of the story. Simenon treats words with respect and doesn't use more than seems necessary to advance the story. "Inspector Cadaver" is an excellent example of the story-telling art of Georges Simenon and well worth reading. L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

Three vintage Maigret novels by legendary mystery author Georges Simenon

One of the world ’s most successful crime writers, Georges Simenon has thrilled mystery lovers since 1931 with his matchless creation Inspector Maigret. In My Friend Maigret, Inspector Maigret investigates the murder of a small-time crook on a Mediterranean island. Told in Simenon’s spare, unsentimental prose, Inspector Cadaver is a haunting exploration of provincial hypocrisy and snobbery, in which Maigret encounters a rival sleuth from his past. In Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard, Simenon’s tenacious detective pieces together the life of a man who for three years lived a secret life—until he is found stabbed to death in an alleyway.

The Bar on the Seine (Penguin Mysteries)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"There shall be read the woe 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

That he doth work with his adulterate money on the Seine." Dante. The Divine Comedy

"The Bar of the Seine" begins with a curious conversation between Inspector Maigret and a prisoner, Lenoir, sitting in a cell on death-row in a Parisian jail. Lenoir's execution has been set for dawn on the next day and for Maigret, the person responsible for the capture and conviction of the prisoner, this visit is something of a courtesy call. During their conversation Lenoir tells Maigret about an unsolved murder. The only real information he provides is that some unidentified bar on the River Seine would lead Maigret in the right direction. As Maigret takes his leave of Lenoir he does not take the train to meet his wife at their summer vacation spot. Instead, he defers his vacation and sets out to investigate.

Maigret finds the bar in short order and walks into a world where a slice of the Parisian middle-class comes for its rather tawdry summer weekends. Drinking, cards, boating on the Seine and indiscriminate bed-hopping are the order of the day. There has also been a murder and, as befits a story planted so firmly in the detective genre, Maigret brushes aside all distractions to solve the mystery handed to him by a condemned man.

Georges Simenon was the author of over 100 Inspector Maigret mystery stories. They were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1960s. Inspector Maigret stories also appeared in film and TV version. Penguin Books has begun to reissue a set of Maigret mysteries. "The Bar on the Seine", one of Simenon's earlier Maigret stories, is a good place to start.

Simenon's writing is sparse and to the point. This is a short book, 154 rather small pages, and can be read in one or two sittings. But despite its brevity this reader felt engaged not only by the characters (Maigret in particular) but the settings. Simenon doesn't tell you what to think of any particular character nor does he engage in lengthy discussions on his protagonists' morality or character. He simply paints a very evocative picture and leaves the analysis for the reader.

Simenon's Maigret stories, although faithful to the detective story formula of his time, manages to hold up better over time for me than others. I think that what sets Simenon's Maigret stories apart from those of his contemporaries is the character of Maigret and down to earth settings of the stories. Maigret is not a character that is revealed to the reader immediately. Simenon doesn't set about to provide you with a character map to Maigret's personality in any one book. Rather, he grows on you over time. He has an innate disdain for higher authority that is appealing. Simenon's settings and other characters also add a dash to his Maigret mysteries. These are not parlor room mysteries where the reader has to determine which upper-class member of the gentry (or the butler) committed murder most foul in the library.

Anyone interested in a good story, simply told should enjoy Bar on the Seine. L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

One of the world’s most successful crime writers, Georges Simenon has thrilled mystery lovers around the world since 1931 with his matchless creation Inspector Maigret. In The Bar on the Seine, Maigret must visit a prisoner he arrested and bear the news that his reprieve has been refused and he will be executed at dawn. But when the condemned man tells Maigret a story, his investigations lead him to the Guinguette à Deux Sous, a bar by the River Seine, and into the seamy underside of bourgeois Parisian life.

The Hotel Majestic (Penguin Mysteries)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Welcome to the Hotel Majestic 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Georges Simenon was the author of over 100 Inspector Maigret mystery stories. They were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1960s. Inspector Maigret stories also appeared in film and TV version. Simenon also authored dozens of books described as "romans durs", `hard stories' that had a darker tone than his Maigret novels. Simenon seems to have fallen under the radar in recent decades but in recent years he seems to have been rediscovered by a new generation of mystery/detective story fans. Penguin Books has begun to reissue some of those Maigret mysteries and the New York Review of Books Press has reissued some of his `hard stories', dark novels that did not feature Inspector Maigret. Penguin's latest Inspector Maigret Mystery reissue, "The Hotel Majestic" is as good a place to start for anyone wishing to discover (or re-discover) Simenon.

As with most police procedurals, the Hotel Majestic begins with a dead body. Mrs. Clark, a guest traveling with her wealthy American husband, their child and a governess, has been found murdered and stuffed into an empty locker in the basement of the Hotel Majestic. Maigret arrives to begin the investigation. His investigation quickly draws him into two parallel words: the world upstairs of champagne and caviar and the world downstairs filled with hotel employees eking out a living. Maigret's investigation begins with an examination into how and why these two different worlds collided in this brief but deadly incident. From there he proceeds to interview everyone and anyone who might have information about the crime of the victim. Maigret is no Sherlock Holmes. For Maigret, crimes are to be solved by a process of accumulating as much information as possible and then analyzing that information based on his past experience. Maigret plays hunches to be sure but Maigret's chief weapon is perseverance and determination. Consequently, the reader is presented with information about the crime and the protagonists in real time along with Maigret. As I read these stories I find myself absorbing these bits of information and trying to weigh them against the information previously disclosed. This served to keep me engaged throughout the book and caused me to keep turning page after page until the `final curtain'.

Simenon has a keen ear for dialogue and character development. Maigret is not a character that is revealed to the reader immediately. Simenon doesn't set about to provide you with a character map to Maigret's personality in any one book. Rather, he grows on you over time. He has an innate disdain for higher authority that is appealing. Simenon's settings and other characters also add a dash to his Maigret mysteries. These are not parlor room mysteries where the reader has to determine which upper-class member of the gentry (or the butler) committed murder most foul in the library. Simenon's stories have the feel of grit and the demimonde about them that adds a bit of spice to the `formula'. In Hotel Majestic, Simenon's description of the hard-streets and dark bars of Paris and the people that inhabit them all seem quite fully realized to me.

All in all, I find Simenon's Maigret mysteries to be consistently entertaining. They may not be as dark or foreboding as the novels released by New York Review of Books - but it you like well-written, taut, police procedurals you will like Georges Simenon's Hotel Majestic. Recommended. L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

Penguin delivers two more vintage Inspector Maigret novels by the legendary mystery author

In The Hotel Majestic, Maigret investigates the murder of Mrs. Clark, the wife of a wealthy American industrialist, whose strangled body is found in the basement of an upscale hotel near the Champs-Élysées. Maigret’s inquiries take him from the endless corridors of the Hotel Majestic to the countryside of the Bois de Boulogne and sun-drenched Cannes, into a world of prostitution, drug addiction, and blackmail.

My Friend Maigret (Inspector Maigret Mysteries)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Maigret and the Observer Effect 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

As I understand it the term "observer effect" stands for the proposition that the act of observing changes the act of the person or thing being observed. In Georges Simenon's "My Friend Maigret" we get a story in which "observer effect" is fully in play. The result is another good Simenon "Maigret" mystery.

"My Friend Maigret" open with the good Inspector Maigret going about his normal routine in Paris. Much to Maigret's chagrin he finds himself in the company of one Inspector Pyke of Scotland Yard who accepted an invitation from the chief of the Paris police to come to Paris to see the great Maigret at work. As luck would have it Maigret is advised that a murder has been committed in Porquerolles, an island of the coast of Provence in the south of France. This would normally not be of interest to the Paris police but on the night of the murder the victim (a small-time career criminal) had been heard bragging about his good friend Inspector Maigret. So Maigret finds himself getting on a train and ferry, with Inspector Pyke in tow, to the warm and sunny island to conduct an investigation.

The investigation/plot is pretty standard fare for detective mysteries. There is a murder and a small set of potential killers from a wide variety of backgrounds. What sets "My Friend Maigret" apart from the run of the mill story is the exotic location, Simenon's spare but arch writing, and Maigret's ongoing self-consciousness derived from being observed constantly by the quiet British observer.

All in all this was a pretty good story but far from being one of Simenon's best Maigret mysteries. Nonetheless, average Simenon remains a cut above the average for this genre. Fans of Simenon and Maigret should enjoy "My Friend Maigret". However, as someone who gladly prmotes Maigret at every opportunity, I don't think this would be a good introduction for a reader new to the Maigret mysteries. I think Lock 14 (Inspector Maigret Mysteries), Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard (Inspector Maigret), or Inspector Cadaver (Inspector Maigret Mysteries)would make for a better starting point for anyone interested in Maigret. Once Maigret has a chance to grow on you, "My Friend Maigret" will make for an enjoyable read. L.Fleisig

Editorial Review:

Three vintage Maigret novels by legendary mystery author Georges Simenon

One of the world ’s most successful crime writers, Georges Simenon has thrilled mystery lovers since 1931 with his matchless creation Inspector Maigret. In My Friend Maigret, Inspector Maigret investigates the murder of a small-time crook on a Mediterranean island. Told in Simenon’s spare, unsentimental prose, Inspector Cadaver is a haunting exploration of provincial hypocrisy and snobbery, in which Maigret encounters a rival sleuth from his past. In Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard, Simenon’s tenacious detective pieces together the life of a man who for three years lived a secret life—until he is found stabbed to death in an alleyway.

Lock 14 (Inspector Maigret Mysteries)

Georges Simenon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Death Like an Ever Flowing Stream 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Georges Simenon is the author of over 100 Inspect Maigret mystery stories. They were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1960s but seem to have fallen out of view in the last few decades. Penguin Books has begun to reissue some of those mysteries. They are all fun books to read and Simenon's "Lock 14" is no exception.

Originally published in 1931, Lock 14 is set in a canal in France at a time when commercial barge traffic was a primary means of transporting cargo. The canals were filled with a mix of commercial and tourist traffic which effectively created a mix of upper and working class personalities. Lock 14 begins, as most such mysteries do, with a dead body. A young woman is found dead in a pile of muck, murdered in a stable near Lock 14. She was from a party of seemingly wealthy tourists leading a `debauched' life on the river. Inspector Maigret is called to the scene. He must sort through the muck and find the killer. There are many suspects and more murders soon follow. The rest of the book is devoted to Maigret's attempt to sort out the facts from fiction and find the killer. To reveal any more would spoil the plot.

Simenon's Inspector Maigret mysteries are often compared to Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries. There are many resemblances to be sure. Both follow typical `plot guidelines' for detective stories; they involve numerous suspects and a conflict between the intelligent observations of the hero and the less astute detective work of the local constabulary. There are some major differences however worth noting. The chief differences seem to me to be Simenon's darker touch and his more diverse selection of `characters'. Whereas Christie's stories most often involved an upper crusty cast of characters, Simenon's characters often come from more inauspicious backgrounds. I also think that Simenon is earthier than Christie (and others). The passengers on the tourist barge were decadent and living a pretty wild existence. The working men and women on the canal and in the towns along the canal are well drawn, rough edges and all. This was a nice change from the parlor room type mystery where everyone speaks with a sophisticated accent of some sort.

Finally, for me, the centerpiece of any detective story of this type is the character of the detective. In the case of Maigret, the more I read of him (three Maigret stories to date) the more I enjoy his character. All in all I found Simenon's Lock 14 to be an enjoyable detective/mystery story. It was a fast-paced well written story with believable characters. Recommended. L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

Mystery legend Georges Simenon comes to Penguin with classic works in celebration of the iconic Inspector Maigret’s 75th anniversary

One of the world’s most successful crime writers, Georges Simenon has thrilled mystery lovers around the world since 1931 with his matchless creation Inspector Maigret. Seventy-five years later, the incomparable Maigret mysteries make their Penguin debut with three of his most compelling cases.

In Lock 14, Simenon plunges Maigret into the unfamiliar canal world of shabby bars and shadowy towpaths, drawing together the strands of a tragic case of lost identity.

The Widow (New York Review Books Classics)

George Simenon

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

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8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

where there was no way to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left." Numbers 22:26

Georges Simenon was nothing if not prolific in both his literary and public life. Born in Belgium in 1903, Simenon turned out hundreds of novels. Simenon's obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he could only write twelve novels in the twelve month period in which they were involved. Although best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). NYRB Books is reissuing Simenon's hard novels. "The Widow" is their latest release. NYRB chooses its Simenons wisely. "The Widow" is a fine book.

I've sometimes thought of the arc of a person's life as one that consists of a series of narrowing options. On the day we are born the options available to us seem limitless. But the decisions made for us and the decisions we make every day serve to winnow out our options. It struck me, as I read "The Widow" that a typical Simenon story presents us with characters whose options seem so constrained to them that their actions, often desperate and violent, appear inevitable. "The Widow" is no exception. Tati is a middle-aged widow, living in a small village in a house owned by her aged father-in-law. She has clawed her way up to this not quite middle-class existence and will endure hard work and the infrequent sexual demands of the father-in-law to maintain her rightful place in this home. Jean, is a murderer, recently-released from a French prison. Unlike Tati, he comes from a solid, relatively wealthy local family. They meet on a bus and Tati decides without hesitation that Jean will provide her with help around the farm. Jean sees Tati as someone who can provide him with food, shelter, and a bedtime companion. This mutually beneficial relationship works out fine for a while, until Jean discovers the attractive young girl (Tati's niece) that lives on the adjacent property. From that point on the relationship between Jean and Tati takes a turn for the worse and continues to deteriorate. In a very real sense the options available to Jean and Tati are so dramatically narrowed in such a short span of time that each feels that his/her actions are inevitable, almost commanded by fate. The conclusion, while predictable, is powerful not because of the actions that bring about that conclusion but because of the overpowering sense of fate that drives the actions. Reading "The Widow" was like watching a storm at sea. You can see it a long ways off, you know it is coming, yet when it arrives it still manages to knock the wind out of you.

Paul Theroux's "Introduction" was interesting and on point. Theoroux points out the comparisons often made between Simenon and his contemporary, Albert Camus. Their writing shares much in terms of the sense of alienation and despair that infuses their characters. Theroux notes that Simenon never seemed to suffer the agony of the writer and believed that the ease with which words spilled out of him and on to paper were held against him by the literary establishment. He didn't suffer enough for his writing to be accorded the highest accolade. I tend to agree with that point. I don't believe, however, that Simenon's writing surpassed that of Camus. I do think that the comparison itself is valid and that each is good enough to be discussed in the company of the other.

"The Widow" is a fine example of the craft of Georges Simenon. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig

Editorial Review:

The Widow is the story of two outcasts and their fatal encounter. One is the widow herself, Tati. Still young, she’s never had an easy time of it, but she’s not the kind to complain. Tati lives with her father-in-law on the family farm, putting up with his sexual attentions, working her fingers to the bone, improving the property and knowing all the time that her late husband’s sister is scheming to kick her out and take the house back.

The other is a killer. Just out of prison and in search of a new life, Jean meets up with Tati, who hires him as a handyman and then takes him to bed. Things are looking up, at least until Jean falls hard for the girl next door.

The Widow was published in the same year as Camus’ The Stranger, and André Gide judged it the superior book. It is Georges Simenon’s most powerful and disturbing exploration of the bond between death and desire.