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Maigret-of-the-Month lists

( Newest entries first )

\ BBC Archives 8/28/10 – A few years ago when I spoke to someone very helpful at the BBC I was told that the old Maigret series was available for hire, I think the cost was around £90, but only for research purposes. I never took up that offer but wonder if anyone on the forum has been given the same information and whether it has been followed up. I know that a petition has been compiled but has it been sent to the BBC? I believe that there must be other ways to place pressure on the BBC and that perhaps an action group should be started through this forum, I would be happy to be part of such a group. Steve Beamon The petition, with 848 signatures at this point, is online at www.petitiononline.com/maigrets/petition.html. In March of this year, I wrote to Robert Fairbanks, who'd started the petition, asking him if he were planning to submit it, and how to handle those that were still "pending approval", but got no reply, at which point I stopped posting the link at the top of this page... ST Maigret of the Month: Monsieur Lundi (Mr. Monday) 8/21/10 – Monsieur Lundi was the Cremer tv episode, Maigret chez le docteur (Maigret at the Doctor's) 1. After Montmartre, Neuilly... Considering the stories written by Simenon relating Maigret's cases, it is striking to note to what extent the author describes a significant number of different social milieus, as if he'd wanted to plunge his Chief Inspector each time into a different ambiance, having him "make a tour" of all imaginable microcosms. And it's even more interesting that, if he effectively provided his character with an impressive voyage into all the levels of society, the voyage is spread out, in the novels, across a great number of years. While in the majority of these stories, this same voyage is in a sense, resumed, but gathered into the two or three years (1936-1938) of their writing. In this story, after one about a barge (pen), a ménage à trois (bea), and one of vengeance (fen), this time Maigret goes to investigate in a "chic" milieu of the capital, the Neuilly district. We will see him, in the stories which follow, going to other, very different environments, like, for example, a border train station (arr), a "tough-guy" bistro (pig), and a family boarding house (man), among so many others. The milieu of the bourgeoisie of fashionable districts is clearly not, we suspect, one where Maigret feels most at ease, no more than that of the notables of small provincial cities. In this regard, we can consider the beginning of this story... "Maigret stood a moment before the black metal gate... In front of him, on the other hand, beyond the gate, was a small, modern Neuilly residence... with its elegance, its comfort... It is always troublesome to disturb the life of a quiet house... all the more so when the intruder comes from the Quai des Orfèvres, his pockets filled with unpleasant documents.... The foyer was elegant, and Maigret had mechanically stuffed his pipe into his pocket." The same attitude of discomfort, and the same reaction of the Chief Inspector, when he goes to the Deligeards', in Bayeux (bay)... "Maigret finished his pipe while regarding with a bemused eye the vast gray house, the porte cochère with its copper ring, the main courtyard with its bronze candelabras. It was what he called a "pipeless case", which is to say, an investigation which unfolds in locations where the Chief Inspector couldn't decently keep his pipe clenched in his mouth.... "This'll be fun!" he sighed, tapping at last the bowl of his pipe against his heel." Nonetheless, in spite of the uneasiness he feels, as always, the Chief Inspector can't resist the temptation to go and "sniff up" the atmosphere, to go nosing about in the affairs of others, in this case of the "better" class... The kind of restraint Maigret feels in the face of certain milieus ("high society"), a restraint retained from his childhood passed in the shadow of a château, never impedes him, in spite of everything, from pursuing his investigations to the final truth... 2. A short synopsis of the story To reduce it to a single sentence, this story could be titled, "The doctor, the beggar and the hysterical madwoman", in a word, the story of a woman madly in love, literally, to the extent that her passion leads to murder, a crime of madness, attempting to reach the one who had rejected her by harming those he holds dear. Using the subterfuge of the beggar, she concocts her crime with cruel sophistication, taking the risk of even killing the innocents... not only the children of the doctor, but whomever might buy these poisoned cakes from the bakery, and so it was the young maid who paid with her life for the madness of Miss Wilfur... 3. Maigret and doctors The first two characters Maigret meets in this story are, on the one hand, the doctor's chauffeur, Martin Vignolet, and on the other, a doctor, Dr. Barion. These are two types of characters that Maigret often encounters, and here I'd like to make a little tour of the corpus to summarize them. We'll consider first the doctors. The best-known doctor in the corpus is, of course, Maigret's friend, Dr. Pardon. I won't repeat here the analysis of the subject I've already taken up elsewhere. We recognize the special relationship Maigret maintains with medicine, a discipline which he would perhaps have pursued if it hadn't been for the interruption of his studies by the death of his father. Maigret explains about this in Maigret's Memoirs [MEM], on the role played in his life by the story of Dr. Gadelle. And if Maigret may not practice the medicine of the body, he has nonetheless become, in a way, a "doctor of the soul"... complete article original French Murielle Wenger

Another film Maigret: Czech Rudolf Hrušínský 8/18/10 – Thanks to Miroslav J. Kozák for reporting the 29th film Maigret we've found so far... Rudolf Hrušínský (1920-94), a noted Czech actor, portrayed Maigret in Obavy komisaře Maigreta, a 1970 tv adapation of Les Scrupules de Maigret (Maigret has Scruples). He also played Maigret in a number of Czech radio adaptations of the same era.

Bruno Cremer has died 8/8/10 –Bruno Cremer died Saturday at age 80, in a Paris hospital after a long illness. He was born October 6, 1929, and for the last few years had been battling cancer. He played Maigret in 54 episodes on French tv for 14 years, from 1991-2005, following a successful career in film and on stage. Obituary in Le Monde

New article: Le Charretier de La Providence 8/6/10 –Les Amis de Georges Simenon reported recently the publication of a new study (in French), Le Charretier de La Providence : Georges Simenon et son commissaire Maigret dans la Marne en 1930. In the journal, Études marnaises, Volume CXXV, 2010 (12pp), by Sylvain Mikus. More here. Jérôme

Maigret of the Month: La fenêtre ouverte (The Open Window) 7/8/10 – After having discovered Maigret on the job outside Paris (Two bodies on a barge), then during an interrogation intra muros in his office at the PJ [bea], now we find Maigret at work in his city of Paris, on a street of that mythical district, Montmartre. Let us note, however, that we see almost nothing of the ambiance of the street in this story, hardly a mention outside of the building where the offices of Laget are located. The entire case will unfold in these very offices, Maigret leading his investigation by immersing himself in the place, and coming to the truth thanks to an olfactory clue (the odor of cooling powder) and a sensation (the current of air from the open window). In this story, Simenon attempts a "locked-room murder", a technique dear to English authors, and Maigret must use his intuition and knowledge of people (whose failings he detects through interrogations where he has the art of asking – with an innocent air – most unsettling questions) to come to a discovery of a murder disguised as a suicide. We can remark several touches used by the author to make the reader understand and feel that he is actually in a "condensation of Maigret's world"... the presence of Sergeant Lucas and Inspector Janvier, Maigret's "familiar" attitude... "sniffing around, observing his surroundings, his hands always in his pockets, hat pushed back on his head", the stove in Mme Laget's office, that Maigret can't help poking at, and the furtive appearance of the men from Forensics and the Prosecutor's office. Another interesting point to underline is the allusion to World War I, and above all to its aftermath. Allusions to this war are relatively infrequent in the Maigrets, and it's probably intentional that this story goes into a little more detail. He wrote the text in 1936... if the memory of WWI was beginning to fade into time, the specter of a second World War was beginning to slowly rise... Finally, I encourage you, if you have the opportunity, to view the adaptation of this story made for the Bruno Crémer television series. It's one of the better episodes, and the screenwriters have stuck to the basic framework, keeping to the facts of the text. (Note in particular how Laget's creditors have been transformed into a gallery of more or less colorful characters... a woman nightclub manager, a young couple who want to start a television company, a survivor of the "death camps"... And how the sentence "We'll have to go through the buildings, the hallways, examine the two building completely" is rendered in the onscreen images... how the clues about the murder weapon and the open window are treated... and how Maigret, alias Crémer, remarks that the investigation is like a "locked-room murder" à la Agatha Christie.) At the same time it highlights some of the recurring themes of the series, for example, the allusions to WWI allow speaking of the Second... The episode is supposed to be set in the early '50s. In fact, the episode ends with a scene were Maigret walks the concierge's little boy to school... and the Chief Inspector learns that the boy, he too, is called Jules... Murielle Wenger translation: S. Trussel Honolulu, July 2010 original French

"River Squad" Celebrates 110th Anniversary 6/30/10 – The 'Brigade fluviale' (River squad) that appears in some of the Maigrets when there is murder near the Seine or a weapon to look for, will celebrate its 110 year anniversary this week. (details here - in French). Jerome

re: Jules 6/23/10 – Dans l'épisode L'ami d'enfance de Maigret, dans la série avec Bruno Crémer, Florentin l'appelle "Jules" au tout début de l'épisode, lorsqu'il le hèle dans la rue: on voit Maigret avancer sur le trottoir, et on attend la voix de Florentin qui crie: "Jules ! Jules Maigret !" Par la suite, il l'appellera "Maigret", tout en continuant de le tutoyer, comme dans le roman... Le rapport de Maigret avec son prénom est évoqué à plusieurs reprises dans la série avec Bruno Crémer. C'est un sujet intéressant, et quand j'aurai un peu de temps, je vous ferai un petit texte sur la façon dont cette "histoire de Jules" est traitée dans la série... In the episode Maigret's Boyhood Friend, in the series with Bruno Crémer, Florentin calls him "Jules" at the very beginning of the episode, when he calls to him in the street; we see Maigret walking along the sidewalk, and we hear Florentin's voice calling, "Jules! Jules Maigret!" After that he calls him "Maigret", all the while continuing to use "tu", as in the novel... Maigret's relationship with his first name comes up a number of times in the Bruno Crémer series. It's an interesting subject, and when I find some time, I'll produce a little text on the way this "story of Jules" is treated in the series... Murielle

Jules 6/22/10 – Vladimir is correct about the woman calling Maigret “Jules” in “Maigret Goes Home” in the Gambon series. The Edward Petherbridge character in “Maigret's Boyhood Friend” in the same series also refers to him as “Jules,” to the amazement of Madam Maigret and again to the surprise of Janvier or Lapointe or Lucas (I forget which). I do not recall that happening in the Cremer “L’Ami d’enfance de Maigret.” Stephen Cribari

re: Maigret's name / firearms? 6/20/10 – Thanks to Murielle for a so detailed and well-researched post regarding Maigret's first name and gun use. To answer Murielle's question, I was referring to 'Maigret Goes Home' - the TV series with Michael Gambon. In the series, Maigret was called "Jules" by an older woman selling flowers at the cemetery when Maigret came to pay respect to his father's gravesite. This woman still remembered Maigret as a boy growing up in that village. If the book does not include this first name, than we have just discovered an interesting item of TV trivia. Frankly, guns are mentioned in more Maigret's novels than I thought. My guess is that I did not read most of books that mention guns because they have not been translated into English. If this is correct, I am not surprised. Probably, English publishers wanted to make Maigret more popular in Britain by making him look more like British police, who traditionally do not carry arms. Cheers, Vladimir (All the Maigrets have been translated into English - My guess is that because guns are so unimportant in the Maigrets we just don't remember that they were mentioned.   ST)

Maigret of the Month: L'affaire du boulevard Beaumarchais (The Mysterious Affair in the Boulevard Beaumarchais) 6/20/10 – After the life of canals and barges, here is another setting characteristic of Maigret's world, that of his office, and the locales of the PJ, with all the indispensable ingredients of the scene of an interrogation... an office filled with pipe smoke, the rain streaming on the windows, and a silent suspect opposite Maigret, the two awaiting the sandwiches and beer which will be brought up from the Brasserie Dauphine... The scene thus set, we can imagine a story, in this case taking up one of Simenon's classic themes - that of a "triangle", comprising a couple, in which the wife has a sister who is herself in love with her brother-in-law. The theme will appear at least twice more in the corpus... first in the story, Maigret and the Surly Inspector [mal], but above all a second time in Maigret has Scruples [SCR], where it will be amply developed. Another theme evoked to set the scene, is that of All Saints' Day, which, for Simenon, is often there to give a feeling of grayness, of gloomy sadness, mediocrity, here making an echo of the mediocrity of the characters, particularly Ferdinand Voivin, this dull man who could inspire, to Maigret's astonishment – and Simenon's – great passion. If, in the preceding story (Two Bodies on a Barge [pen]), we see Maigret above all "ruminating" over his case, asking but a few questions of various witnesses, but rather immersing himself in the setting, the atmosphere of the canal and the barge, to discover the truth, in this story, the essential part of the Chief Inspector's work is in the form of interrogations, of "getting someone to sing", first off of Nicole, which allows him to understand the relationships which existed in the "triangle", and then that of Ferdinand Voivin, where Maigret is satisfied to ask one or two questions, the responses to which are enough for him to confirm his hypotheses. And it's the Chief Inspector himself, who, as is often the case, provides a "verbal reconstruction" of what actually took place. Finally we note that during the second interrogation, Maigret does something we will see numerous times during other interrogations - offering a caved-in suspect a glass of brandy. I'd like to cite here a book by Paul Mercier, entitled "La botte secrète de Maigret: le verre de cognac (Maigret's Secret Weapon: the glass of brandy"), published by Le cercle noir in 2009 for the 14th Detective Fiction Fair at Cognac. This little book, very well done, is difficult to find, but I had the luck to get one... Paul Mercier, in this work, analyses the use that Maigret makes of the glass of brandy in various interrogations. Here are two extracts... "The glass of alcohol facilitates the transition to confession of a repentant criminal who will finally come clean. It relieves the craving alcoholic. It supplies punctuation in a confession which begins to get long, permitting a mid-point break. But also, it gives comfort in a moment of distress and suffering, and so seems more a humanitarian act than a simple gesture of normal courtesy. So the bottle of brandy, from time to time, filled a great variety of functions in Maigret's office." "The closet existed from the Fayard period... but simply for washing his hands or cooling his face at the enamel fountain, or for dry clothes, when he was soaked with rain... From 1951 to 1991, [the act of taking out the bottle of brandy] is frequent, occurring more than 20 times in 49 novels... The closet and the bottle are missing in the stories, with one significant exception - they make their appearance in "The Mysterious Affair in the Boulevard Beaumarchais"... Maigret interrogates a certain Voivin, a diamond dealer whose wife has been poisoned. The dealer is innocent, he didn't kill his wife to marry his sister-in-law. As for his conjugal setting, he also appears to be easy prey for the feminine sex... to escape from the jealousy of his wife, he had considered suicide. After drinking Maigret's brandy, he is still not free, now subject to the fiery assaults of his young sister-in-law..." Murielle Wenger original French

re: Maigret's name / firearms? 6/19/10 – In answer to Vladimir, here's what I can say on the two subjects he brings up... 1) Maigret's first name: I've already taken up this subject in one of the MoMs. Here is some additional information. The first time the Chief Inspector received a first name in the corpus was in The Lock at Charenton [ECL], when Ducrau asks Maigret to work for him, and he dictates to a secretary the words of a contract... "Between the undersigned Emile Ducrau and Maigret... First name? ... and Maigret (Joseph), an agreement has been reached as follows. From March 18, M. Joseph Maigret will enter into the service of..." And thus Maigret was first called Joseph... We have to wait until the beginning of the Presses de la Cité cycle to find another mention of his given name. Indeed, it is in Maigret in Retirement [FAC] that the Chief Inspector is called – to his great displeasure – Jules , by an old schoolmate from lycée, Ernest Malik. We encounter this name again in Maigret's First Case [PRE], used by his wife, and by Dédé the crook. Finally, it is the Americans (Maigret at the Coroner's) [CHE] who "force" the Chief Inspector to admit to his name... "What's your first name?" He couldn't very well tell them he didn't have one, and so he was forced to admit that his name was Jules. His questioner thought for a moment. "Oh! yes... Julius!" They pronounced it Julius, which didn't seem as bad to him." The Chief Inspector wasn't finished with his tribulations with regard to his name. In Maigret's Memoirs [MEM], he tells how, as a young inspector, he was teased about his name by prostitutes. Here's an extract of the passage... "I wouldn't have chosen it [his name] if they had asked my opinion. But it no longer embarrasses me... One day the chant started – for it quickly became a chant. I was walking by one of the old girls installed at the doorway of a seedy hotel, when I heard through those rotten teeth, a laughing "Bonsoir, Jules!" I thought she had picked a name at random, but a little further along, I was welcomed by the same words... "So, Jules?" ...the famous Jules was integrated into a song which they proceeded to sing loudly whenever I appeared." We encounter the American familiarity again in two other novels, Maigret and the Gangsters [LOG], where the Chief Inspector is called Jules by his American colleague MacDonald, in Maigret's Revolver [REV], where, on the revolver he received from the USA, was engraved the inscription, To J.-J. Maigret, from his FBI friends. "Why J.-J. Maigret? ... The Americans, who have the habit of using two first name, were informed of his. The two first, happily, Jules-Joseph. [and there we find Joseph again!] In fact, there was a third: Anthelme." We find mention of Jules in four other novels - in Maigret Afraid [PEU], where Julien Chabot's mother welcomes him saying, "It's you, Jules!" How many years had it been seen anyone has greeted him like that?" In Maigret in Court [PEU], the Chief Inspector has to declare his identity as a witness in court... "Your name, given name, age and position... Maigret, Jules, 53s, Divisional Chief Inspector, Judicial Police, Paris." In Maigret and the Nahour Case [NAH], it's his wife who – exceptionally (see the MoM cited above) - calls him by his first name in the opening scene of the novel. Finally, in Maigret's Boyhood Friend [ENF], he is relieved that Florentin is satisfied to use the familiar "tu", but calls him by his family name. To end, we should point out, that if "officially", Maigret is named Jules-Amédée-François, as all his biographers state, in fact that combination of names never appears in the corpus... So where does it come from? Actually, it was in a preface written by Simenon in March, 1966, for the inauguration of the Rencontre editions... I would like further, to close the subject, to ask the following question of Vladimir: he mentions in his question that he found the name Jules in Maigret and the Saint-Fiacre Affair [FIA]. Since, in examining the corpus to respond to his question I didn't find that name mentioned in the novel, I'd be interested to know whether it was found in an English translation, and in what part of the text. 2) Maigret and his revolver... complete article original French Murielle Wenger

Maigret's name / firearms? 6/17/10 – In 'Maigret Goes Home" we learn Maigret's first name and that he was a medical student. Is this the only book where this info is revealed? 6/18/10 – And another: In what books Maigret - or his assistants - used a firearm? Not necessarily having fired, but take with them on a case. Just curious, Vladimir

12th Sables d'Olonne Simenon Festival June 12-20 6/11/10 – Information here. Jérôme

BBC 6/7/10 – I too am really sad along with Graeme Sutherland and Paul Thomas that the BBC refuses to show the wonderful Maigret series. I feel the years are running out now for me to see it again. It is unlikely that many people who would like to see it again are into Facebook so the reaction there is not much to go on. Can't we find someone involved with the licence fee to bring pressure to bear! If it was up to me I'd sack the lot of them. Jane Gwinn

Maigret's Little Joke on YouTube 6/4/10 – My recollection is that this episode was shown as part of a theme evening - Cops on the Box or some sort - which also had an old episode of Z Cars. Just one-offs I'm afraid. Rather like the one-off repeat they gave to an episode of Colditz around the same time in a theme evening about mental illness. If the Beeb can show single episodes when it suits them to show how proud they are of their back catalogue - why on earth can't they show the whole series?! BBC4 show ITV's The Avengers, for goodness sake! Black and white in all it's glory - surely their own Maigret deserves an airing... Graeme Sutherland

Maigret's Little Joke on YouTube 5/27/10 – I have been re-reading some Maigret stories and I thought that I should look in and check the site. It is some time since I have visited but I see that there seems to have been little progress on stirring the BBC to release the four Rupert Davies series. I noticed Steve Beamon's note dated May 12, 2010 and have downloaded the six parts of "Maigret's Little Joke". I did notice that this episode had modern colour bits before and after it and the introductory announcement said that this episode was from almost 28 years ago and was the last ever episode. IMBD gives the date of original broadcast as 24 December 1963 which means that this re-broadcast was in 1991. Trivia perhaps, but were any more broadcast at that time and was the BBC testing the water to see if there would be much reaction? If they go by the small number of views on YouTube they must conclude that there is little interest. Pity! Paul Thomas Sydney, Australia

Any monument for Maigret in Paris? 5/26/10 – We returned from Luik/Liège and Paris yesterday after four days in the footsteps of Simenon and Maigret. Luik was filled with monuments, touristic and historic routes, pride in the succes of Simenon. And with very capable and enthousiastic guides. But we could find nothing in Paris - not even at Place des Vosges 21 or at the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir or the Quai des Orfèvres. Not even a commemorative plate. Worse still - at the Quai des Orfèvres everything is closed and we were chased away when we wanted to take a photo of the group. Am I right in noticing this absence, and if Yes, why is this? Why doesn't Paris want to remember this writer and his work - so positive for Paris and the whole of France? Machiel van Wolferen Rotterdam, Netherlands The only one I've heard of that mentions Maigret is this plaque at the Quai des Orfèvres. ST

Error concerning Simenon translator 5/22/10 – My son, James, grandson of Anthony Abbot and Samrri Frikell alerted me to your excellent work on Georges Simenon. But I was surprised to find my father listed as translator for Simenon's first books to appear in English, in the Hurst and Blackett editions, London l934-5. I am quite certain this is an error. I have delighted in heralding my father's many achievements ever since his death in l952, He never completed grammar school, working first as a water boy, bringing buckets of ice to the men who put down Baltimore's trolley tracks in the summer of l906. He was an autodidact who mastered many careers: magician, ventriloquist, reporter, newspaper-and-magazine editor, novelist, screen writer, playwright, news broadcaster and criminologist. Long after he died, I learned he was a spy in World War II, helping to service 12 FBI agents in Latin America. And indeed, he was a translator once: as a teenager he learned enough German to translate Illustrated Magic, by Ottokah Fischer. I completed my father's autobiography, Behold This Dreamer, published by Little, Brown in l964. It has no mention of Simenon, and there was no book by Simenon in the library he left of more than 5000 books. Alas, I fear cannot shed any more light on this matter, beyond adding that Covici Friede did publish the early Anthony Abbot detective novels, as well as Simenon's. Perhaps in some way the error started there. Cordially, Fulton Oursler, Jr.

re: "The 50 Greatest Crime Writers" List 5/22/10 – Regarding the “50 Greatest Crime Writers” list, if it’s “crime” writers and not “mystery” writers, I agree with Vladimir. What justifies not including Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of one of the most enduring crime story characters? And frankly, I put Dorothy Sayers ahead of Agatha Christie. The latter’s novels have contrived endings and, to my mind, the plots too often do not encourage the suspension of disbelief necessary to engage you successfully with the story, and the characters are, again to my mind, more often caricatures. Dorothy Sayers’ Wimsey-Vane novels, like Simenon’s novels (Maigret and non-Maigret alike), are significant works of fiction that transcend the “crime” genre. The four Wimsey-Vane novels are a romance quartet the offer a perceptive study of personality; many of Simenon’s works are psychological studies of great value beyond their entertainment value as “crime” stories. Speaking from the lawyer’s perspective (and the law teacher’s perspective), the Perry Mason novels are dead-on-the-money. They get the law right! And they get the courtroom drama right. And they, like the Sayers and the Simenon, stand the test of time. As with Conan-Doyle, you can read them over and over and always find something new, as well as something wonderfully familiar. And I’ve just read Simenon’s The Glass Cage. Along with du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn and C-D’s Hound of the Baskervilles, one of the most frightening books I’ve ever read. Stephen Cribari

re: "The 50 Greatest Crime Writers" List 5/21/10 – I am puzzled how the list of 50, mentioned by Viola, was composed. While most of names are unfamiliar to me, a very deserving name is missing - I mean Earl Gardner, creator of Perry Mason. Arguably, Conen Doyle is fitting for Number One, since name Sherlock Holmes became almost synonymous with 'private detective'. Cheers, Vladimir

Maigret of the Month: La péniche aux deux pendus (Two Bodies on a Barge) 5/16/10 – 1. Brief history What was it that moved Simenon, after he'd symbolically put his character into retirement in the final novel of the Fayard cycle, entitled Maigret (1934), and had proclaimed, in the newspaper which had announced its publication (see this text), that no further adventures of Maigret would appear in the paper, what drove the author to take up his pen to write these stories which featured his character once more? To try to find a semblance of an answer, I will take as a common thread two extracts from the text of the foreword written by Gilbert Sigaux in the Rencontre edition, which collects the majority of these stories. Into the stream of Sigaux's text (in blue below), I'll insert some comments and notes regarding the stories. "With The New Investigations of Maigret begins Maigret's second "cycle", which will be followed up with Maigret Returns (three novels: Maigret and the Spinster [CEC], Maigret and the Hotel Majestic [MAJ], and Maigret in Exile [JUG]), then with Maigret and the Fortuneteller [SIG], Inspector Cadaver [CAD] and Maigret and the Toy Village [FEL]. The stories and novels of this second cycle had been written between 1938 and 1941, and published between 1938 and 1944. The first form of the New Investigations of Maigret is not that which we are familiar with; we find indeed the subjects (but not the developments) of a certain number of these stories in Paris-Soir-Dimanche, beginning Oct. 25, 1936; we recall that The Thirteen Enigmas, The Thirteen Mysteries, The Thirteen Culprits had been, in Détective, the object of a series of competitions; it was the same for the New Investigations in 1936." In fact, before the publication of the first Maigrets, Simenon had written short stores with a detective theme. It was Joseph Kessel who had asked Simenon to write, for the weekly, Détective, some new detective stories which would become the object of a competition among the readers. Simenon then wrote, under the pseudonym Georges Sim, a series of texts grouped under the title The Thirteen Mysteries, which appeared in Détective beginning in March, 1929. The success of these stories led Simenon to write a new series of stories, under the title The Thirteen Enigmas, and then still one more, The Thirteen Culprits. In the first series, the investigator is a certain Joseph Leborgne, in the second, it's Inspector G.7 who leads the investigation, and in the third, it's Judge Froget who is at the center of the intrigue. These three series were published by Fayard, this time under the author's real name, in 1932. Is it because he had liked this particular form of literary text that Simenon renewed the experience in 1936 for the daily, Paris-Soir? Or did he feel a certain nostalgia for having "abandoned" his Chief Inspector? Or was it the idea of an "interactive" exchange, to use a word of our era, with the readers, which attracted him? The actual form of the appearance in Paris-Soir was the following: in a first part, which would appear on Sunday, the elements of the plot would be given, and in the second, a week later, would be given the solution in four lines... complete article original French Murielle Wenger

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Maigret of the Month - 2010 month title January La Folle de Maigret - Maigret and the Madwoman (1970) February Maigret et l'homme tout seul - Maigret and the Loner (1971) March Maigret et l'indicateur - Maigret and the Informer (1971) April Maigret et Monsieur Charles - Maigret and Monsieur Charles (1972) May La Péniche aux deux pendus - Two Bodies on a Barge (1944) June L'Affaire du Boulevard Beaumarchais - The Mysterious Affair in the Boulevard Beaumarchais (1944) July La Fenêtre ouverte - The Open Window (1944) August Monsieur Lundi - Mr. Monday (1944) September Jeumont, 51 minutes d'arrêt - Jeumont, 51 Minutes' Stop! (1944) October Peine de mort - Death Penalty (1944) November Les Larmes de bougie - Death of a Woodlande (1944) December Rue Pigalle - In the Rue Pigalle (1944)

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Maigret of the Month - 2009 month title January Maigret et le clochard - Maigret and the Bum (1963) February La Colère de Maigret - Maigret Loses His Temper (1963) March Maigret et le fantôme - Maigret and the Ghost (1963) April Maigret se défend - Maigret on the Defensive (1964) May La Patience de Maigret - Maigret Bides His Time (1965) June Maigret et l'affaire Nahour - Maigret and the Nahour Case (1966) July Le Voleur de Maigret - Maigret's Pickpocket (1967) August Maigret à Vichy - Maigret in Vichy (1968) September Maigret hésite - Maigret Hesitates (1968) October L'Ami d'enfance de Maigret - Maigret's Boyhood Friend (1968) November Maigret et le tueur - Maigret and the Killer (1969) December Maigret et le marchand de vin - Maigret and the Wine Merchant (1970)

Maigret of the Month - 2008 month title January Maigret tend un piège - Maigret sets a trap (1955) February Un échec de Maigret - Maigret's Failure (1956) March Maigret s'amuse - Maigret's Little Joke (1957) April Maigret voyage - Maigret and the Millionaires (1958) May Les Scrupules de Maigret - Maigret Has Scruples (1958) June Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants - Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses (1959) July Une confidence de Maigret - Maigret Has Doubts (1959) August Maigret aux assises - Maigret in Court (1960) September Maigret et les vieillards - Maigret in Society (1960) October Maigret et le voleur paresseux - Maigret and the Lazy Burglar (1961) November Maigret et les braves gens - Maigret and the Black Sheep (1962) December Maigret et le client du samedi - Maigret and the Saturday Caller (1962)

Maigret of the Month - 2007 month title January Maigret au "Picratt's" - Maigret in Montmartre (1951) February Maigret en meublé - Maigret Takes a Room (1951) March Maigret et la grande perche - Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (1951) April Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters - Maigret and the Gangsters (1952) May Le Revolver de Maigret - Maigret's Revolver (1952) June Maigret et l'homme du banc - The Man on the Boulevard (1953) July Maigret a peur - Maigret Afraid (1953) August Maigret se trompe - Maigret's Mistake (1953) September Maigret à l'école - Maigret Goes to School (1954) October Maigret et la jeune morte - Maigret and the Young Girl (1954) November Maigret chez le ministre - Maigret and the Calame Report (1954) December Maigret et le corps sans tête - Maigret and the Headless Corpse (1955)

Maigret of the Month - 2006 month title January L'Inspecteur Cadavre - Maigret's Rival (1944) February Maigret se fâche - Maigret in Retirement (1947) March Maigret à New York - Maigret in New York (1947) April Les Vacances de Maigret - No Vacation for Maigret (1948) May Maigret et son mort - Maigret's Special Murder (1948) June La première enquête de Maigret, 1913 - Maigret's First Case (1949) July Mon ami Maigret - My Friend Maigret (1949) August Maigret chez le coroner - Maigret at the Coroner's (1949) September Maigret et la vieille dame - Maigret and the Old Lady (1950) October L'Amie de Mme Maigret - Madame Maigret's Own Case (1950) November Les Mémoires de Maigret - Maigret's Memoirs (1951) December Un Noël de Maigret - Maigret's Christmas (1951)

Maigret of the Month - 2005 month title January L'affaire Saint-Fiacre - Maigret Goes Home (1932) February Chez les Flamands - The Flemish Shop (1932) March Le port des brumes - Death of a Harbormaster (1932) April Le fou de Bergerac - The Madman of Bergerac (1932) May Liberty Bar - Liberty Bar, Maigret on the Riviera (1932) June L'écluse n° 1 - The Lock at Charenton (1933) July Maigret - Maigret Returns (1934) August Les Caves du Majestic - Maigret and the Hotel Majestic (1942) September La Maison du juge - Maigret in Exile (1942) October Cécile est morte - Maigret and the Spinster (1942) November Signé Picpus - Maigret and the Fortuneteller (1944) December Félicie est là - Maigret and the Toy Village (1944)

Maigret of the Month - 2004 month title January Le chien jaune - The Yellow Dog February M. Gallet décédé - Maigret Stonewalled March La nuit du carrefour - Maigret at the Crossroads April Le charretier de la Providence - Maigret Meets a Milord May La tête d'un homme - A Battle of Nerves June Un crime en Hollande - Maigret in Holland July Pietr-le-Letton - Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett August Le pendu de Saint-Pholien - Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets September Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas - The Sailor's Rendezvous October La danseuse du Gai-Moulin - Maigret at the Gai-Moulin November La guinguette à deux sous - Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine December L'ombre chinoise - Maigret Mystified