Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper (Inspector Maigret Mysteries) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Georges Simenon (Author), Michael Prichard (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape; Unabridged edition (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736657258
• ISBN-13: 978-0736657259
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4.5 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,695,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3.0 out of 5 stars An earlier Maigret, reflects the corruption of post war Paris, and filme noire, and male chauvinism, February 23, 2010

By 

C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper (Inspector Maigret Mysteries) (Audio Cassette)

Matched with Prichard's dreary reading, this recorded book grows rather threadbare.

It could be interesting to have included the villain (although most seem villain here), or rather the assassin appear earlier in the tale in order to give us all a chance at figuring it out, but that is not to be (NO SPOILER HERE!). Making up an unknown at the end of the tale is not the preferred structuring of a detective story.

This tale reflects a world post war in Paris, after the occupation, and the occupation, and still with a seedy night life.

Rather deeply sad, and weary, and the reading by Prichard does not lift things much at all.

An early Maigret, quirky, and perhaps leaning on filme noire and on Hemingway and such too much. Perhaps hoping to be used as a screen play somewhere, with Bogart, and Bacall.

Still its listening fills a dark evening, if you're into that sort of thing.

Far more interesting would be to hear it in the original French, or read it in same. For one thing the title indicates the infidelity of the translation from Maigret chez Picratte (sp.?), as the English title adopts a seedier Erle Stanley Gardner tone.

Also available here by the same reader is Maigret Sets a Trap (Simenon) which aspires limply to psychology, and also None of Maigret's Business (Simenon) which may be the more pleasant of the batch, as Maigret finds himself on vacation.

Simenon was a former Parisian police reporter turned novelette writer, who eventually traveled to Hollywood and back and spent a long lifetime milking this Maigret series. Maigret is a police detective in Paris, and can be quite good, but please get us a better reader! Mr. Prichard did quite a few readings for the Audiobooks series, but I find his attempts to take on voices, particularly of women, gratingly unconvincing and shallow.

Simenon makes little to no attempt here to enter the psychology of the women who work in this bar, and rather mocks them repeatedly, including the reference to describing one abused as shaking herself like a barnyard fowl.

Not the best place to start with Maigret, nor the best way. Perhaps you may find Noel de Maigret interesting. If you grow really fascinated, of course, you might choose the series Tout Simenon Vol 15: Le Riche Homme / La Folle de Maigret / La Disparition d'Odile / Maigret et l'Homme Tout Seul / La Cage de Verre / Maigret et l'Indicateur / Les Innocents / Maigret et Monsieur Charles although it is absurdly priced (yes, that is a faux pas in a review, but look at the cost of acquiring all of the volumes here!).

I would love to see the great Jean Gabin (he of Grand Illusion - Criterion Collection, etc.) as Inspector Maigret [Region 2] but must wait . . .

One wonders in horror whether it was the Maigret series which gave birth to the ridiculous Peter Sellers travesties.

Also of possible interest are the series of DVD's including Maigret - Volume 4 - 10-DVD Box Set ( Maigret et le fantôme / Maigret et le marchand de vin / Maigret en Finlande / Maigret et la demoiselle de compagnie / Maigret et la croqueuse de diamants / Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre / Maigret et l'écluse no.1 and the dreary Michael Gambon series Maigret - Complete Series 1-2 [Non-U.S. Format Region 2 U.K. DVD Set] (Starring Michael Gambon)