Customer Reviews

Maigret and the Killer (Helen and Kurt Wolff Books)

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This is one of my very favorite Simenon novels; superbly paced and brilliant characterizations.

Simenon's Chief Inspector Maigret never fails to take me to Paris, to enfold me into the city's daily life and the problems of solving a crime. This is accomplished by an economy of language that somehow includes all the details necessary to create a lucid scene.

This novel begins on a rainy night when Maigret accompanies his doctor friend on an amergency call: a man has been stabbed on a nearby sidewalk. It is no ordinary victim. He is the young son of a wealthy perfume manufacturer. The victim's hobby is secretly taping conversations wherever he goes. It is a pastime that proved fatal--or did it?

Maigret's investigation takes him to cafes and brasseries, from the wealthy to the poor, and piece by piece he solves the crime. Or, perhaps, it should be said that Maigret lets the killer play out and solve the case on his own. In either case it is the journey, not the solution, that ntrigues. There are the sights, and sounds, and smells of Paris. As usual, Maigret chats with his wife, goes to movies, and pauses often to have a beer or wine and to reflect on what he has uncovered to date.

Any lover of crime fiction who has not yet discovered Georges Simenon should do so immediately. Like Arthur Conan Doyle, he is one of the best, not just of crime fiction but of fiction writing in general.

his brain is squirming like a toad." Jim Morrison.

Inspector and Mrs. Maigret usually have a very pleasant evening when they have dinner at the flat of Dr. and Mrs. Pardon. They enjoy good food, good conversation and the company of old friends. However, on this rainy night in Paris their evening is ruined when one of Dr. Pardon's patients rushes in to tell them that a man has been brutally knifed and killed on the Boulevard just down the street. The victim, Antoine Batille, is the son of a wealthy perfume manager. Maigret, by dint of his arriving at the scene with his friend the Doctor, takes charge of the investigation. A loner, Antoine does not seem the sort to make enemies or to make anyone angry enough to get stabbed almost a dozen times. However, Batille did have a hobby unusual enough for Maigret to launch an investigation. Batille was in the habit of taking a portable tape-recorder (a new and unusual gadget when this story was written in 1969) and taping random conversations in bars and bistros across Paris. As the story continues we see Maigret following a lead provided by the tape recorder. It seems that an easy solution is at hand. But Maigret sees something that takes him on a path that seems contrary to the evidence. As the plot unfolds we see Maigret following two paths, leaving the reader to guess which path leads to a solution.

I enjoyed "Maigret and the Killer" for a couple of reasons. Maigret is aging. He has been on the force now for over thirty-five years (I think Simenon penned the first Maigret in 1933 or so.) He is eyeing retirement and longs for life in the country cottage he and his wife purchased a while back. Perhaps because of his age Maigret also has a very strong sense of how best to bring in a suspect and get that suspect to the point where he has no choice but to confess. That is the path he takes here, much to the annoyance of the Magistrate who would prefer a quick arrest and prosecution. Maigret has a certain sense here that justice will best be served if he lets the object of the investigation talk himself into making a statement. George Simenon does an admirable job in setting the scene. As always, Simenon does not indulge in excess prose, but his compact sentences always manage to convey a certain sense of the character of Maigret and the characters that he encounters. The dialogues between Maigret and his primary suspect are compelling and bespeak an acute awareness of the human condition. The fact that he manages to do this with less rather than more words makes it all the more remarkable.

Once again, George Simenon delivers a thoughtful, well-paced and insightful Maigret story. Recommended. L. Fleisig.

Maigret rushes to the scene of a young man lying on the sidewalk in front of a bar, stabbed to death. He has a tape recorder slung around him like a camera.

It appears that Antoine Batille had a passion for recording conversations in bars, stations and other public places all over Paris, including some quite dangerous haunts. His last recording, in the bar where he had his last drink, appears to reveal a plan for a major robbery.

Yet Maigret hesitates to accept this as the motive. Do robbers of precious artwork kill? Why not just grab the recorder and run?

Maigret is saddened by the enormity of the tragedy, for Antoine Batille was a deep person with a bright future. Yet the Chief Superintendent reels in the killer with quiet compassion. He really wants to know what made this man cross the boundary that prevents most men from taking a life. And his interest is irresistible to the killer.

Madame Maigret shows her courage and goodness, too, in this excellent little mystery.

This is my second Maigret book. Simenon seems always to be a good read. This is a man who knows his metier. In this book the social indignation of Simenon seems to surface quite explicit, since Maigret feels quite much compassion towards the murderer, seemingly more than with the victim. It's quite amazing to me how undeveloped and backwards the France of Simenon is, the man obviously felt a need for improvement of the country. One bad thing about this novel is that Maigret seems to be too familar, friendly and understanding with the murderer, it's not quite credible.

When Maigret meets a serial killer, it's a dramatic face to face and, as usually, Maigret can understand why the killer acts in such an horrible way. Maigret don't excuse the killer but can understand. Like said Simenon : "Understand but not judge".

The Maigrets ate on a monthly basis with Dr. Pardon and his wife. Dr. Pardon complained that medical doctors were being changed into clerks because of all of the paperwork required of them. Superintendent Maigret and Dr. Pardon went out to see a young man lying in the street, a victim of stabbing. Maigret had become involved in the case involuntarily.

In reporting the death to the family, Maigret learned that the young man's parents were very rich. The father was a perfume manufacturer. The young man had had few friends. He had an unusual hobby, recording conversations. The tape recorder was recovered.

The tale is taut, lucid.