Customer Reviews

Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine

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One of the very finest novels among the phenomenon that is Maigret. As usual, Inspector Maigret solves a murder through empathy, by understanding the lives of the people involved in the case, but this time, the linchpin is an enigmatic Englishman, a man Maigret both likes and loathes, and, next to the great detective, one of the most fascinating inventions of Simenon. A superb and satisfying book for the fan or the first time Maigret reader.

Maigret delivers the bad news in person to an inmate that clemency has been denied. Before he leaves Maigret learns of a murder six years earlier that the condemned man and a pal had witnessed. The pair blackmailed the murderer until the pigeon flew the coop, the prisoner informers Inspector Maigret but then he clams up with only a vague hint of the location and none as to the identity of the killer. Maigret hangs about and figures out the location from some overheard words. He manages to ingratiate himself into an odd mix of city folk who take a weekly holiday at this village and its bar on the Seine. Inevitably Maigret puts it all together.

This Maigret story needs a couple of implausible coincidences to make it get started, but then it flows. Why is James plying Maigret with Pernods every day in Paris? Mado, the alluring wife of one of the gang, sleeps around and her husband seems to know, but does that have anything to do with the murder(s)? The same cuckolded husband is in debt up to his eyeballs. Plausible suspects abound. This one kept me up late to get to the finish. Highly recommended.

This title has been re-issued as The Bar on the Seine (Penguin Modern Classics)

This is my first experience with a Maigret novel. Though not an avid reader of detective fiction, I had heard good things about Georges Simenon and thought I'd give it a try. What I encountered was an unconventional crime novel that left me feeling satisfied but not impressed.

Maigret visits a condemned prisoner shortly before his execution. This prisoner, Lenoir, confides to Maigret that he once witnessed a man dumping a body into the Canal Saint-Martin. He then blackmailed this murderer for months. Lenoir provides Maigret with neither the identity of the murderer nor that of the victim, but he recalls that the killer used to hang out at a tavern on the Seine called the Guinguette à Deux Sous. Even with so little to go on, Maigret decides to pursue the case. He soon locates the tavern in Morsang, and becomes involved with the clique of regulars who flee Paris every weekend to gather there for recreation.

Some suspension of disbelief is required to make it through chapter one. Why would this prisoner, apropos of nothing, confide such a secret to Maigret? And what reason would Maigret have to believe him? The main reason, of course, is that if Maigret didn't follow up on the dubious lead, there would be no novel. Maigret displays a rather passive method of detection. He insinuates himself into the crowd of possible suspects, becomes a fixture among them, then says little, and waits for them to spill the beans to him. Which they do. On the one hand, I was disappointed by the lack of action, suspense, and even intellectual challenge in this mystery. On the other hand, I admire Simenon for eschewing the cliches and conventions of the genre, and creating a police procedural that is truer to life than the stereotypical heroes vs. villains narrative. He is less concerned with any cat-and-mouse game and more interested in the workings of human psychology. What I enjoyed most about the book was just the atmosphere that Simenon creates. The view he presents of life in France is refreshingly unglamorous and unglorified. While an American author would have given us gunfights under the Eiffel Tower, Simenon instead provides a realistic portrayal of how the middle class lives. Despite the lack of excitement, I can't deny that I did look forward to diving into each new chapter. Simenon is known for stripping all the unnecessary adornment from his prose. Often the words between two periods fail to constitute a complete sentence. The choppy rhythm of his phrasing takes some getting used to, but soon the cadence becomes second nature and the pages flow by briskly.

Though the Tavern by the Seine achieves mixed results, I'm eager to give Maigret another chance in hopes that he may surprise me yet. If, however, what I've read online is true, and this is "one of the best" offerings in the series, then I'm probably not going to stick with him for long.

Following up an obscure lead left to him by a criminal about to be executed, Maigret discovers a hidden side to a group of Parisians of respectable professions, and becomes a witness to what they get up to in their leisure time. At the weekends, these respectable gentlemen - engineers, businessmen, shop owners, doctors - and their wives, all make their way to a tavern on an outlying location on the Seine known as the Guinguette à deux sous, where they indulge in dressing up, role-playing, heavy drinking, fine eating, and a little bit of fishing and canoeing. Extramarital affairs are also indulged during the partying, often with the tacit consent of all the couples involved.

Such matters are not of great concern to Maigret and not why he is at the Guinguette à deux sous when he should be on holiday in the country with his wife. He's been told by the criminal to be executed, Lenoir, that there is a murderer among the group who was seen six years ago dropping a body into the canal Saint-Martin. While he is there, looking around, getting to know the personalities involved and the complications of their affairs, Maigret is however witness to another murder.

Even for a Maigret novel, Guinguette à deux sous - an early novel from 1932 - moves along rather too smoothly, Maigret of course having plenty of opportunity to stop-off for drinks (Pernod the tipple of choice in this novel) at the bars around the Palais Royale by way of conducting his investigations, waiting for everything to fall into place. There is some fine humour to be found however in the figure of Lenoir's former colleague Victor Gaillard, who cuts a hilariously pathetic figure as a homeless crook with one lung. With its increasingly despairing tone and bitter outlook on decadent bourgeois lifestyles, touching on irregular financial affairs and alcoholism, the novel nevertheless has that characteristic dark Simenon tone.

The story dates back to 1932. In the opening the prisoner, Lenoir, is to be executed the following day. He is young, no more than 22. The condemned man refuses to speak in a meaningful way to the law enforcement officials to save himself. In the end no one keeps Lenoir company.

Maigret goes to Morsang to an inn on the Seine while his wife is in the country. There is sailing. One of the guests, Marcel Basso, has a gun, and Monsieur Feinstein is shot dead. Madame Feinstein, Mado, is taken indoors. Maigret hates Paris when his wife is there. He learns that Mado and Basso had a friendship. Basso is missing.

After the commission of the crime, Maigret does not feel he is a welcome presence to the weekenders. The establishment at the river is called Guinguette a Deux Sous. When someone shows up from a municipal sanitorium Maigret mentions the name of Lenoir. Obviously the new man is someone who is going to live on his lung trouble.

The book is notable for its atmosphere and the pace of the storytelling.

This is the first Maigret novel I read. It was a good read more or less. Sometimes, the narrative is too descriptive. It did not capture me as much as good Agatha Christie novels did. It's a good book to read on a plane or a train, but if we compare it to such books as "Five Little Pigs" by Christie, it does not come close in terms of suspense and how surprising the end is. The ending here was somewhat unexpected. But I was not impressed. So, to review, good book to get familiar with Simenon's writing style and his famous detective.

Another great Maigret's novel.

Splendid evocation of week-ends along the river (Seine) in the thirties. The atmosphere is close to the impressionism.

You have to read this novel !

Thank you for the quick delivery. Copy is as described. Fine. And good reading too.

If you like Simenon, you'll like this...I have over 300 by this author and have not been disappointed.