Sunday, March 13, 2016

Inspector Maigret by Georges Simenon

Penguin Books is republishing the Inspector Maigret novels by Georges Simenon.
There are 75 in total and my goal is to read them all.

I first was introduced to Inspector Maigret by Michael Gambon's portrayal in the 1992-3 TV series. Not sure what PBS station we saw some of them on, but I have since then watched them all on youtube. There were 2 series of 6 episodes. I like the French theme music.

The first novel I read by Simenon was "Monsieur Monde Vanishes", it was a good read, but not of the Inspector Maigret series.

The Maigret novels are not formulaic and in one instance, the suspect does the detection and solves the case for Maigret. He travels here, he travels there, he's gruff, he's laid-back, I find him very interesting. Some reviews of Simenon complain of his writing, I just like the stories.

Here is a Paris Review interview with Mr. Simenon.
Here is a NYTimes essay about Mr. Simenon.

I had a problem finding the order in which Penguin republished the series so I have copied the list below from here.
Some of these reprints have had the titles changed from the original.
The date listed after the title is when I read the book.
  1. Pietr the Latvian, 4/2015
  2. The Late Monsieur Gallet, 3/2016
  3. The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, 6/2015
  4. The Carter of La Providence, 3/2016
  5. The Yellow Dog, 6/2015
  6. The Night at the Crossroads, 6/2015
  7. A Crime in Holland, 6/2015
  8. The Grand Banks Cafe, 6/2015
  9. A Man's Head, 12/2015
  10. The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin, 1/2016
  11. The Two-Penny Bar, 3/2016
  12. The Shadow Puppet, 1/2016
  13. The Saint-Fiacre Affair, 2/2016
  14. The Flemish House, 3/2016
  15. The Madman of Bergerac, 2/2016
  16. The Misty Harbor, 4/2016
  17. Liberty Bar, 04/2016
  18. Lock N° 1, 5/2016
  19. Maigret, 4/2016
  20. Cécile is dead, 7/2016
  21. The Cellars of the Majestic, 7/2016
  22. The Judge's House, 8/2016
  23. Signed, Picpus, 8/2016
  24. Inspector Cadaver, 8/2016
  25. Félicie
  26. Maigret gets angry
  27. Maigret in New York
  28. Maigret's Holiday
  29. Maigret and his Dead Man
  30. Maigret's First Case
The above republished in;
2013: 1, 2
2014: 3 - 14
2015: 15 - 26
2016: 27 - 30

Still reading and enjoying the Inspector's cases.

2 comments:

  1. Your undertaking is admirable (and don't forget there are 28 short stories on top of the 75 novels). You've probably already noticed that the Penguin series is being put out by date of original publication. It's hard to develop a chronology for Maigret's life, for the stories jump forward and back in time.

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    1. Thanks for reading and thanks for the admirable goal comment. At least there will be no lack of gift ideas for awhile. I only read about 20 - 30 books a year and I certainly won't just read Maigret, so I'm sure I will be lagging behind Penguin's printing presses.
      Too bad there is not an Inspector Maigret Companion book. That would be quite an undertaking.

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