The problem is partly to do with the translation; I should make clear that I read the old Penguin translation from 1963 by Margaret Marshall (published as Maigret Stonewalled). The new translation may well be better. This one I showing its age badly; it is stodgy and stale-feeling, with an absurd number of wholly inappropriate and unnecessary exclamation marks! All over the place! If you see what I mean! It did the book no favours, but I wasn’t really convinced by the book itself, either.
Maigret is out of Paris in a small town in Sancerre, investigating alone the puzzling death of M. Gallet, a man who seems to have led a double life. There is a well-painted sense of oppressive heat, but the characters and setting don’t have the depth which I associate with Simenon’s later books. The explanation of Gallet’s death springs out of a hat rather, and I found it very contrived.
In a better translation this is probably a better book (and certainly would be in the original French) but I still don’t think it’s that good. Simenon has written much better books than this and I can’t really recommend it.
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