“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré
Inspector Maigret steps in when an anonymous note to the police reports that a body has been burned in a bookbinder’s furnace
An anonymous note to the police reports that a body has been burned in the furnace of a bookbinder on the Rue de Turenne. Preliminary investigations turn up suspicious details—and two human teeth of a man who’d been alive not long before. Meanwhile, Madame Maigret has had a strange experience while waiting for her dentist appointment. A woman she had often met on the bench while waiting suddenly leaves her young child in Madame Maigret’s care and disappears for over an hour, returning to take the child and vanishing without explanation. When Maigret’s investigation is blown wide open, it seems the two incidents might be related in ways no one could have predicted.
Praise for Georges Simenon:
“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian
“These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post
“The matchless French crime novelist.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
“Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People
“I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner
“An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style.” —Amor Towles
“I never read contemporary fiction–with one exception: the works of Simenon.” —T.S. Eliot
“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré
“One of the most important writers of our century.” —Gabriel García Márquez
“A favorite writer of mine.” —Sigrid Nunez
“A great writer of detail, of atmosphere.” —Leïla Slimani
“Feels incredibly modern…A great writer.” —Ian Rankin
“The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide
“Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London)
“Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray
“A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark
“A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.” —Peter Ackroyd
“Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville
"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ―Times (London)
"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ―Margaret Atwood
"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ―Financial Times
"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." ―Stig Abell, The Sunday Times (London)
“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré
Inspector Maigret steps in when an anonymous note to the police reports that a body has been burned in a bookbinder’s furnace
An anonymous note to the police reports that a body has been burned in the furnace of a bookbinder on the Rue de Turenne. Preliminary investigations turn up suspicious details—and two human teeth of a man who’d been alive not long before. Meanwhile, Madame Maigret has had a strange experience while waiting for her dentist appointment. A woman she had often met on the bench while waiting suddenly leaves her young child in Madame Maigret’s care and disappears for over an hour, returning to take the child and vanishing without explanation. When Maigret’s investigation is blown wide open, it seems the two incidents might be related in ways no one could have predicted.
Praise
Praise for Georges Simenon:
“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian
“These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post
“The matchless French crime novelist.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
“Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People
“I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner
“An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style.” —Amor Towles
“I never read contemporary fiction–with one exception: the works of Simenon.” —T.S. Eliot
“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré
“One of the most important writers of our century.” —Gabriel García Márquez
“A favorite writer of mine.” —Sigrid Nunez
“A great writer of detail, of atmosphere.” —Leïla Slimani
“Feels incredibly modern…A great writer.” —Ian Rankin
“The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide
“Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London)
“Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray
“A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark
“A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.” —Peter Ackroyd
“Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville
"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ―Times (London)
"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ―Margaret Atwood
"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ―Financial Times
"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." ―Stig Abell, The Sunday Times (London)
