I read this for E-5: Translated Work
Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses
- Georges Simenon, 1959
A century-old family firm once rolled in profits from
manufacturing biscuits that Maigret remembers as having tasted of cardboard. But times and public tastes have changed. The firm should
have gone out of business long-ago but for infusions of cash from heiresses the
sons of the family have married.
One night the eldest son, head of the family is murdered
in his bed.
When Maigret comes in to investigate he has to fight
three problems.
The family puts up a wall of silence. Though no charges
are pressing, they hire an obnoxious lawyer who seizes every chance to get in
Maigret’ face. A young whippersnapper of an examining magistrate involves
himself too deeply in the investigation and actually wants to supervise
Maigret, who is only two years from retirement.
Generally the mystery is dusty in atmosphere and dour in
tone, but the black sheep daughter of the family provides lively relief. The reason
is that she works dressed in a dinner jacket and monocle in nightclub for women
of Sapphic and cross-dressing inclinations.
While worrying about his advancing age, a marker of the late
Maigret novels of the late Fifities and early Sixties. Maigret assumes that
people are fallible and thus gets to the bottom of the mess
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