I read this for the 2015 Cloak and
Dagger Mystery Reading Challenge
Un crime en
Hollande, 1929
Aka Maigret in
Holland, tr. Geoffrey Sainsbury, 1940
A Crime in Holland
– Georges Simenon, tr. Sian
Reynolds, 2014
After an
evening party given in the Popinga home in honor of Professor Jean Duclos, who
has come to lecture in Delfzijl, Conrad Popinga is killed by a pistol shot. Maigret
is informally asked to visit the town and investigate the murder. The
suspects abound: Duclos himself, who was holding the weapon immediately after
the murder; Beetje
Liewens, the 18-year-old mistress of Conrad, who returned to the Popinga house
after her lover had taken her home; the
grumpy farmer Liewens, who had caught his daughter with the victim and sternly disapproved;
the naval cadet
Cornelius Barens, who loves Beetje; Oosting,
the old salt, whose cap was found in the bathroom Popinga; finally,
Mrs. Popinga and her sister Any, who stayed home after the departure of the guests.
Oosting's
cap and a cigar butt at the scene of the crime fail to impress Maigret since he
is convinced that the old sailor had no reason to kill Popinga.
Maigret goes
after the culprit, but he must examine deeper human truths along the way, as part
psychologist and part anthropologist. He contrasts his own culture (French,
urban, Catholic) with that of the Protestant bourgeoisie in a small Dutch
town. He realizes the behavior of
the characters is profoundly influenced by a strict and austere environment
against which some – like Conrad and Beetje
– must rebel. Plus, he must contend with an unspoken attitude that doubts the social
utility of denouncing and punishing the guilty if the guilty one belongs to the
upper classes. Such a bad example for the lower classes, after all. As for
comic relief, Maigret, the bull in the china shop, must deal
with the delicate sensibilities of the Dutch police and Professor Duclos, who
wants Maigret to do as the Dutch do when in Holland.
Fans count
this one, the eighth Maigret novel, as one of the better early novels, written
in the Depression era. Simenon’s powers lie in his economical style, his simple
vocabulary, his way of setting scenes to evoke atmosphere, his probing of the
psychology of his characters, and his awareness of and icy compassion for fallibility.
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