European Reading Challenge #12

I read Inspector Maigret #67 the 2024 European Reading Challenge.

Maigret Hesitates – Georges Simenon (France)

This 1968 detective story is short, as is usual for a police procedural starring Chief Inspector Jules Maigret. Maigret, alerted by two anonymous letters about an impending murder, hangs around for two days questioning the residents of the sumptuous Paris mansion of a renowned maritime lawyer, Maître Parendon, who is powerless to prevent the crime. Two-thirds into the book, the inevitable murder occurs, which uncharacteristically unhinges Maigret to a certain extent. But the solution falls into place effortlessly.

The solution is so straightforward and logical that it might give the misleading impression that Inspector Maigret’s insight is no great shakes. However, the opposite is true. Maigret is portrayed as a brilliant man, whose insight has developed over 30 years of interacting with people from all walks of life. They are facing life’s dizzying changes with varying degrees of competence. 

Despite his extensive direct experience understanding the people and their motives to do crime, Maigret shuns intellectualizing, preferring to explore the world and react instinctively, experientially. His ethical default settings are clear (though never stated), yet he maintains an objectivity rooted in his public servant’s eye toward rules and procedures. Maigret senses and intuits the truth rather than deducing it with systematic logic, helping the reveal to emerge in its own time. He understands the people that he interviews, including the murderers. His understanding fascinates the mildly eccentric Maître Parendon, who is obsessed with Article 64 of the code concerning criminal responsibility versus irresistible impulse.

Simenon cleverly links Parendon’s name to Pardon, a doctor friend of Maigret, who is a recurring character the novels. Simenon introduces a Miss Vague, highlighting the significance of names. The theme of forgiveness is central, acknowledging murder as a reality not easily forgiven though that forgiveness is good for the soul of the survivors. In the end, Maigret stages a scene for the press to conceal the arrest of the guilty party, not to protect upper-bourgeois respectability but for other reasons. 

Simenon’s art shines through in his ability to suggest personality, tension, and social context with subtle details.