The Flemish House (Inspector Maigret)

By Georges Simenon

Book Overview

A moody, rain-swept mystery from Georges Simenon that unfolds in a border town haunted by floods and deep secrets.

In The Flemish House, Maigret arrives in the rainy, flood-prone town of Givet on the Belgian border to solve the case of a missing young woman. He has been hired by the wealthy Peeters family, who are suspected of being responsible, to clear their name. As he plumbs the mysteries, prejudices, and hidden dramas of this town caught between two worlds, he has to decide whether there was foul play involved in the vanishing of the young woman, or if she has simply been chased away by the oppressive air of this benighted and fraught no-man's-land. As he investigates, he finds himself becoming increasingly fascinated by Anna Peeters, the daughter of the family, who, stoic and unemotional, seems to be the linchpin in the strange compact that keeps the family together.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250398118
• ISBN13: 9781250398116
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Maigret is becalmed

The Peeters family is accused of murdering a young woman who had a child by the son of the family, Joseph Peeters. They ask Maigret to help clear them of suspicion. He arrives at the border town of Givet in a totally unofficial capacity. The phlegmatic manners of the Flemish family, and the perfect calm and cleanliness of their home and shop, seem to mesmerize Maigret. Will he penetrate their secrets - and the motives of the townspeople who hate them? Maigret does some unexpected things in this novel, including warding off an attacker, a rare display of physical fitness! Simenon had some Flemish ancestry himself. It's interesting to ponder that in relation to the peculiar atmosphere in the Peeters household.