Maigret Is Afraid

By Georges Simenon

Book Overview

"A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason." --John Le Carr

Maigret stumbles upon a series of murders in Fontenay-le-Comte while visiting an old school friend

On his way home from a conference, Maigret stops to visit an old school friend in Fontenay-le-Comte. A man in the same train car introduces himself and asks if Maigret has come to help solve the murder case. In fact, the man's brother-in-law had been murdered four days earlier, followed by the murder of a local widow in the same way, a blow to the head with a pipe. While Maigret is in town, a third murder is reported. Maigret soon discovers that there are two warring factions in the town, a clear class separation, and an air of suspicion that only he can put to rest.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0241277485
• ISBN13: 9780241277485
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Maigret foresees a tragedy

Don't be misled by the title. Maigret has not turned coward. He's afraid not for himself but for others who seem to be headed for trouble... Maigret attends a police conference that makes him feel out of date. On the way home, he visits his old friend Julien Chabot, who's the Examining Magistrate for the little village of Fontenay-le-Compte. Another aging official like himself! To the embarrassment of his friend, and the delight of many of the townspeople, Maigret walks into a tricky murder case. The local people have a strong dislike for the leading family of the town and have pretty much decided that the murderer is among the town worthies. Maigret must work around all factions to get at the truth of the case. And it's not even his case! In some ways this book feels dated. For example, Maigret is strangely tolerant of a young man who beats his mistress! But time spent reading Simenon is ever without its pleasures if you can put up with occasional displays of political incorrectness.

Simenon's Reputation Has Nothing to Be Afraid Of

A small, quiet French village dominated by a sense of social status is well described in this novel by Georges Simenon. The book has an amazing sense of atmosphere, of believable characters and situations, of the dark world in the pouring rain in which the three victims die... The moral of the book is concerned with the social statuses of the characters, of how the normal people despise the aristocracy, how the aristocracy despise the aristocracy and the citizens. The book is, like all Simenon, well-written and believable, even in the most fantastic situations, dragging the reader onwards and onwards, unable to put the book down.