The second Simenon omnibus : Comprising Chez Krull, The Heart of a Man, Striptease, The Widower

by Georges Simenon

The Second Simenon The Accomplices' Maigret's Pickpocket; The Patience of Maigret

Genres: Mystery

480 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 1974

About the author

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.

Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.

He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.

During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).

Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).

In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.

Reviews

[Richard Marshall]

An easy read but not a lightweight set of stories by any means. Maigret remains - deservedly so - one of the great fictional detectives but Simenon's other stories - one of which is contained in the collection - also deserve merit. The common thread running through all the tales is the psychological effect that wrongdoing has on the protagonists.

[Ingrid Self]

The Accomplices - this manages to get inside the reader's head and then live with that victim until after it has been read completely. It was hard to be sympathetic to the main character but that makes no difference - one is on tenderhooks until the last paragraph.
Maigret's Pickpocket - again, an excellent story which unravels really slowly. So many blind alleys!
The patience of Maigret - a mystery deserving of the title, as it's impossible to fathom what has happened.
Excellent collection.

[Yrinsyde]

I just love the Maigret stories. Georges Simenon is a master of characterisation - and the English version also relies on very good translators, thank you very much Hamilton, Ryan and Frechtman! Fretchman translated a Simenon short story which is in the vein of D's Crime and Punishment. A very interesting story tracing the psychological development of a character who has committed a crime and is seeking redemption somewhat but is also defiant and refuses to change his way of life. The Maigret stories are brilliant as usual - I just love the way Simenon writes about the weather creating a certain type of atmosphere and the clothes of the people in the street, the cafes and shops, the housewives and secretaries ... all done with minimal amount of words.

[Liz]

What fun! I want more Simenon!!