Maigret Meets a Milord Omnibus

by Georges Simenon

Classic Literature, French Literature & Studies, Literary Studies

400 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 1983

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

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maigret Meets a Milord by Belgian Georges Simenon is the 2nd book in the Inspector Maigret mystery series, published originally in 1931. This story finds Maigret investigating a murder of a woman along the canal / locks. The body is discovered by carters who make a living pulling barges through the lock system.
It turns out that the body is that of the wife of a retired English colonel who sails his yacht along the canals, living a decadent life style. Maigret begins his investigation, traveling by bicycle along the locks, interrogating witnesses amongst those that live and work and travel through the lock system. Exploring the life along the locks made for a very interesting scenario. The people and the lifestyles were fascinating. The mystery, as I've found the other Maigret stories, was also interesting, with Maigret working more by instinct and touch to come up with his solution to the crime. The solution was also satisfying, coming as a nice surprise. I continue to enj0y the Maigret books as they are different from most of the series I enjoy. (4 stars)

[Phillip Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maigret Meets a Milord was first published in 1931 as Le Charretier de la ‘Providence‘, and was translated into English by Robert Baldick. One of 11 books Simenon published in 1931 when he launched his career as Simenon, this was the third of the Maigret stories, and otherwise known as The Crime at Lock 14. Very big on atmosphere, the story depicts the way of life, and the very texture, the light, the sounds and smells, of the life of barges and bargemen travelling by canal through the river system of France, in this case the Marne. Simenon had spent a lot of time travelling by barge around France, so he knew what he was talking about, and the details of the setting sound very authentic, and help bring the story to life. What holds it back is simply that the vivid characterisation is linked with a lurid, highly melodramatic plot more suited to the pulp fiction Simenon had so recently been writing so prolifically. An eccentric British peer, the milord of the title, his companions a Russian exile, a countess, and his wife, who is murdered, who turns out to be an ex dance hall hostess, meet up with a doctor who has left his respectable life, spent time in a prison camp, and is now an inarticulate hulk of a man nursing all kinds of sinister thoughts and impulses. The murderer, a strangler, dies at the end, and is depicted with unusual sympathy. The elements of the Maigret stories were all in evidence right from the very beginning.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penguin Edition 1963. Translated by Robert Baldick.

Four and a half stars.

Another very atmospheric tale from the pen of this great student of human nature. Set on the canals of France, this story takes Maigret out of his normal environment.

As I often say about Simenon's books, the plot is not always the main attraction although this one is interesting and unusual. It is the humanity of Maigret that shines through for me together with the descriptions of characters and locations.

At risk of being boringly repetitious, I find that Simenon can pack more into a 100 odd pages than many other authors can in much longer books. There is not a bit of padding or an unnecessary sentence. The bloke was a genius!