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A Maigret Trio: Maigret's Failure, Maigret in Society, Maigret and the Lazy Burglar
In this trio of novels, Inspector Jules Maigret is faced with three very different deaths and, correspondingly, three very different milieus, each depicted with Simenon's characteristic sureness of touch.
In Maigret's Failure, the vulgarly rich owner of a chain of butcher shops, "The King of the Meat Trade," is murdered for motives both understandable and obvious. In Maigret in Society, on the other hand, the inspector confronts a cast of characters so subtle and overbred as to seem unreal. Most remarkable, perhaps, is Simenon's widely praised creation of the thief in Maigret and the Lazy Burglar, in which a risky profession exercised by an eminently cautious man. The common thread to all three novellas is Simenon's astounding virtuosity and, of course, the inimitable Maigret.
290 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1940
About the author
Georges Simenon
2,598 books2,354 followersGeorges 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 31, 2013
Georges Simenon was the most prolific of all writers in the mystery genre and his Superintendent Maigret stands right up there with Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, and Lord Peter Wimsey. What I like about the Maigret books is the author's spare style......these are not stories that have peculiar twists or surprise endings. In fact, you often know who dunnit from the beginning, and sometimes, Maigret lets the criminal get away with his/her actions, although seldom in murder cases. Here we have three short stories, all of which will hold your interest and are a good starting point for the beginning reader of Simenon's work.
December 10, 2019
review of
Georges Simenon's A Maigret Trio: Maigret's Failure; Maigret in Society; Maigret and the Lazy Burglar — Three novels published in the United States for the first time
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 6, 2019
I'm sure I've run across mention of Simenon for decades but I admit to not ever caring very much. It wasn't until I read Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty-Year Death (see my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & deduced that the 1st 3rd of that was meant as an homage to Simenon that I finally got interested. Hence, when the opportunity to get some of his bks at a dramatically reduced proce appeared I was on it. So what was I on about?
The hero, Maigret, is a police detective. I suppose these stories cd be accurately called "police procedurals". Maigret isn't a deranged homicidal maniac, he's not drinking whiskey constantly & getting the shit kicked out of him or kicking the shit out of other people. The investigations proceed patiently & logically. He's married, his wife doesn't get kidnapped so the kidnapper can threaten Maigret. Instead, he goes home to her, they go out, their domestic life is more or less placid. These stories were mostly not melodramatic or brutal. I enjoyed them but for someone who thrives on Jim Thompson & James Ellroy they might seem.. lacking. Hell, they might even be close to realistic. One of the 1st things I liked about it was a weather description. I must be getting (c)old.
"At eleven o'clock in the morning, the murky light of a hangman's dawn still lay over the offices; the lamps were still burning at noon, and dusk came down at three o'clock. One could no longer say it was raining; one was actually living in a cloud, with water everywhere, trails of it on the floors, and no one able to utter three words without blowing his nose.
"The papers carried photos of suburban dwellers going home by boat along streets that had turned into watercourses." - p 9
The scene is already set, the mystery evoked: WHOSE NOSE IS BEING BLOWN?
After learning about the victim, Maigret starts have to sympathy for the murderer.
"'You're doing all you possibly can, aren't you?'
"He certainly was ! And yet he'd never felt so little eagerness to find a murderer. True, he was curious to know who had at last decided to get rid of Fumal, which of these men and women had had enough of it and risked everything at one throw. But would he blame the criminal? Wouldn't he feel a pang at heart when the handcuffs were put on?" - p 48
Well, you didn't learn shit from that review, did you?
******************************************************************
Let's try the 2nd bk, maybe I'll have something substantial to say about that one. Let's start w/ the set-up, shall we?
"'"A skilled psychiatrist, using his scientific knowledge and the experience gained in his consulting-room, is in a fairly good position to understand his fellow human beings. But it is possible, especially if he allows himself to be influenced by theories, that he will understand them less perfectly than a good schoolmaster, a novelist or a detective."'" - pp 105-106
This one has a frustrated love story of the most exaggerated & painful sort.
"'For fifty years, then, they wrote to each other practically every day, and one day your uncle spoke to you about a marriage which was to take place in a more or less distant future. Which means, I suppose, that he and Isabelle were waiting for the Prince to die in order to get married.'" - p 127
This involved producing a child to perpetuate a bloodline name.
"The priest had shared the Prince's opinion. One could not, for a question of love, allow a name to die out which, for the past five centuries, had been found on every page of the history of France.
"'I understood where my duty lay . . .'
"The sacrifice had taken place, since a child, Philippe, had been born. She announced the birth too, and on this subject there was a phrase which gave Maigret pause :
"'Thank God, it is a boy . . .'" - p 133
Philippe, now a grown married man, is interrogated by Maigret to whom he reveals an indiscrete subject.
"[']In any case, whenever I come to Paris, I am in the habit of spending an hour or two with a pretty woman. As I don't want to have any consequences or to complicate my life, I content myself with . . .'
"He made a vague gesture.
"'On the Champs-Elysées?' asked Maigret.
"'I wouldn't say this in front of my wife, who wouldn't understand. In her opinion, outside a certain society . . .'" - p 166
No one Maigret interviews seems to be lying.
"'He went and had dinner in a restaurant in the Rue de Seine where he nearly always had his meals. I checked up on that.'
"Another one who had not been lying ! It was a queer profession, thought Maigret, in which you felt disappointed that somebody hadn't commited murder ! Yet this was the case here, and the chief-inspector, despite himself, felt a grudge against each of these people in turn for being innocent or appearing so." - p 171
Maybe this is a large part of what makes these Maigret stories interesting. Instead of the typical thriller where the reader is sucked in by the dramatic monstrosity of the crime & the 'need' for the heinous criminal to be caught, there're more subtle things at play.
"Maigret rushed across to the archway, climbed the stone steps, with a Lapointe who was at once calm and astonished.
"'What's up, Chief ?'
"'Where is she ?'
"'In her room.'
"'When did you last hear her moving around ?'
"'Just now.'
"'Whom were you phoning ?'
"'I was trying to get through to you.'
"'What for ?'
"'She's getting dressed to go out and I wanted ask you for instructions.'
"Maigret felt ridiculous in front of Lapointe and Janvier who had joined them. In contrast to the anxiety of the last few minutes, the flat was quieter than ever." - pp 180-181
A false alarm, the human mind jumping to a false conclusion.
Well, you didn't learn shit from that review, either, did you? — but at least I didn't spoil it for you.
******************************************************************
Let's try the last bk, maybe I'll at least further illustrate my opinions about Simenon's gentle & subtle touch. In this one, Maigret is forced into navigating a new bureaucracy that he doesn't approve of & that inhibits his investigating.
"'I don't know if I'm right to telephone you . . . I informed my immediate superior, the superintendent at my own station, right away. He told me to ring the Public Prosecutor's office and I spoke to the official on night duty there . . .'" - p 202
"So now 'they' were forcing the police to play tricks ! By 'they' he meant the Public Prosecutor's Department, the crowd at the Ministry of the Interior—the whole bunch of college-educated law-givers who had taken it into their heads to run the world according to their own little ideas.
"They looked on the police force as a minor, slightly discreditable cog in the wheel of Justice with a capital J—one to regard with suspicion, to watch out for, to keep in its place.
"Like Janvier, Lucas and a score or so of Maigret's men, Fumel was the old-fashioned kind; but the others had adjusted themselves to the new methods and rules—all they thought of was passing exams so as to get quicker promotion." - pp 202-203
"The place was being reorganized, as they called it. Well-educated, gentlemanly young fellows, scions of the best French families, were sitting in quiet offices, studying the whole thing in the interests of efficiency. Their learned cogitations were producing unpractical plans that found expression in a weekly batch of new regulations.
"To begin with, the police were now declared to be an instrument at the service of justice. A mere instrument. And an instrument has no brain.
"It was now the examining magistrate in his office and the Public Prosecutor in his awe-inspiring headquarters who directed investigations and gave orders." - p 209
"That's what things had come to. What interested the gentlemen in high places was to put a stop to the series of attacks that were causing losses to banks, insurance companies and the Post Office. They also considered that car thefts were becoming too frequent.
"'What about giving more protection to the cashiers?' he had expostulated. 'Why leave one man, or a couple of men, to convey millions of francs by a route that anyone can find out beforehand?'
"Too expensive, of course !" - p 214
In other words, it's all about class, as usual — wch is partially why he cares about the victim in this one, a murdered burglar he knew from having arrested him before.
"'He was a solider the way another man might be a fitter or a cobbler,' said his lieutenant.
"He went through three years without a single punishment. Whereupon, for no known reason, he deserted, and was discovered after a few days in a workshop in Algiers, where he had found a job.
"He offered no explanation of his abrupt departure, which might have got him into considerable trouble, beyond a muttered :
"'I couldn't stand it any longer.'
"'Why not?'
"'I don't know.'" - p 220
Maigret becomes increasingly aggravated by the new bureaucracy's lack of concern for anything other than bigger money interests & their dismissal of the sufferings of poorer people.
"Monsieur Kernavel, of the Public Prosecutor's Department" [..] "believes the man to have been killed in an underworld vendetta.
"'What did you say?'
"The stock phrase 'underworld vendetta' infuriated Maigret, for it meant that from the official standpoint the matter was as good as closed. As one of the Public Prosecutor's men used to say :
"'Let 'em kill one another, down to the last man. That'll save the hangman trouble and the taxpayers money.'" - p 235
It also won't happen that way, will it? Instead, the most murderous gangsters will monopolize their power as much as possible & become 'good citizens'.
In my review notes I call the following a "typical complicating Simenon detail":
"His wife declared that she simply could not understand what had happened, and Maigret believed her.
"'I don't see why he should have done such a thing, Superintendent. We were so happy. It's only just two years since we bought this flat. Joseph was earning good wages. He doesn't drink and he hardly ever went out by himself.'" - p 240
Instead of sitting at his desk in his private detective's office knocking back whiskey only to be interrupted by a platinum blond who lures him into deadly peril w/ lies & more lies, as might be the case in other detective fiction, Maigret's situation is more bourgeois & 'ordinary'.
"He sat down to dinner with no suspicion that a telephone call was soon to summon him from the rather cloying tranquility of his flat, that a considerable number of people who were at present making plans for the evening were destined to spend the night otherwise than they had intended, or that every building in the Quai des Orfèvres would be lit up until morning, as only happened on nights when there was a great to-do." - p 261
In the end, in keeping w/ the class struggle, the rich get away w/ murder.
"'What will happen, in your opinion?'
"Maigret, eager to bring the conversation to an end, replied laconically :
"'Nothing !' and hung up. He needed sleep. And he felt almost certain he was right." - p 288
Georges Simenon's A Maigret Trio: Maigret's Failure; Maigret in Society; Maigret and the Lazy Burglar — Three novels published in the United States for the first time
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 6, 2019
I'm sure I've run across mention of Simenon for decades but I admit to not ever caring very much. It wasn't until I read Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty-Year Death (see my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & deduced that the 1st 3rd of that was meant as an homage to Simenon that I finally got interested. Hence, when the opportunity to get some of his bks at a dramatically reduced proce appeared I was on it. So what was I on about?
The hero, Maigret, is a police detective. I suppose these stories cd be accurately called "police procedurals". Maigret isn't a deranged homicidal maniac, he's not drinking whiskey constantly & getting the shit kicked out of him or kicking the shit out of other people. The investigations proceed patiently & logically. He's married, his wife doesn't get kidnapped so the kidnapper can threaten Maigret. Instead, he goes home to her, they go out, their domestic life is more or less placid. These stories were mostly not melodramatic or brutal. I enjoyed them but for someone who thrives on Jim Thompson & James Ellroy they might seem.. lacking. Hell, they might even be close to realistic. One of the 1st things I liked about it was a weather description. I must be getting (c)old.
"At eleven o'clock in the morning, the murky light of a hangman's dawn still lay over the offices; the lamps were still burning at noon, and dusk came down at three o'clock. One could no longer say it was raining; one was actually living in a cloud, with water everywhere, trails of it on the floors, and no one able to utter three words without blowing his nose.
"The papers carried photos of suburban dwellers going home by boat along streets that had turned into watercourses." - p 9
The scene is already set, the mystery evoked: WHOSE NOSE IS BEING BLOWN?
After learning about the victim, Maigret starts have to sympathy for the murderer.
"'You're doing all you possibly can, aren't you?'
"He certainly was ! And yet he'd never felt so little eagerness to find a murderer. True, he was curious to know who had at last decided to get rid of Fumal, which of these men and women had had enough of it and risked everything at one throw. But would he blame the criminal? Wouldn't he feel a pang at heart when the handcuffs were put on?" - p 48
Well, you didn't learn shit from that review, did you?
******************************************************************
Let's try the 2nd bk, maybe I'll have something substantial to say about that one. Let's start w/ the set-up, shall we?
"'"A skilled psychiatrist, using his scientific knowledge and the experience gained in his consulting-room, is in a fairly good position to understand his fellow human beings. But it is possible, especially if he allows himself to be influenced by theories, that he will understand them less perfectly than a good schoolmaster, a novelist or a detective."'" - pp 105-106
This one has a frustrated love story of the most exaggerated & painful sort.
"'For fifty years, then, they wrote to each other practically every day, and one day your uncle spoke to you about a marriage which was to take place in a more or less distant future. Which means, I suppose, that he and Isabelle were waiting for the Prince to die in order to get married.'" - p 127
This involved producing a child to perpetuate a bloodline name.
"The priest had shared the Prince's opinion. One could not, for a question of love, allow a name to die out which, for the past five centuries, had been found on every page of the history of France.
"'I understood where my duty lay . . .'
"The sacrifice had taken place, since a child, Philippe, had been born. She announced the birth too, and on this subject there was a phrase which gave Maigret pause :
"'Thank God, it is a boy . . .'" - p 133
Philippe, now a grown married man, is interrogated by Maigret to whom he reveals an indiscrete subject.
"[']In any case, whenever I come to Paris, I am in the habit of spending an hour or two with a pretty woman. As I don't want to have any consequences or to complicate my life, I content myself with . . .'
"He made a vague gesture.
"'On the Champs-Elysées?' asked Maigret.
"'I wouldn't say this in front of my wife, who wouldn't understand. In her opinion, outside a certain society . . .'" - p 166
No one Maigret interviews seems to be lying.
"'He went and had dinner in a restaurant in the Rue de Seine where he nearly always had his meals. I checked up on that.'
"Another one who had not been lying ! It was a queer profession, thought Maigret, in which you felt disappointed that somebody hadn't commited murder ! Yet this was the case here, and the chief-inspector, despite himself, felt a grudge against each of these people in turn for being innocent or appearing so." - p 171
Maybe this is a large part of what makes these Maigret stories interesting. Instead of the typical thriller where the reader is sucked in by the dramatic monstrosity of the crime & the 'need' for the heinous criminal to be caught, there're more subtle things at play.
"Maigret rushed across to the archway, climbed the stone steps, with a Lapointe who was at once calm and astonished.
"'What's up, Chief ?'
"'Where is she ?'
"'In her room.'
"'When did you last hear her moving around ?'
"'Just now.'
"'Whom were you phoning ?'
"'I was trying to get through to you.'
"'What for ?'
"'She's getting dressed to go out and I wanted ask you for instructions.'
"Maigret felt ridiculous in front of Lapointe and Janvier who had joined them. In contrast to the anxiety of the last few minutes, the flat was quieter than ever." - pp 180-181
A false alarm, the human mind jumping to a false conclusion.
Well, you didn't learn shit from that review, either, did you? — but at least I didn't spoil it for you.
******************************************************************
Let's try the last bk, maybe I'll at least further illustrate my opinions about Simenon's gentle & subtle touch. In this one, Maigret is forced into navigating a new bureaucracy that he doesn't approve of & that inhibits his investigating.
"'I don't know if I'm right to telephone you . . . I informed my immediate superior, the superintendent at my own station, right away. He told me to ring the Public Prosecutor's office and I spoke to the official on night duty there . . .'" - p 202
"So now 'they' were forcing the police to play tricks ! By 'they' he meant the Public Prosecutor's Department, the crowd at the Ministry of the Interior—the whole bunch of college-educated law-givers who had taken it into their heads to run the world according to their own little ideas.
"They looked on the police force as a minor, slightly discreditable cog in the wheel of Justice with a capital J—one to regard with suspicion, to watch out for, to keep in its place.
"Like Janvier, Lucas and a score or so of Maigret's men, Fumel was the old-fashioned kind; but the others had adjusted themselves to the new methods and rules—all they thought of was passing exams so as to get quicker promotion." - pp 202-203
"The place was being reorganized, as they called it. Well-educated, gentlemanly young fellows, scions of the best French families, were sitting in quiet offices, studying the whole thing in the interests of efficiency. Their learned cogitations were producing unpractical plans that found expression in a weekly batch of new regulations.
"To begin with, the police were now declared to be an instrument at the service of justice. A mere instrument. And an instrument has no brain.
"It was now the examining magistrate in his office and the Public Prosecutor in his awe-inspiring headquarters who directed investigations and gave orders." - p 209
"That's what things had come to. What interested the gentlemen in high places was to put a stop to the series of attacks that were causing losses to banks, insurance companies and the Post Office. They also considered that car thefts were becoming too frequent.
"'What about giving more protection to the cashiers?' he had expostulated. 'Why leave one man, or a couple of men, to convey millions of francs by a route that anyone can find out beforehand?'
"Too expensive, of course !" - p 214
In other words, it's all about class, as usual — wch is partially why he cares about the victim in this one, a murdered burglar he knew from having arrested him before.
"'He was a solider the way another man might be a fitter or a cobbler,' said his lieutenant.
"He went through three years without a single punishment. Whereupon, for no known reason, he deserted, and was discovered after a few days in a workshop in Algiers, where he had found a job.
"He offered no explanation of his abrupt departure, which might have got him into considerable trouble, beyond a muttered :
"'I couldn't stand it any longer.'
"'Why not?'
"'I don't know.'" - p 220
Maigret becomes increasingly aggravated by the new bureaucracy's lack of concern for anything other than bigger money interests & their dismissal of the sufferings of poorer people.
"Monsieur Kernavel, of the Public Prosecutor's Department" [..] "believes the man to have been killed in an underworld vendetta.
"'What did you say?'
"The stock phrase 'underworld vendetta' infuriated Maigret, for it meant that from the official standpoint the matter was as good as closed. As one of the Public Prosecutor's men used to say :
"'Let 'em kill one another, down to the last man. That'll save the hangman trouble and the taxpayers money.'" - p 235
It also won't happen that way, will it? Instead, the most murderous gangsters will monopolize their power as much as possible & become 'good citizens'.
In my review notes I call the following a "typical complicating Simenon detail":
"His wife declared that she simply could not understand what had happened, and Maigret believed her.
"'I don't see why he should have done such a thing, Superintendent. We were so happy. It's only just two years since we bought this flat. Joseph was earning good wages. He doesn't drink and he hardly ever went out by himself.'" - p 240
Instead of sitting at his desk in his private detective's office knocking back whiskey only to be interrupted by a platinum blond who lures him into deadly peril w/ lies & more lies, as might be the case in other detective fiction, Maigret's situation is more bourgeois & 'ordinary'.
"He sat down to dinner with no suspicion that a telephone call was soon to summon him from the rather cloying tranquility of his flat, that a considerable number of people who were at present making plans for the evening were destined to spend the night otherwise than they had intended, or that every building in the Quai des Orfèvres would be lit up until morning, as only happened on nights when there was a great to-do." - p 261
In the end, in keeping w/ the class struggle, the rich get away w/ murder.
"'What will happen, in your opinion?'
"Maigret, eager to bring the conversation to an end, replied laconically :
"'Nothing !' and hung up. He needed sleep. And he felt almost certain he was right." - p 288
November 18, 2017
I am GREAT FAN of Simenon ,i never tire of the mysteries ,and i love the character of Maigret. I was recently given some new books i had not read ,what a treat ,i love the settings and the language and the long nights they spend figuring out the details between meals and pipes and wine. my favorite so far has been Maigret Takes a Holiday-wonderful.
August 22, 2023
I found this to be a weird collection. I had trouble connecting to any of them
The first (Maigret's Failure), I just found to be unpleasant thanks to the character of the victim, and the unpleasantness that permeates his house, and therefore the book.
The second (Maigret in Society) felt like it had an almost fairytale quality to it. There was a sense of unreality from the high society characters, and the almost idealized romantic story at the heart of the novel. My favourite of the three though.
The third (Maigret and the Lazy Burglar) I think suffers from being a later book. This felt dominated by Maigret's frustration with a changing system in France that he feels is less effective/respectful of the police, as he approaches retirement. Which is not what I come to Maigret for, really. Interesting as a commentary, but not a favourite.
The first (Maigret's Failure), I just found to be unpleasant thanks to the character of the victim, and the unpleasantness that permeates his house, and therefore the book.
The second (Maigret in Society) felt like it had an almost fairytale quality to it. There was a sense of unreality from the high society characters, and the almost idealized romantic story at the heart of the novel. My favourite of the three though.
The third (Maigret and the Lazy Burglar) I think suffers from being a later book. This felt dominated by Maigret's frustration with a changing system in France that he feels is less effective/respectful of the police, as he approaches retirement. Which is not what I come to Maigret for, really. Interesting as a commentary, but not a favourite.
August 17, 2021
Continuing my reading of these excellent (and short) Maigret mysteries set in France in the 1950s, this book contains three novels: Maigret's Failure involves "The King of the Meat Trade," a wealthy butcher Maigret knew from his youth who is murdered by someone who appears to be one of his employees; "Maigret in Society" was my favorite of the three and involved a wealthy man who died and was involved in a love triangle; "Maigret and the Lazy Burglar" was about the death of a burglar for whom Maigret feels more than a little closeness. As always, Simenon writes so as to provide a lot of atmosphere of life in Paris in the 1950s; he learn of the brasseries he visits, his life with his wife at home, etc. Extremely well-done...
May 18, 2025
Three gloomy Maigret novellas - in the first, he's tasked to solve the murder of a bully he knew in childhood, in the second (and the most interesting) he's in an aristocratic world where he can't quite fathom the benignly inhuman behavior of the titled inhabitants, and in the third he's confronted with the changing France of the Sixties. Maigret takes on all these investigations against his will - he's always thoughtful, but here he's mopey and disinterested, and despite some lovely character sketches from Simenon they were all something of a chore to get through (especially the third, despite Maigret's stunningly modern realization that the police exist to protect the property of the wealthy, not the lives of the poor).
November 16, 2018
I would give this a 3.5 actually, but I rounded up. The best story was Maigret and the Lazy Burglar. This was Simenon at his best. I thought Simenon was struggling when he wrote Maigret in Society. The idea was good - a housekeeper is waiting for her master to be buried before she lets it be known that he committed suicide. She wanted him to have a proper Catholic burial. It felt like Simenon had difficulty trying to make a 100 page story out of this. Maigret's failure was somewhere in the middle.
January 2, 2026
I had heard about Inspector Maigret and Georges Simenon but I had never read anything by Simenon or any Maigret novels. These three short novels vary in quality. Maigret's Failure didn't engage me very much. The story seemed dull and Maigret a bit boring. However by the time I got to the third novel, Maigret and the Lazy Burglar, I found Maigret to be a compelling detective. Maigret is somewhat unconventional, especially in his sympathy for the burglar in third story. The last novel was engaging, enjoyable, and made me want to read some more Maigret sometime in the future.
December 20, 2019
Not the same cover on the copy I've read, even though the pub date is the same as the one here on GR. This is from the treasure trove of books from my friends who moved to Victoria, BC, and I had been holding off on reading it, because Maigret is such a special treat. When I am weary from reading for work and about the world around us, I can go and lose myself in the world of Maigret, and it's very soothing somehow. These did not disappoint.
May 18, 2017
Unusual detective stories...written mostly in dialogue. "good old-fashioned police and detective work" that takes place in Paris, long before the digital age. A nice change of pace from the modern works.
August 16, 2020
A decent collection of three Maigret tales. Feels like there’s a common theme of the constraints and advantages of various social tiers, but not sure that was intended.
November 18, 2021
A very nice collection of short stories that show Simenon's ability.
August 25, 2022
Three stories that create an in-depth portrait of my favorite detective.
February 16, 2016
Maigret's Failure ★ ★ ★
An Englishwoman on Holiday ups & disappears and a childhood neighbor & bully, Fumel, comes to Maigret insisting that someone is out to murder him and demands protection. Fumel, a butcher who is much hated as an employer, business man, and husband (as was his father). Everyone who has any dealing w/ Fumel has reason to kill him. In order to prove the threat real, Fumel writes anonymous letters to himself!
Maigret is more or less forced by the "higher Ups" to take Fumel's case. The same night as a policeman is assigned to watch over Fumel, he is murdered in his own home/office, thus the conceived "failure".
Maigret in Society ★ ★ ★
A well to do & much respected man is found dead in his home from a close range gunshot wound to the head, and four lesser wounds fired after the head wound killed him. Le Monsieur, has had a long term affair of heart via correspondence w/ the wife of Prince de___V. The Prince himself has died a few days prior and now the two are free to marry.
There seems to be no one who wanted Le Monsieur dead.... that is the mystery. Maigret goes about interviewing everyone close to Le Monsieur and comes up w/ a startling discovery & confession from the Housekeeper.
Maigret and the Lazy Burglar ★ ★ ★ ★
I liked the mystery in this much better than the others. Maigret was more active, there were more interesting goings-on, there were more interesting characters and I liked the two separate mysteries.
A man is found dead in the Bois du Bologne, his skull fractured and his face bashed in, yet by his tattoo he is recognized by Maigret as a burglar he had known for many years.... One who had perfected his method & gone up in the world of living. This not not Maigret's jurisdiction, but because he knew the victim he becomes involved unraveling his death, as the Head Office wants to sweep the murder under the rug as that of a "Gang" killing.
At the same time Maigret has his hands full w/ a very clever robber who is robbing post offices..... Here he gets a lucky break when an off-duty policeman is caught in the midst of a robbery and illegally shoots one of the robbers.....
Following the procedural here was very interesting and it held my interest. I liked Maigret's actions & processes. I felt I had more invested in the outcome of this mystery than the other two.
An Englishwoman on Holiday ups & disappears and a childhood neighbor & bully, Fumel, comes to Maigret insisting that someone is out to murder him and demands protection. Fumel, a butcher who is much hated as an employer, business man, and husband (as was his father). Everyone who has any dealing w/ Fumel has reason to kill him. In order to prove the threat real, Fumel writes anonymous letters to himself!
Maigret is more or less forced by the "higher Ups" to take Fumel's case. The same night as a policeman is assigned to watch over Fumel, he is murdered in his own home/office, thus the conceived "failure".
Maigret in Society ★ ★ ★
A well to do & much respected man is found dead in his home from a close range gunshot wound to the head, and four lesser wounds fired after the head wound killed him. Le Monsieur, has had a long term affair of heart via correspondence w/ the wife of Prince de___V. The Prince himself has died a few days prior and now the two are free to marry.
There seems to be no one who wanted Le Monsieur dead.... that is the mystery. Maigret goes about interviewing everyone close to Le Monsieur and comes up w/ a startling discovery & confession from the Housekeeper.
Maigret and the Lazy Burglar ★ ★ ★ ★
I liked the mystery in this much better than the others. Maigret was more active, there were more interesting goings-on, there were more interesting characters and I liked the two separate mysteries.
A man is found dead in the Bois du Bologne, his skull fractured and his face bashed in, yet by his tattoo he is recognized by Maigret as a burglar he had known for many years.... One who had perfected his method & gone up in the world of living. This not not Maigret's jurisdiction, but because he knew the victim he becomes involved unraveling his death, as the Head Office wants to sweep the murder under the rug as that of a "Gang" killing.
At the same time Maigret has his hands full w/ a very clever robber who is robbing post offices..... Here he gets a lucky break when an off-duty policeman is caught in the midst of a robbery and illegally shoots one of the robbers.....
Following the procedural here was very interesting and it held my interest. I liked Maigret's actions & processes. I felt I had more invested in the outcome of this mystery than the other two.
January 19, 2015
Each of the stories are quickly read and provide interesting reading. These were written later in the life of the author and show even more of the changes that were occurring in the legal system France in the late 50's and early 60's. Maigret's handling of each puzzle is fascinating, as always, but his ability to deal with the crimes is interesting because of the transition in criminal law that was taking place. I guess I view this as a painless way to learn modern history in France.
January 20, 2024
I'm am giving this five stars mainly for the last story in the trio, Maigret and the Lazy Burglar. I'm a huge Simeon fan and am on my way to reading all of his stuff. This story is one of my favorite Maigret's. It's full of subtle nostalgia and perfect Maigret philosophies of the world. I highly recommend it for anyone new to Simenon or long time fans.
September 11, 2016
I first encountered the actor Michael Gambon when he was portraying Maigret in a PBS dramatization of the novels by Georges Simenon. I had enjoyed the shows very much and hoped to read the books at some point. They did not disappoint.
June 29, 2010
Nice standard police procedural. These are like comfort food; the characters become like old friends, and I always enjoy the visit.
November 7, 2010
A trio of good Maigrets. I liked the last two better than the first. Maigret's attitude toward "society" people always makes for good reading!
March 31, 2011
needless suicide covered up
July 18, 2011
excellant book.
August 6, 2014
A very enjoyable set of stories. Not only does it make me want to read more by Simeneon, but I have this strange urge to walk around paris.
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October 22, 2008M Sim
March 31, 2011
3 novels, restful pace
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