From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

A Man's Head (Maigret, #5)

Georges Simenon,

David Coward (Translator)

Start date: May 14, 2022

Finish date: June 7, 2022

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Next in our series of Maigret buddy reads.
[close] Next in our series of Maigret buddy reads.

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What Members Thought

Sep 23, 2019 Adrian rated it really liked it

Shelves: det-georges-simenon, zz-paper-books, zz-audiobook

Maigret Lunchtime listen March 2023

Despite reading this only 4 years ago, it was brilliant to listen to it, as ever wonderfully read by Gareth Armstrong.
Its a brilliantly atmospheric example of Maigret and demonstrates all that is exciting and enthralling about Simenon's writing

Maigret Series read 2019 onwards
Another solid performance from Georges Simenon and the stalwart but intelligent Maigret.

Review to follow 😊

And here we are. Ok, first thing to say is THIS IS MAIGRET NUMBER 9 NOT NUMBER 5 ...more

57 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2020 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-fiction-belgium, crime-fiction, translated-crime-fiction, 2020

definitely somewhere in between a 4 and a 5 so I don't quite know how to rate it.
full post here: http://www.crimesegments.com/2020/02/...

Simenon's Maigret sits and observes. He drinks a lot of beer while doing both. He lets a roomful of suspects get on each others' nerves until the actual criminal reaches a breaking point. He listens. He makes his way into people's heads so that he can empathize, sympathize and learn what makes them tick, something he manages to do not just with criminals but w definitely somewhere in between a 4 and a 5 so I don't quite know how to rate it.
full post here: http://www.crimesegments.com/2020/02/...

Simenon's Maigret sits and observes. He drinks a lot of beer while doing both. He lets a roomful of suspects get on each others' nerves until the actual criminal reaches a breaking point. He listens. He makes his way into people's heads so that he can empathize, sympathize and learn what makes them tick, something he manages to do not just with criminals but with everyone concerned. Reading through what readers have to say about him, the inevitable comparison with Poirot or Holmes comes up a number of times, mostly when readers have been disappointed with the Maigret novel they've just read. I don't really read crime fiction solely for plot or action; I could also care less if there's a love story involved, unless it's relevant to the evildoing. I'm like Maigret -- I'm far more interested in the motivating factors that speak to the why.

And with this book, I was beyond satisfied.

Maigret has no idea of what he's let himself in for when he finds himself going head-to-head with an adversary whose disturbed psychology and "dangerously sharp intellect" seems tailor made for Maigret's method of getting into his opponents' heads, giving the title of this novel a definite double meaning. Little by little, with some measure of imaginary nail biting I waited for that moment when, with Maigret's help, the bad guy would crack and the "war of nerves" could finally come to an end; only then did I realize how much tension I was holding inside. While some readers found the lack of action to be an issue, the telling flat and in some instances "boring," I found myself so caught up in it that I needed to finish the novel with no interruptions. What happens in A Man's Head so nicely highlights, as Scott Bradfield so aptly describes it in a 2015 essay for The New York Times, that Maigret "rarely solves crimes; instead he solves people," which is precisely why I read and love these books.

Very much recommended for people who are more all about the whys in their crime reading.

...more

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Apr 11, 2015 KOMET rated it liked it

Shelves: georges-simenon, zz-out-of-residence, mysteries-and-thrillers

Of all the Inspector Maigret novels I have read thus far (10), "A Man's Head" on the face of it was one of the most baffling to me. The story begins with Maigret visiting La Santé Prison, where a man (Joseph Heurtin) he had apprehended and had apparently proven his guilt in the murders of a rich, elderly American widow and her maid, awaited his execution. Heurtin had always asserted his innocence, though the evidence at the crime scene supported his culpability in the crime. Heurtin had been cau ...more

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Mar 03, 2021 Leslie rated it really liked it

Shelves: french, mysteries

This book has also been published under the titles "A Battle of Nerves" and "Maigret's War of Nerves"
I am loosely following this series in publication order as given by the Fantastic Fiction website so I label this book as #5 in the series - different people might place it someplace else in the series since Simenon published all his first 10 or 11 books in the series in 1931!

I loved the way this book starts, especially since I neglected to read the blurb before diving into the book so didn't rea ...more

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Apr 18, 2022 Jill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: jill-s-eighth-year-challenge, georges-simenon

The beginning of this is quite dramatic, and must admit I was at a loss throughout the book as to what was really going on. I was never really worried about Maigret losing his job, as I knew how many books there were in the series, but maybe if I had read it when it was first published, I would have been. I do think the alternative title, Maigret's War Of Nerves, would have been more apt than this title.
Maigret is determined to not let an innocent man be executed. He orchestrates the escape of s ...more

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Sep 23, 2016 John rated it really liked it

Shelves: georges-simenon

This story made me laugh out loud. Can you imagine a detective arranging to have a death row prisoner escape to see what he did! Even the ending with the murderer slipping on a bit of ice on the way to the scaffold saying 'that was a close shave' was amusing. The chain pipe smoking, rudeness by Maigret to anyone not in the police and his silent treatment of suspects is brilliant. Great story. ...more

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Apr 06, 2016 John Frankham rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-detective

A superb early Maigret. He allows a convicted murderer, on the brink of execution, to escape in order to pursue his doubts about the conviction, putting his reputation and career on the line. A wonderful psychological pursuit ensues in Paris and its environs.

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Apr 14, 2015 Nanosynergy rated it liked it

Shelves: france, 2015read, translated, series, reviewed, fiction, fiction-1930s, mysteries-thrillers-espionage

Chief Inspector Maigret believes a condemned man is innocent. He confidently works to prove it - putting his career on the line. Thus he asks the question about the value of a "man's head." ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 Tony Fitzpatrick rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Maigret is in Paris - he has successfully solved a brutal murder of two rich women, and the killer is awaiting execution. However he is worried that he has got the wrong man - the case was too easy and to misquote Poirot "there are too many clues". So, he arranges, against the wishes of his superiors, for the convict to escape gaol and hopefully lead him to the real killer. What then follows is a confusing tale of poor folks, rich folks, the Seine, psychology and a clear demonstration of Maigret ...more

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May 25, 2022 Sandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-detective-grp, rread-2022

I didn't always know the whys of what was happening, and I don't believe in the personality portrait derived from handwriting, but the atmosphere is great and Maigret is as solid and determined (and sleep deprived) as always. ...more

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