From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Flemish House (Maigret, #15)

Georges Simenon,

Shaun Whiteside (Translation)

Start date: November 15, 2023

Finish date: December 6, 2023

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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Buddy reads

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What Members Thought

Feb 16, 2020 Adrian rated it it was amazing

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

Lunchtime Audible Listen May/June 2023
Eventually we finished in Greece in October. Through the wet miserable Summer in England we lost the habit of listening to a book at lunchtime. Hopefully on our return to the UK, we will continue.
An audiobook that as ever captures the essence of Maigret. Called in to help with the disappearance of a young women in a small village on the Belgian border, Maigret finds himself both loved and hated by the different factions in the village.
All through his inves Lunchtime Audible Listen May/June 2023
Eventually we finished in Greece in October. Through the wet miserable Summer in England we lost the habit of listening to a book at lunchtime. Hopefully on our return to the UK, we will continue.
An audiobook that as ever captures the essence of Maigret. Called in to help with the disappearance of a young women in a small village on the Belgian border, Maigret finds himself both loved and hated by the different factions in the village.
All through his investigations he scowls at the villagers and also the investigating inspector. Despite his surly behaviour he starts to discover exactly what did happen that stormy night .
Brilliantly read as ever and a joy to finally finish

Maigret Series Read 2020
A great detective novel in which Maigret is so typically Maigret, it’s wonderful.

So The Flemish House, where to start ? The last Maigret novel I read I was disappointed in, and it was almost like this was a Maigret novel with extra Maigret just to make up for that disappointment.

Maigret looms large through almost the whole of the book, broodingly stomping from the Hotel to the supposed murder scene, along the river, and back to her lodgings. It's almost as if he is trying to pick up clues by osmosis of the locale.
Whether it is the different people who are doing the translations , whether its Simenon’s writing, or indeed a combination of both, but this was Maigret plus. He scowled, he brooded , he questioned, he teased, he spoke, he listened, he remained silent, he just was !!

The story is a simple one, the only son of a good Flemish family living on the French/Belgium border has philandered with a local French girl despite being betrothed to a girl from a good Flemish Family. Following the birth of a child blackmail /maintenance is agreed and for a while things settle down, then unexpectedly one stormy evening the French girl disappears after collecting her monthly maintenance, and of course immediately the son is suspected, but he was away at University so is there more to it?
Maigret gets involved through a friend of the Flemish family and immediately departs from Paris, to the border where through a stormy few days with torrential rain and the threat of floods from the local river he makes a nuisance of himself investigating the girl's disappearance, is it even murder ??

A great novel and one of the most enjoyable Maigret’s so far, just so Maigret-y !! ...more

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Apr 14, 2019 John rated it really liked it

Shelves: georges-simenon

Ths is an atmospheric Maigret. The wife of Maigret asks him to go to a small town called Givet on the river Meuse and border with France and Belgium. One of his wife's relatives asked her if Maigret could come and investigate unoffically the disapperance of a young woman. It is January and in the depths of winter with it cold, windy and the barges unable to move so in lockdown.

The family suspected of the disappearance are the respected Peeter's family. Anna Peeters's brother, Joseph had an affa ...more

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Apr 06, 2017 John Frankham rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-detective

Another superb Maigret crime novel, and novel of character, time, and place.

The adored son in a Flemish grocer family, whose business spans the French/Belgian border, and is in a small fishing port, has fathered a child with a local French girl. She has disappeared, and suspicion has fallen on the Flemish family of father, mother, and three daughters. Is this because the poorer French locals envy those more successful than themselves, or is there grounds for suspicion? Is the girl dead?

Maigret i ...more

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Nov 10, 2023 Jill rated it really liked it

Shelves: georges-simenon

This was a very easy book to read, as Maigret seems very laid back about the whole situation. He takes time off to investigate a disappearance of a woman, that a friend of his wife's cousin has sent to him. This takes him to a family who lives on the border between France and Belgium, beside a river used by barges. The house is not only the residence of the family, but also a shop,and a purveyor of alcohol. This makes the family a good living , which upsets many of the French residents . The mis ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Tony Fitzpatrick rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Maigret is abroad again - on the French/Belgian border investigating the disappearance of a woman. The circumstances are odd - he has been asked by the family of a suspect for her murder to help in proving his innocence. He has no authority in the case, and is obviously a bit of an annoyance to the local police. Why he goes to Belgium, and how he proceeds in the case, isn't really explained. The story is simple - blue eyed and beloved son of well to do Flemish family of grocers gets local girl p ...more

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Aug 01, 2015 Nanosynergy rated it liked it

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

A woman comes to Inspector Maigret asking that he come and help clear their family from suspicion of murder. Not there in any official capacity, Maigret does his usual observation to unravel how the young woman was killed and why. A tale with a twist.

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