Meredith’s Reviews > Maigret and the Old People > Status Update

Simenon: [Maigret] didn't consider himself as superhuman; he didn't think he was infallible. On the contrary, he began his investigations with a certain humility, even the simplest ones. He was suspicious of evidence, of hasty judgements. He patiently tried to understand, bearing in mind that the most obvious motives are not always the deepest.

Simenon: Over the years Maigret had learned that no one kills without a motive, without a serious motive.

Simenon: Maigret wasn't necessarily following a logical order because nothing struck him as logical in this case, and he moved from one subject to another as if looking for the sore spot.

Maigret: An exceptional schoolteacher, a novelist, or a policeman is better placed than a doctor or a psychiatrist to penetrate the depths of the human mind. Why did the policeman come last after the schoolteacher and above all the novelist?

Simenon: When Maigret immersed himself in a new investigation ... He had to get used to an unfamiliar context, a house, a way of life, people who had their habits, their ways of thinking and expressing themselves. With some categories of people it was relatively simple ... With others, he had to learn everything all over again, particularly given his suspicion of rules and ready-made ideas.