<<What are they like? Can you give a summary? I speak
as someone who has never even read a Maigret novel, though I
have a certain picture of them in my mind.>>
The Maigrets are concise procedurals, often about unusual
crimes, and dominated by the Inspector's formidable laconic
figure -- imagine a Mario Balzic with a tight mouth and
working the colorful French scene. These novels have a
realistic intent. There's very little glamor and plenty of
existential angst. Simenon wrote brilliantly. I find this
series addictive.
I've read several of the nonseries books, including an
excellent one about a seemingly absurd crime on a train.
Unfortunately, my Simenon reading is not recent and I cannot
give titles. To make things worse, I read some in French and
some in English translation. I wouldn't be the right person
to recommend titles...
I'm glad we're finally paying full attention to this giant of
crime literature. In the US he has readers (he must have lots
of them, to judge by the number of his books that remain in
print) but relatively few critics paid serious attention to
him.
Best,
MrT
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