'His artistry is supreme' John Banville

'Sullenly, he got dressed. Why, whenever he was woken on a winter night like this, did the coffee have a particular taste? The smell of the apartment was different...his pipe, too, had a different taste.'

Set against a high-profile hunt for the latest criminal gang to hit Paris, Maigret is determined to track down the murderer of a quiet crook for whom he cannot help feeling affection and respect.

This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret and the Idle Burglar.

'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian

Maigret is determined to track down the murderer of a burglar who he had known for thirty years.

About the Author
Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.

Reviews
Praise for Georges Simenon:

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." -The Guardian

"These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself." -The Washington Post

"The matchless French crime novelist." -Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

"Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals." -People

"I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov." -William Faulkner

"An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style." -Amor Towles

"I never read contemporary fiction-with one exception: the works of Simenon." -T.S. Eliot

"A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason." -John Le Carre

"One of the most important writers of our century." -Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"A favorite writer of mine." -Sigrid Nunez

"A great writer of detail, of atmosphere." -Leila Slimani

"Feels incredibly modern...A great writer." -Ian Rankin

"The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature." -Andre Gide

"A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness." -The Independent (London)

"Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales." -The Observer (London)

"Compelling, remorseless, brilliant." -John Gray

"A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable-lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates." -Muriel Spark

"A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it." -Peter Ackroyd

"Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century." -John Banville

"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" Times (London)

"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." Margaret Atwood

"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." Financial Times

"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." Stig Abell, The Sunday Times (London)



Book Information
ISBN 9780241303917
Author Georges Simenon
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 123g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 9mm