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Maigret Forum

Please feel free to participate in this Forum... Over ~~fifteen~~ twenty (!) years of earlier Forums can be read in the Archives, where you can find answers to many Maigret/Simenon questions. You can search the archives with the site search form at the top and bottom of this page.

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Maigret-of-the-Month lists

Maigret, the fame of a Chief Inspector
8/13/17 –

Maigret, the fame of a Chief Inspector

by Murielle Wenger

Introduction

The writing of the Maigret saga extends over more than forty years, presenting the Chief Inspector in 75 novels, with his investigations translated into a hundred languages. Such an accomplishment is not without its effect on the notoriety of the character, a fame that spans borders and generations of readers.

Simenon has amused himself by showing us, within the stories themselves, how the Chief Inspector has become a well-known figure. Throughout the saga he alludes to the fact that Maigret is well-known in his world, that he is recognized on the street, and that his name evokes a reaction in many people, and in a variety of environments. In order to consider Maigret's fame in his fictional world, there must, by definition, be a number of novels already published. And so it's only as the saga develops that the novelist can, little by little, put forward the idea that the Chief Inspector has become a character known to many, his celebrity having grown with the success of his investigations.

Maigret's renown is thus both that of a policeman, and as a fictional character. As Jean Fabre writes (Enquête sur un enquêteur, Maigret, Un essai de sociocritique), "Thus an internal legend is created (within the text) which greatly influences the external myth (Maigret seen by his readers)". But we can also reverse the proposition, and say that this "internal" legend is enhanced by the number of novels written – the more novels in the saga, the more the novelist can give authenticity to the fame of his creation.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Maigret

When the novelist first introduced his character onto the literary scene, he had to provide him with a formula allowing him to be situated within a precise framework, as a policeman. So at the beginning of Pietr le Letton [LET], the character makes his appearance with the words, "Chief Inspector Maigret, First Flying Squad". A rank, a context. Maigret appears as a Chief Inspector (and not simply as an inspector, or a plain detective), in the Brigade Mobile, the First Flying Squad, in what was then called the Sûreté. Later in the same novel, when he arrives at the scene of the crime, he merely announces "Police!", while in Le charretier de la Providence [PRO], when he presents himself to Colonel Lampson, he says "Judicial Police!". We know that Simenon, in his first novels, was not very clear about the functions of the various police services, and it was only after his visit, at the invitation of Xavier Guichard, to 36 Quai des Orfèvres, that his indications of Maigret's role became more precise.

In Monsieur Gallet, décédé [GAL], Maigret sometimes presents himself as Chief Inspector in the Flying Squad, and sometimes as Chief Inspector in the Judicial Police, but after Le pendu de Saint-Pholien [PHO], he only uses Police Judiciaire, "Judicial Police". Later, in Les caves du Majestic [MAJ] (the first novel of the saga in which Simenon brings his character back after the series of short stories written for the newspapers), Maigret describes himself as "head of the Special Squad of the Judicial Police", a formula that will be found again, as in Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters [LOG]: "Chief Inspector Maigret, of the Special Squad", or "Chief Inspector Maigret, head of the Criminal Squad" (Maigret et l'affaire Nahour [NAH]).

Look, it's Maigret!

At the beginning of the saga, Maigret is presented by his creator as being known, above all, to those he encounters in the exercise of his profession... on the one hand, by his colleagues and those working in the same sphere, within the milieu of the police, and on the other, by his "usual clients", those of the underworld. But little by little, the Chief Inspector is also recognized by all those he meets in the course of an investigation, particularly the barmen, bistro owners, and hotel staff, but also newsmen and taxi drivers...

complete text
original French

Murielle

re: Second cover for ... The Two-Penny Bar
8/11/17 –

With regard to the second cover Dennis noted... The cover image shown (The front room of Maxims restaurant 1978) is from Magnum Photos, like the others, but taken by Burt Glinn not Harry Gruyaert. Thus, it seems improbable that this is an actual Penguin-issued cover.

Ward Saylor

re: BBC Rupert Davies Maigret DVD??

8/8/17 – In response to Alan's comments on Peter's question about the BBC Maigret DVDs...

The Pidax DVDs were made from ZDF copies, and not the BBC originals, and so far no one has managed to get accurate information on whether these originals still exist. Some Maigret fans have attempted to write to the BBC, but the answers they got were rather elusive…

There are 5 Pidax sets, with each box containing 9 episodes, as the ZDF copies contained 45 episodes out of the original 52 of the series. The episode The old lady only exists in a copy with poor image quality, and it was added as a bonus in the first Pidax set. The 5 sets present the episodes in their original BBC release order. There are 6 episodes for which no copy at all could be found in the ZDF archives: High Politics, The Crooked Castle, Seven Little Crosses, The Trap, The Lost Life, The Cellars of the Majestic.

Murielle

Maigret's World coming soon!
8/6/17 –

Maigret's World has now appeared on Amazon in a Kindle (ebook) edition with a "Look Inside" feature so you can read some of it... and the print edition page there shows an August 24 available date... almost here!

Steve & Murielle

Penguin Maigret Short Stories?
8/6/17 – In response to Dennis Larson (7/5/2017) Penguin UK are publishing a book to be called "A Maigret Christmas" in late November. It will contain three cases related to the Christmas period, so I imagine these will include some of the short stories published by Hamish Hamilton in the UK in 1976 as "Maigret's Christmas". I don't know of any plans to publish the other short stories.

In answer to Peter Colvin's question (7/8/2017), I believe that all the original BBC TV Maigret plays have been issued, but they are over dubbed in German, and don't feature the original haunting theme. They are available from Amazon and eBay.

Many thanks Steve for continuing to host this excellent site, and I can't wait to read your and Murielle's book "Maigret's World" when it's published later this year.

Alan Cheshire

Second cover for Penguin The Two-Penny Bar
8/6/17 –

Browsing for books on Ebay. I noticed for sale from a large drop shipper, who no longer is selling the book, that it has an alternate cover. Possibly it is the current printing? I noticed in earlier Forum text that there was comment on the two covers for SHADOW PUPPET, so this is of interest.

Dennis Larson

BBC Rupert Davies Maigret DVD??

7/8/17 –

Are there any plans to have the BBC Rupert Davies Maigret put onto DVD?

Peter Colvin

Penguin Maigret short stories?
7/5/17 – Just a quick question for you and the forum. I am new to Georges Simenon and Maigret. Got started about a year ago.

Lots to figure out and I enjoy the checklists.

Is Penguin going to publish the 28 short stories? and if so, will it be after or before, the 75 novels are published. Possibly using your translations of the three unpublished in book or magazine form in english titles?

Let's hope they do complete the series. Often publishers, give up along the way when a series isn't financially worthwhile. This happened with the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe Library some years back, while lacking only three titles for a uniform set of paperbacks.

Best Wishes,
Dennis Larson
Minnesota

Speaking of Maigret...

6/13/17 – Here's one for the "Speaking of Maigret" page...

"We could go back to Vientian, tell everyone Inspector Maigret and his faithful lieutenant have solved yet another dastardly crime, and know deep down that we haven't..."

from: Disco for the Departed (2011) by Colin Cotterill (Dr. Siri Paiborn Mystery) p. 202 - Soho Press

Thanks for your great site,
Jim Nolan

Penguin Maigret - The Flemish House
5/30/17 –

The Flemish House

a review by Andrew Walser

The Flemish House is a novel about borders. A key passage early in the book interrogates the notion of such boundaries, but also declares them “unmistakable” in their force:

But how exactly could you tell that you were at the border? Was it the transition to Belgian-style houses with their ugly brown brickwork, their freestone doorsteps and their windows decorated with copper pots?
The harder, more chiselled faces of the Walloons? The khaki uniforms of the Belgian customs officers? Or was it that the currency of both countries was used in the shops?
In any case, it was unmistakable: you were at the border. Two peoples lived side by side.

The most obvious border here is political – the line between France and Belgium. The Flemish house itself lies midway between the outskirts of the village of Givet and a border checkpoint and thereby marks a zone of transition, a place no longer France but not quite Belgium. Simenon was well-qualified to write about such liminal matters, of course. Given his Belgian background, his status as the quintessential chronicler of 20th-century French life is an interesting paradox, but hardly an unprecedented one in a society that also adopted Van Gogh and Chopin.

Stranded in that cartographic no-man’s land, the Peeters family also suffers from a pronounced cultural isolation. The grumblings of the French are mostly petty – “They don’t think the same way as we do,” “They consider themselves a cut above,” and so on – but at times escalate into something more sinister. These insinuations and whisperings are oddly reminiscent of the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the early Thirties – a discourse with which Simenon would have been quite familiar, even if he did not mean to evoke it.

Anna Peeters has recruited Maigret because her brother is under suspicion for the disappearance and possible murder of a French girl from Givet. She sees Maigret as a neutral party, one whose position as an outsider she can exploit to form a kind of coalition against the locals. Yet Maigret himself has little interest in the case, and only the incompetence of local officials leads him to continue investigating. About the Peeterses he feels the same subdued horror he always feels at the grubby lives of the bourgeoisie – the ugliness of their homes, the muted respectability of their manners, the petty meanness of their ethics.

So why does he stay?...

complete review

Maigret in Chinese
5/22/17 –

梅格雷

Thanks to DONG, Linlu of the Department of Foreign Literature, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing, for supplying us with a dozen more Chinese language Maigret titles! You can view them here...

La femme rousse

5/21/17 – I wonder if you can help... I have seen some Simenon bibliographies which list , as a Maigret novel, a 1933 publication entitled La Rousse/The Redhead. However I have been unable to find further details and am wondering whether this text exists or not. Any ideas would be most welcome.

Leigh Hughes

This is La femme rousse , one of the "proto-Maigrets" or "precursors of Maigret", written under the pseudonym Georges Sim. You can read about it here in Murielle's Maigret-of-the-Month - Oct. 24, 2012.
ST

Real turning globe
5/14/17 – The globe at bottom of this Forum is fun. We happen to have the same globe in real life. Do not let the palm confuse you about its location - it is in West Vancouver, Canada just few steps from the ocean. The massive stone globe is floating on water coming under pressure from below, and can be easily rotated - with one finger - in any direction.

Vladimir

The Police Stations of Maigret's Paris
5/13/17 –

Brassai

The Police Stations of Maigret's Paris

by Murielle Wenger

original French

In the Paris of Simenon's novels, along with the streets, there are institutions, offices and buildings... and the novelist has made a conscious selection among these places, to construct his own vision of the capital, favoring certain neighborhoods. This is particularly true in the Maigrets. We've already discussed the streets, as well as the cafes and similar places.

Today we'll examine a locale which is inevitably part of Maigret's world, the neighborhood police station. We know that even if only rarely, Maigret sometimes needs the assistance of inspectors and Chief Inspectors of a district station, and he visits or telephones for information.

Among the numerous stations in the arrondissements and those in the districts, Simenon has made his choices, and has only mentioned, or sometimes described, a few of them, those, of course, that Maigret encounters in the course of his investigations. With the assistance of Michel Lemoine's irreplaceable Paris chez Simenon, we'll consider some of these, referring to it for most of the details.

Police stations are mentioned in 29 novels and two short stories. These mentions can be anecdotal, as when the novelist simply writes, for example, that Maigret received a call from some district station or another, without providing more details on it location. Sometimes the location of a station (Simenon doesn't seem to make any distinction between a commissariat and a poste de police, the former being the more administratively important of the two designations) is specified by the name of its street. And in some cases, he presents a brief description of the premises. Michel Lemoine reports that sometimes Simenon's locations are somewhat fanciful, a product of "novelistic license"...

In two novels we find stations which are not properly within the confines of Parisian districts... Charenton in L'écluse no 1 (where Maigret has a conversation with Gassin), and Neuilly in Maigret et la Grande Perche (where Maigret has Guillaume Serre interrogated by the local commissioner). As for the others, we find, unsurprisingly, that the stations most frequently encountered in the saga are those of the IX^e and XVIII^e arrondissements -- on the one hand because they're in investigations which take place around Montmartre, one of the areas most frequented by Maigret in the course of his work, and on the other, because they're within the province of Inspector Lognon, who is often encountered in these locations...

complete text

three Maigret short stories

5/13/17 – I will keep this brief, but first thank you very much for the website and information about the Maigret stories and other information.

I am working my way through the stories, having started in 1972. Is there a site where I can access your translations of “The Unlikely M. Owen”, “The Group at the Grand Café”, and “Death Threats”?

Very best regards,
Craig Milroy
Stanford, California

They're all at "The Other Maigrets", about the Maigrets unavailable in English translations:
L'improbable Mr. Owen
Ceux du grand café
Menaces de mort
ST

re: Maigret DVDs with French subtitles?
5/04/17 – Just a note for Cathy that DVDs purchased in Europe will not play directly on American players. You will need an unlocked or zone-free player, which could be a problem. A much more practical way is to play the DVD on your computer and use your TV as a second monitor. A bit confusing but easy to figure out if you have the user manuals for the TV and computer. That is what I did. Enjoy watching Maigret.

Vladimir

Maigret DVDs with French subtitles?
5/03/17 – I love Simenon, I'm trying to learn French via Maigret and I was really hoping it was possible to find French Maigret movies/TV series with FRENCH subtitles, so I can read in French what (the hell) they are saying in French. My French is still really bad. I have yet to find any and just thought it was worth a shot trying here. Whereas English films often have English subtitles to facilitate watching by Deaf people, I suspect that the French haven't caught on to that idea.

Cheers,
Cathy

They exist - The Cremer Maigret series by Koga Films has French subtitles "pour sourds et malentendants" (for the hearing impaired). I've found single volumes on eBay...

Easter weekend: Place des Vosges
4/16/17 –

Place des Vosges, Easter, 2017

Jérôme

re: Maigret in Korean
4/10/17 –

매그레

Thanks to Jérôme and Murielle for coming up with the title list of the Korean Maigrets... or at least the projected titles for the 75 novels, since it appears only the first 19 were actually published. You can view the list of 75 on the Maigret in Korean page, and all 19 Korean covers at the bottom of this page at Murielle's site.

Maigret in Korean
4/8/17 – Inspired by Matthew's submission of the Welsh translation of On ne tue pas les pauvres types, I surfed the web and located a page offering a number of Korean Maigret editions (Open Books 2011). (I'm hoping one of our Korean-speaking visitors can send me an email with the titles in Korean characters and romanizations... and perhaps a link to other titles?)

Pietr le Letton	Le chien jaune	La nuit du carrefour	La tête d'un homme
L'affaire Saint-Fiacre	Chez les flamands	Le fou de Bergerac	Le port des brumes
Liberty Bar	L'écluse nº 1	Maigret (?)

Maigret in Welsh

4/7/17 – Here's some more detailed information of the Welsh translation of ‘On ne tue pas les pauvres types’ (3/24/2017):

It's in a volume of a selection of short stories translated into Welsh from French, German, Italian, Irish and Breton, Storïau Tramor II [Overseas Stories II], edited by Bobi Jones, publishers Gwasg Gomer (Llandysul, 1975). The volume finishes with 'Does neb yn lladd trueiniaid' [On ne tue pas les pauvres types] translated by Robat Glyn Powell pp. 127-158.

They were a series of translations of short stories into Welsh – nine volumes – I think they all had a similar envelope & stamp theme – so it makes quite a nice set, if rather a dull cover for an individual volume.

Hwyl,
Matthew

The twenty years of the Forum!
4/7/17 –

In January, 2016, Steve began the year by recalling that his site was celebrating its twentieth year of existence. A longevity exceptional enough for celebration... And especially since today, April 7, 2017, we can celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the first message posted on the forum of this site!

A forum that, in addition to the numerous other sections created by Steve, has become, over the years, the meeting place for all Maigret enthusiasts, for the exchange of their information and knowledge of the world of the Chief Inspector. And all the more when Steve came up with the idea of proposing a monthly series on the novels featuring our favorite hero, Maigret of the Month, which became a salient feature of the site.

What an evolution from the first messages on the forum to what we find today! From the earliest questions, almost timid, from neophytes at the beginning, to the informative and scholarly messages of today's contributors!

Steve's first message, April 7, 1997, asked about the original title of the novel translated as Maigret on Home Ground. We'd bet that rereading such a quesion today would bring a smile to the face of our webmaster, who since then has developed an expert knowledge of the world of Maigret, and who, in the course of these twenty years, has made of his site the Maigret reference of the net...

The first years of the forum saw questions of all kinds piling in, but also the flowing of answers, thanks to the sharing of knowledge among enthusiasts and "specialists"... A small collection can give us an idea of the range covered by the forum: Place des Vosges, Louis Thouret's 'yellow' shoes in Maigret et l'homme du banc, the location of the Brasserie Dauphine, Maigret in audio, Inspector Lognon, the mysterious blue bottle in Maigret chez le coroner, the Polish gang, platform buses, Mme Maigret, Maigret in comics, Maigret on television, Maigret during the war, Maigret's Citroëns, Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, fingerprints... to cite but a few of the subjects covered, among the great crowd of topics!

Steve undertook compiling an index of forum subjects, for the years up to 2004. The list is impressive... And perhaps we can wish, on the occasion of these twenty years of the forum, that Steve will one day have the time and energy to update this index and to include all the new themes which have appeared since then... for there have been, since 2005... To give you an overview: references to Maigret in literary works, Liberty Bar in the theater, Rue Tholozé, Maigret and food, Dick Bruna, translation of the novels into English, the "semi-Maigret", which Maigret novel to read first, 36 Quai des Orfèvres, Maigret in Delfzijl, Concarneau, new books on Simenon, various expos... etc., etc.!

So, once again, a big thank-you to Steve for having maintained, and for continuing to maintain this site and forum into the future, representing a huge amount of energy and work... And perhaps to thank him, I could have you reread the pastiche I wrote on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the forum: Maigret and the April Visitor.

A great thank-you to you, Steve, for your wonderful site!

Murielle

Maigret Forum - 20 years!
4/3/17 – I just saw that the first message published on the forum was 20 years ago on April 7th 1997:

Maigret on Home Ground
4/7/97 - I'd like to find out the original French title of the 1992 Penguin Maigret on Home Ground.

Steve

7/6/97 - This is a translation of L'Affaire Saint Fiacre (1933), first published in Penguin as Maigret Goes Home and re-issued under the new title to tie in with the 1992 Granada Television series of Maigret starring Michael Gambon. The story first appeared in England in 1940 as The Saint Fiacre Affair in "Maigret Keeps a Rendez-vous").

Richard Thomas

I want to congratulate you for starting the forum, and maintaining it all those years. It brought to all of us so much information and news on Simenon and Maigret. I have read and re-read some of the Maigret books many times thanks to articles or questions in the forum, reading them with a new curiosity.

I want to thanks all the contributors of the forum who provided us with interesting news and facts about Maigret making this site so lively.

Best Regards
Jérôme

Maigret panel - Rowan Atkinson - John Simenon

3/30/17 – Rowan Atkinson ‘just couldn’t say no’ to stepping into the gumshoes of Michael Gambon, Richard Harris and Rupert Davies to reinvent the French detective for a new generation...

BFI & Radio Times Television Festival

At the BFI Southbank, London, Apr 7, 2017 - 6:00 pm, in NFT1

Stephen Cribari

re: Le Café de la Paix in La Rochelle

3/26/17 – Regarding Vladimir's question about the food at the Café de la Paix, they do serve all kinds of meals: croque-messieurs, omelettes, etc... and coffee, drinks... I had lunch there and it was ok.

Regards
Jérôme

Maigret yn y Gymraeg / en gallois
3/24/17 – I’ve found a translation into Welsh of ‘On ne tue pas les pauvres types’ in a collection of stories – I don’t know if that counts as a long short story or a short novel - would you like the details?

Thanks for your website: brilliant, and especially useful now that Penguin are publishing new translations of Simenon’s work under new titles – your bibliography is invaluable in trying try to work out what I’ve already got in the old green Penguins!

Hwyl,
Matthew

Thanks, Matthew! "On ne tue pas les pauvres types" is generally regarded as a short story (see: How Many Maigrets for the relative lengths. And yes, please send us the details!
ST

Simenon

3/22/17 – I have enjoyed your site for years. I still believes it's the best there is.

I have been a huge fan of Simenon, all of his books, for a long time, and I think I have read all of them that were translated to English. I only wish there were more to be translated.

Do you happen to know if the book by Denyse Simenon is available anywhere in English?

Thank you, and continued best wishes,
Bill Stephens

Thanks, Bill! I don't know of any translation... Anyone else?
ST

re: Le Café de la Paix in La Rochelle
3/18/17 – Nice, such inviting pictures! Very typical of old good Europe. I'm curious... do they serve only coffee and desserts in places like that?

Vladimir

Le Café de la Paix in La Rochelle
3/12/17 – I spent a few days on Île de Ré and in La Rochelle last week, and I visited the Café de la Paix in La Rochelle.

When Simenon lived in Marsilly and Nieul sur Mer in the late '30s, he often went to the Café de la Paix. The story goes that there's still an iron hoop where he used to tether his horse.

Many of his books like Le testament Donadieu, Le Voyageur de la Toussaint, Les fantômes du chapelier and L'évadé have elements from La Rochelle.

Some photos...

Place de Verdun, the café in the right corner

the front of Le Café de la Paix

inside Le Café de la Paix

Regards
Jérôme

Penguin Maigret - The Saint-Fiacre Affair
2/18/17 –

The Saint-Fiacre Affair

a review by Andrew Walser

The Saint-Fiacre Affair (1932) is one of the best early Maigrets. As Proust had shown a few years earlier, memory – even feigned memory, even memory that belongs to someone else – gives a depth and intensity to a narrative that mere invention can seldom match. Although barely 50,000 words, The Saint-Fiacre Affair somehow manages to suggest Proust’s seven-volume magnum opus, if only in the way that eddies of lost time keep pulling the protagonist beneath the surface of the story.

Inspector Maigret has returned to Saint-Fiacre, the village of his childhood, where his father worked as the estate manager of the chateau. This position – intermediary between the working people and the gentry – helps to explain a puzzling aspect of Maigret’s personality. Even as he recoils from the bourgeoisie and identifies with the common man, he nonetheless retains a surprising fondness for a certain kind of aristocracy – the kind grounded in behavior, rather than in rank. (Think of his admiration for Sir Walter in The Carter of La Providence.) The relevant aristocrat here is the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, “a young woman who had personified . . . femininity, grace, [and] nobility” for the young Maigret. After an anonymous letter prophesies her death “during first mass on All Souls’ Day,” Maigret is shaken enough to investigate.

Throughout the novel, the past seeps in unpredictably, uncontrollably, often stopping Maigret in his tracks. Waking on a November morning with “frozen fingertips.” The “smell of candles and incense” in church. The curtains in the confessionals, the communion wafers. An oak table with carved lions. His father’s “little office, near the stables.” The “linen maids” and “day labourers” waiting to get paid. The guests at the chateau during hunting season . . .

Yet The Saint-Fiacre Affair is hardly an exercise in nostalgia. Surrounded by the past, Maigret “ache[s], both emotionally and physically.” If the chateau had once “represented everything inaccessible in the world,” it is now all too accessible, with the crass doctor smoking in the Countess’s bedroom and assorted nobodies tramping through the hallways. At the village cemetery, even Maigret’s father’s gravestone is “blackened.” Maigret seems most disturbed by the revelations about the Countess’s descent into libertinism: “And there she was, a batty old lady who kept gigolos!” Is it because she played a formative role in the creation of his own erotic imagination?

Uncharacteristically for Simenon, there is a happy ending to this tale of crime and cowardice. It comes about through the moral resurrection of Maurice Saint-Fiacre, heir to the estate. A scene around a dinner table is one of the more spectacularly tense in Simenon’s oeuvre, and the behavior of the Count leaves even Maigret impressed:

Maigret felt he was in the presence of an irresistible force. Some individuals, at a given point in their lives, experience a moment of plenitude, a moment in which they are somehow elevated above the rest of humanity, and themselves . . . Maurice de Saint-Fiacre was master of the situation, and he was up to the task.

The end of the novel is peaceful and serene. Early in the book, Maigret had questioned and befriended an altar boy whose humble background and sneaky desires reminded him of his youthful self. At the conclusion, he shares a secret smile with Saint-Fiacre – a fellow aristocrat of the spirit, and one who seems to have restored his faith in the superiority of the chateau.

Simenon, Georges. The Saint-Fiacre Affair. trans. Shaun Whiteside. London: Penguin, 2014.

Death of Dick Bruna
2/18/17 – Dick Bruna, Dutch artist and children's author, who designed numerous covers for the Dutch editions of Maigret and other Simenon novels, has died at 89.

Jérôme

Bruna Maigret covers on a Netherlands stamp sheet

re: Maigret in the 13th arrondissement?
2/18/17 –

Simenon, Maigret, and the 13th arrondissement
In response to Cara's question, the best reference is Michel Lemoine's Paris chez Simenon. Here's what he wrote with regard to the XIIIe arrondissement:
"The Gobelins district is 'one of the saddest in Paris, with its great avenues neither old nor modern, its monotonous barracks-like houses, cafés full of a crowd neither rich nor poor' (L'homme qui regardait passer les trains). ...we must recognized that this part of Paris is hardly favored in the work of the novelist, who never lingers there long, except in one novel (Le Chat)."
Lemoine lists, among others, the following (which are usually simple mentions, and rarely true scenes of the action):
Avenue des Gobelins in La patience de Maigret (the packing house Gelot et Fils)
Place d'Italie in Les fiançailles de M. Hire
Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in La mort d'Auguste
Quai d'Austerlitz in La guinguette à deux sous (Marcel Basso's work site)
Quai de la Gare in On ne tue pas les pauvres types and Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants
Porte d'Italie mentioned in passing in numerous novels
Avenue d'Italie in Les fiançailles de M. Hire
Square Sébastien-Doise in Le Chat
Boulevard Arago is only mentioned in passing, but Rue de la Santé is more frequently (because of the Santé prison); however, this street and the prison are mostly in the XIVe arrondissement
no reference to "Butte aux Cailles" in Lemoine's book…

Murielle

(tr.)

Maigret in the 13th arrondissement?
2/17/17 – I follow your site and appreciate all the details about Maigret. Is there Maigret or other Simenon novel that takes mainly or has some portions of the 13th arrondissement in Paris?

Maybe featuring or mentioning Buttes aux Cailles, Hopital Pitie Salpertriere, Blvd Arago, or the Gobelins?

Thanks in advance for any help
Best,
Cara

Maigret in Polish
2/17/17 – I haven't reported for long time about progress in publishing the complete Maigrets in Polish. Here's what the past 2 years produced:

Maigret szuka obrony Maigret se defend (June 2015)	Maigret i sprawa Nahoura Maigret et le affaire Nahour (November 2015)
Maigret i porządni ludzie Maigret et les braves gens (May 2016)	Zwierzenia Maigreta Une confidence de Maigret (October 2016)

all the best from Toruń
Przemysław

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film and tv '97-'01 title index '97-'04

Maigret of the Month - 2012

month	title
January	Vente à la bougie - Sale by Auction (1939)
February	La pipe de Maigret - Maigret's Pipe (1945)
March	Maigret et l'inspecteur malgracieux - Maigret and the Surly Inspector (1946)
April	Le témoignage de l'enfant de chœur - The Evidence of the Altar-Boy (1946)
May	Le client le plus obstiné du monde - The Most Obstinate Man in the World (1946)
June	On ne tue pas les pauvres types - Death of a Nobody (1946)
July	Menaces de mort - Death Threats (1942)
August	Train de nuit - Night Train (1930)
September	La jeune fille aux perles - The Girl with the Pearls (1932)
October	La femme rousse - The Redhead (1933)
November	La maison de l'inquiétude) - The House of Anxiety (1930)

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Maigret of the Month - 2011

month	title
January	Une erreur de Maigret - Maigret's Mistake (1936)
February	L'Amoureux de Madame Maigret - Madame Maigret's Admirer (1939)
March	La vieille dame de Bayeux - The Old Lady of Bayeux (1939)
April	L'Auberge aux noyés - The Drowned Men's Inn (1938)
May	Stan le tueus - Stan the Killer (1938)
June	L'Étoile du Nord - At the Étoile du Nord. (1938)
July	Tempête sur la Manche - Storm in the Channel (1938)
August	Mademoiselle Berthe et son amant - Mademoiselle Berthe and her Lover (1938)
September	Le Notaire du Châteauneuf - The Three Daughters of the Lawyer (1938)
October	L'improbable Monsieur Owen - The Unlikely M. Owen (1938)
November	Ceux du Grand Café - The Group at the Grand Café. (1938)
December	L'Homme dans la rue - The Man in the Street (1939)

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Maigret of the Month - 2010

month	title
January	La Folle de Maigret - Maigret and the Madwoman (1970)
February	Maigret et l'homme tout seul - Maigret and the Loner (1971)
March	Maigret et l'indicateur - Maigret and the Informer (1971)
April	Maigret et Monsieur Charles - Maigret and Monsieur Charles (1972)
May	La Péniche aux deux pendus - Two Bodies on a Barge (1944)
June	L'Affaire du Boulevard Beaumarchais - The Mysterious Affair in the Boulevard Beaumarchais (1944)
July	La Fenêtre ouverte - The Open Window (1944)
August	Monsieur Lundi - Mr. Monday (1944)
September	Jeumont, 51 minutes d'arrêt - Jeumont, 51 Minutes' Stop! (1944)
October	Peine de mort - Death Penalty (1944)
November	Les Larmes de bougie - Death of a Woodlande (1944)
December	Rue Pigalle - In the Rue Pigalle (1944)

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Maigret of the Month - 2009

month	title
January	Maigret et le clochard - Maigret and the Bum (1963)
February	La Colère de Maigret - Maigret Loses His Temper (1963)
March	Maigret et le fantôme - Maigret and the Ghost (1963)
April	Maigret se défend - Maigret on the Defensive (1964)
May	La Patience de Maigret - Maigret Bides His Time (1965)
June	Maigret et l'affaire Nahour - Maigret and the Nahour Case (1966)
July	Le Voleur de Maigret - Maigret's Pickpocket (1967)
August	Maigret à Vichy - Maigret in Vichy (1968)
September	Maigret hésite - Maigret Hesitates (1968)
October	L'Ami d'enfance de Maigret - Maigret's Boyhood Friend (1968)
November	Maigret et le tueur - Maigret and the Killer (1969)
December	Maigret et le marchand de vin - Maigret and the Wine Merchant (1970)

Maigret of the Month - 2008

month	title
January	Maigret tend un piège - Maigret sets a trap (1955)
February	Un échec de Maigret - Maigret's Failure (1956)
March	Maigret s'amuse - Maigret's Little Joke (1957)
April	Maigret voyage - Maigret and the Millionaires (1958)
May	Les Scrupules de Maigret - Maigret Has Scruples (1958)
June	Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants - Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses (1959)
July	Une confidence de Maigret - Maigret Has Doubts (1959)
August	Maigret aux assises - Maigret in Court (1960)
September	Maigret et les vieillards - Maigret in Society (1960)
October	Maigret et le voleur paresseux - Maigret and the Lazy Burglar (1961)
November	Maigret et les braves gens - Maigret and the Black Sheep (1962)
December	Maigret et le client du samedi - Maigret and the Saturday Caller (1962)

Maigret of the Month - 2007

month	title
January	Maigret au "Picratt's" - Maigret in Montmartre (1951)
February	Maigret en meublé - Maigret Takes a Room (1951)
March	Maigret et la grande perche - Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (1951)
April	Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters - Maigret and the Gangsters (1952)
May	Le Revolver de Maigret - Maigret's Revolver (1952)
June	Maigret et l'homme du banc - The Man on the Boulevard (1953)
July	Maigret a peur - Maigret Afraid (1953)
August	Maigret se trompe - Maigret's Mistake (1953)
September	Maigret à l'école - Maigret Goes to School (1954)
October	Maigret et la jeune morte - Maigret and the Young Girl (1954)
November	Maigret chez le ministre - Maigret and the Calame Report (1954)
December	Maigret et le corps sans tête - Maigret and the Headless Corpse (1955)

Maigret of the Month - 2006

month	title
January	L'Inspecteur Cadavre - Maigret's Rival (1944)
February	Maigret se fâche - Maigret in Retirement (1947)
March	Maigret à New York - Maigret in New York (1947)
April	Les Vacances de Maigret - No Vacation for Maigret (1948)
May	Maigret et son mort - Maigret's Special Murder (1948)
June	La première enquête de Maigret, 1913 - Maigret's First Case (1949)
July	Mon ami Maigret - My Friend Maigret (1949)
August	Maigret chez le coroner - Maigret at the Coroner's (1949)
September	Maigret et la vieille dame - Maigret and the Old Lady (1950)
October	L'Amie de Mme Maigret - Madame Maigret's Own Case (1950)
November	Les Mémoires de Maigret - Maigret's Memoirs (1951)
December	Un Noël de Maigret - Maigret's Christmas (1951)

Maigret of the Month - 2005

month	title
January	L'affaire Saint-Fiacre - Maigret Goes Home (1932)
February	Chez les Flamands - The Flemish Shop (1932)
March	Le port des brumes - Death of a Harbormaster (1932)
April	Le fou de Bergerac - The Madman of Bergerac (1932)
May	Liberty Bar - Liberty Bar, Maigret on the Riviera (1932)
June	L'écluse n° 1 - The Lock at Charenton (1933)
July	Maigret - Maigret Returns (1934)
August	Les Caves du Majestic - Maigret and the Hotel Majestic (1942)
September	La Maison du juge - Maigret in Exile (1942)
October	Cécile est morte - Maigret and the Spinster (1942)
November	Signé Picpus - Maigret and the Fortuneteller (1944)
December	Félicie est là - Maigret and the Toy Village (1944)

Maigret of the Month - 2004

month	title
January	Le chien jaune - The Yellow Dog
February	M. Gallet décédé - Maigret Stonewalled
March	La nuit du carrefour - Maigret at the Crossroads
April	Le charretier de la Providence - Maigret Meets a Milord
May	La tête d'un homme - A Battle of Nerves
June	Un crime en Hollande - Maigret in Holland
July	Pietr-le-Letton - Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett
August	Le pendu de Saint-Pholien - Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets
September	Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas - The Sailor's Rendezvous
October	La danseuse du Gai-Moulin - Maigret at the Gai-Moulin
November	La guinguette à deux sous - Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine
December	L'ombre chinoise - Maigret Mystified

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