Death Threats and Other Stories

This collection contains five of Georges Simenon’s 28 short stories featuring his renowned detective, originally published between 1938 and 1942. In the first two, Maigret has recently retired, in one he is at Nantes in an early stage of his career, and the remaining two are from his desk in the Quai des Orfevres in Paris where he is usually to be found.

The collection opens with The Improbable Monsieur Owen. The newly retired Maigret is holidaying in Cannes without Madame Maigret at the hotel of a friend who seeks his help when a man is found dead in a bath. He has no official status in the case and gets his facts second-hand, but with a masterful blend of surmise and bluff compels someone involved in the case to reveal the truth.

In The Men at the Grand Cafe, the Maigrets have retired to Meung-sur-Loire, where Maigret has a boat as well as a shed on the riverbank. He becomes accustomed to a daily game of cards at the village cafe with the cafe owner, the butcher and the local vet. When the butcher is found shot dead it seems everyone in the village wants Maigret’s opinion, and it is only several years later that Madame Maigret finds out why he was so reluctant to give it.

The Man on the Streets shows Maigret mid-career and demonstrates his doggedness. A man shows up at a murder scene; Maigret has him followed and eventually takes over the job himself, trailing the man on the streets for days despite having a cold. The detective forms an understanding with his quarry and when he eventually brings him in, it is with the greatest of sympathy and understanding.

In Candle Auction, Maigret is at Nantes in his early career. A prospective purchaser at a farm auction is found murdered; Maigret compels the few suspects to remain at the inn where he was staying, and by repeatedly restaging the precise movements of all residents for the crucial period creates a febrile atmosphere that eventually produces results.

In the final story, Death Threats, Maigret spends the weekend at the country home of the wealthy Paris scrap dealers Grobois & Paget, whose senior member Emile has received a written death threat. Maigret observes that the family live in mutual hatred, and notes that with all their advantages they fail to appreciate life. The contrast with Maigret himself, who savours every soupçon of experience, is very evident.

The collection represents a diverse picture of Maigret and his career and highlights his strengths under a range of circumstances. I particularly enjoyed Monsieur et Madame Maigret in Meung-sur-Loire, living in blissful retirement but with a domestic routine that seems barely changed from his days pounding the streets of Paris. The story must have been old-fashioned at the time of writing and it seems positively antediluvian now.