3.5* ( )

il primo delle inchieste di Maigret da me letto ed è stato un colpo di fulmine. Il primo amore non si scorda mai ( )

Les Maigret, il y en a des bons et des autres. C’est plutôt un autre. Une nouvelle, en fait.

Pourtant, il y a plusieurs éléments amusants, à commencer par le titre de ce Maigret intitulé Maigret. Oui, simplement !

Mais aussi parce que cette nouvelle écrite en 1934 (au tout début, donc) se passe après la retraite du commissaire.

Et le voilà forcé de quitter ses campagnes pour aider son neveu (policier, lui aussi) coincé dans une sombre affaire de meurtre ( )

We present a new translation of this gripping novel which sees the Inspector brought out of his peaceful retirement. It's book nineteen in the new Penguin Maigret series.

"Maigret shrugged his shoulders, buried his hands in his pockets and went off without answering. He had just spent one of the most wretched days in his life. For hours, in his corner he had felt old and feeble, without idea or incentive. But now a tiny flame flickered. 'You bet we'll see' he growled."

Maigret's peaceful retirement in the countryside is disrupted when a relative, his nephew, unwittingly embroils himself in a crime he did not commit. The Inspector returns to Police Headquarters in Paris once again.

Super! Maigret has retired and has moved out to the country, but before long his nephew (a young cop) knocks on the door and shares his terrible news- he's been set up to take the fall for a murder! Of course, Maigret must come to town to fix it, all the while butting heads with his successor at the Quays and also with the the criminal element that he must tangle with, but without the backup of a badge or real authority. Instead of staring / talking down the perp in his office he must go the guys home (who is holding all the cards) and maneuver him into confessing (he has set it up so the police can overhear) and it's a swashbuckling conclusion- Maigret even fires his gun (though not to kill, thankfully). Great. ( )