An excellent story!

This now ties with Pietr the Latvian as my favourite Maigret stories, This is a real mystery, with uncertainty as to what’s really happening until close to the end. All the characters and places seem real, too, a great range, which adds to the interest and believability of the tale. Maigret never fails to be patient and dogged in getting at the truth, rarely losing his temper or his humanity in the process. Lucas and the rest of the team have only small roles here, leaving the way clear for the port’s many visitors and inhabitants to provide the intrigue.
As usual Gareth Armstrong narrates in a manner that never swamps the story, allowing it to breathe, not many great characterisations in his voice, but we know who’s speaking.
When I began to listen to Simenon’s stories their relative brevity (compared to most books) troubled me, but now I see it as a positive that he packs everything in that he needs to in under 4 hours. This is Maigret at his very best!

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Not his best

This is not his best book and I stuck with it because I am a fan. It didn’t flow like the others and it branched off down too many side roads for my liking .

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Mystery man

A man has been picked up in the streets of Paris, wandering around in what is clearly a state of distress. There is nothing on him to identify him and he doesn’t speak. Beneath the wig he’s wearing, the police discover a recently healed gunshot wound, which seems to account for his befuddled state. After a publicity appeal, a woman comes forward and identifies him as Yves Joris, formerly a captain in the merchant navy, now the harbour-master at Ouistreham, a small port in Lower Normandy. The woman is his maid, Julie, and she’s upset to find him in his present condition. She tells the police that he disappeared six weeks ago, and had no wound at that time. So when and where was he shot? And who tended his wound? How did he end up wandering the streets of Paris? Who gave him the little bundle of new banknotes found in his pocket?

Maigret accompanies Joris and Julie back to Ouistreham with a view to finding out what has happened to Joris. But the case takes a darker turn when the next day Joris is found dead in his bed, poisoned with strychnine...

This one is a real puzzle and Maigret has to do a lot of proper detective work to get at the truth. He also stays largely sober, spending more time on the case than in bars for once, which works well for me – I find his usual endless drinking rather tedious. He soon realises he needs assistance so sends for his dependable colleague, Sergeant Lucas, to join him. It becomes apparent that many of the people of the small town may be involved in some way, and as is the way in tight-knit communities, people are not always willing to share what they know with the police. So Maigret and Lucas have to do a lot of spying and eavesdropping to find out what’s been going on.

As always, the setting is one of the main strengths of the book. Ouistreham is frequented by merchant ships plying their trade around the Nordic countries and across to Britain, and Simenon works this into the story. We soon learn there’s some kind of Norwegian link, while Julie’s brother, Big Louis, is a seaman on a ship that becomes the focus of Maigret’s investigation, since it was in port both when Joris disappeared and again when he is murdered. Louis has a history of violence and has spent time in jail, but Julie is convinced of his innocence in this matter. But then, is Julie innocent? It appears that Joris has left her everything he had, and since a large deposit has recently been made into his bank account she’ll do quite well out of his death. Suspicion doesn’t only fall on these two though – the local mayor is behaving oddly too, and Maigret soon becomes aware of a mystery man who was also in the town at the relevant time.

I must say I had no idea what this was all about until Maigret revealed all at the end, and I’m still not sure that all the loose ends are properly tied up. However, as I say regularly, I find my concentration levels dip more when listening to an audiobook than when reading, so it may well be that I missed some bits of explanation along the way. No matter – the fact that I felt a couple of minor questions were left unanswered didn’t spoil my enjoyment overall. Maigret’s depiction of this small working port is excellent, the detection element is well done, there is some good characterisation, and the major story revolves around messy human relationships – my favourite kind! One of the stronger Maigret novels for me, and I may well read it in a “proper” book format sometime to see if it clears up those bits of the story that remained misty for me this time! 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.

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listen again

you canot go wrong with maigret. also, the photos on the 'covers' are brilliant as is Gareth Armstrong.

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Wonderful atmospheric writing

We listened to this while heading for and waiting at Ouistreham. What good luck! We could walk along the beaches and check out the harbourside through the eyes of Maigret. Highly recommend!

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Perfection.

Simenon can conjure in 4 hours or less of monumental narration what other authors only wish they could muster in 20 hours. The pace of this wonderful novel is breathtakingly breakneck, perfectly written and deeply astute on the most fundamental human level. Armstrong is Maigret with all of his humane gruffness, kindness and perception: a perfectly defined literary creation as described by a beautiful voice.

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Always love Maigret

I love the Maigret stories. The narration is perfect. My first choice for my bedtime listen

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Ooer, the Weighty Mighty Maigret in Perp's Power!

Simenon's love of small boats features again in this atmospheric littoral story with the usual sad reflection on human frailty. The title above is not a spoiler, I hope, but the moment when it comes is quite a shock. Gareth Armstrong is on top form as usual giving Maigret's voice the appropriate baritone of a heavy man, plus convincing characterizations of a wide gallery of social classes.

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