The first annual omnibus edition in the new Penguin Inspector Maigret series, comprising four titles from the series so far: Pietr the Latvian, The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, The Carter of La Providence and The Grand Banks Cafe. Additional material includes the original French first edition covers, art directed by Georges Simenon himself.Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels.''Compelling, remorseless, brilliant'' John Gray''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''A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness'' IndependentGeorges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. Best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret books, 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.
Etais-je, ce matin-la, plus ou moins heureux que les autres jours ? Je n''en sais rien et le mot bonheur n''a plus beaucoup de sens pour un homme de soixante-quatorze ans. En tout cas, la date reste dans ma memoire : le 15 septembre. Un mardi. A six heures vingt-cinq, Mme Daven, que j''appelle la gouvernante, est entree sans bruit, sans remuer d''air, et a pose ma tasse de cafe sur la table de nuit avant de se diriger vers la fenetre et de tirer les rideaux.J''ai vu tout de suite qu''il n''y avait pas de soleil, que l''air etait brumeux, qu''il pleuvait peut-etre.
The third book in the new Penguin Maigret series: Georges Simenon's haunting tale about the lengths to which people will go to escape from guilt, in a compelling new translation by Linda Coverdale. A first ink drawing showed a hanged man swinging from a gallows on which perched an enormous crow. And there were at least twenty other etchings and pen or pencil sketches that had the same leitmotif of hanging. On the edge of a forest: a man hanging from every branch. A church steeple: beneath the weathercock, a human body dangling from each arm of the cross...Below another sketch were written four lines from Francois Villon's Ballade of the Hanged Men. On a trip to Brussels, Maigret unwittingly causes a man's suicide, but his own remorse is overshadowed by the discovery of the sordid events that drove the desperate man to shoot himself. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. "Compelling, remorseless, brilliant". (John Gray). "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). "A supreme writer ...unforgettable vividness". (Independent). Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. Best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret books, 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. Linda Coverdale is the awarding-winning translator of many French works and has been honoured with the title of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contribution to French literature.
When one of his best inspectors is shot, Maigret decides to book himself into Mademoiselle Clement's well-kept Paris boarding house nearby in order to find the culprit. 'What he thought he had discovered, in place of the joyful candour that she usually displayed, was an irony which was neither less cheerful nor less childish, but which troubled him ...He wondered now if his exultation wasn't down to the fact that she was playing a part, not just to deceive him, not just to hide something from him, but for the pleasure of acting a part' Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville '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 'A supreme writer ...unforgettable vividness' Independent
A visit from the tall, thin woman he arrested many years ago - now married to a hapless burglar - leads Maigret on a tortuous investigation in which he struggles with a formidable suspect. 'When he had set them to work, Maigret had had a merry, almost fierce glint in his eye. He had set them loose on the house like a pack of hounds on the trail of a scent, encouraging them not with his voice, but by his whole attitude ...would events have played out in the same manner, if the man from Rue de la Ferme hadn't been a heavyweight like him, both physically and psychologically?' Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in previous translations as Maigret and the Burglar's Wife. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville '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 'A supreme writer ...unforgettable vividness' Independent