**b>b>“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” --The Guardian/b>/b>When a childhood bully reappears in Maigret’s life, he struggles to put aside his own feelings and carry out his duties as an investigator./b> When Ferdinand Fumal, a wealthy butcher and political influencer, starts receiving anonymous death threats, he fears for his life, and Maigret is ordered to his protection. But upon meeting the man, Maigret realizes that Fumal was among the childhood bullies who tormented him as a boy. Maigret’s instinct is to pawn the job off on another officer--until Fumal turns up the next morning brutally slain that is. Racked with guilt, Maigret finds himself being blamed for the murder, and so must go about the agonizing task of bringing the murdered butcher’s killer to justice.

Praise for Georges Simenon:

“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian

“These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post

“Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People

“I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner

“The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide

“A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London)

“Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London)

“Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray

“A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark

“A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd

“Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville

Autorentext
Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium in 1903. An intrepid traveller with a profound interest in people, Simenon strove on and off the page to understand, rather than to judge, the human condition in all its shades. His novels include the Inspector Maigret series and a richly varied body of wider work united by its evocative power, its economy of means, and its penetrating psychological insight. He is among the most widely read writers in the global canon. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.

Klappentext

'His artistry is supreme' John Banville

*Conflict rather than harmony probably reigned in eight out of ten of the still magnificent houses that surrounded the park. But he had rarely had the opportunity to breath such a strained atmosphere as the one between these walls. Everything seemed fake, grating, starting with the lodge of the concierge-cum-manservant, who was neither a concierge nor a manservant, despite his striped waistcoat, but a former poacher, a murderer turned guard dog.

• When a self-made man appeals to Maigret for protection at his lavish home, a years-old grudge from the past resurfaces and the inspector finds himself questioning his own motives.

  '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

  Zusammenfassung
  **“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré

  When a childhood bully reappears in Maigret’s life, he struggles to put aside his own feelings and carry out his duties as an investigator.
  **
  When Ferdinand Fumal, a wealthy butcher and political influencer, starts receiving anonymous death threats, he fears for his life, and Maigret is ordered to his protection. But upon meeting the man, Maigret realizes that Fumal was among the childhood bullies who tormented him as a boy. Maigret’s instinct is to pawn the job off on another officer—until Fumal turns up the next morning brutally slain that is. Racked with guilt, Maigret finds himself being blamed for the murder, and so must go about the agonizing task of bringing the murdered butcher’s killer to justice.