This is one of my favorite Maigret stories because of the enigmatic, elusive, and ever-annoying Felicie. It's about as light-hearted as a Maigret story ever gets. I had seen both television productions of this story (Michael Gambon and Bruno Cremer) several times, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment. Although I usually prefer to read a book before seeing a filmed version, in this case I could picture Gambon and his Felice as I read and that was just fine. ( )

Another Maigret published in wartime but set back in the idyllic thirties when there was nothing much to worry about beyond murder, robbery, gangland feuds and speculative building...

Simenon takes Maigret into the unusual setting of a crude new middle-class suburban development in the Seine valley, but it soon turns out that the murder of a retired accountant there has its roots in much more familiar territory: the nightclubs and brothels of Montmartre, and the Norman fishing community of Fécamp.

The story turns on Maigret's frustratingly slow progress into the confidence of the most important witness in the case, the dead man's insufferable housekeeper Félicie. This is often very funny, but it also reads rather uncomfortably at times. Simenon and Maigret clearly have a lot of sympathy with her position as a poorly educated but ambitious young woman from a deprived, working-class rural background, Eliza Doolittle without the brains, but Simenon also allows Maigret to patronise her appallingly, treating her like a little girl in the end. He literally puts her to bed with a hot drink at the most exciting point in the story...

Technically not a bad crime story, but in social terms it really isn't one that stands the test of time. ( )

Maigret and the Toy Village (1944) by Simenon. A retired accountant has been murdered in the bedroom of his small, cookie-cutter home just outside Paris. The young woman who is a live-in housekeeper has to be the prime suspect, but Maigret has a father-like fondness for her. This happens despite her persistent obstruction of the investigation. Years later just the mention of her name, Felicie, will send cold shivers up him.
There is almost nothing to go on, the woman insists on not helping beyond her initial statements, and the case looks hopeless. Thankfully Maigret has nothing more pressing than to hang around the newish housing development, drink with the locals, send messages back and forth to headquarters in Paris where it appears the entire detective squad has nothing better to do that follow up mystic clues from their chief.
And somehow the case gets solved.
A Simenon story is about place and time, setting is half the story while patience is the other. This appears to be an uncomplicated murder, but the reveal is very surprising.
A nice little tour book for the days when Paris was much more sleepy and civilized. ( )

Another enjoyable Maigret. I've fallen off the pace I set last year, no longer expecting to catch up to the release schedule, just too many books for me to read. Will read all of them though. ( )

Jules Lapie, bijgenaamd Houtenbeen, wordt in een voorstad van Parijs vermoord. Ten dele met en ten dele zonder de medewerking van Lapies huishoudster, Félicie, komt Maigret erachter wie de moord gepleegd heeft; een zware jongen van Pigalle. Een typisch Simenonboek: hoofdpersoon is een vrouw die haar tamelijk eenzijdige leven van hard werken aanvult met een droomwereld die ze met behulp van allerlei goedkope romannetjes heeft opgebouwd. Het nauwelijks formeel te noemen onderzoek van Maigret, schept een sfeer van gemoedelijkheid, van lekker eten en prettige geuren. Voor zeer veel lezers een plezierig boek. Prettige lay out, grauw papier. Omslagfoto in kleur van een aantal vrouwenspulletjes en een foto van Michael Gambon die in de verfilming de rol van Maigret speelde. - Dr. H. Veldman.