Inquiry: Wolfe and Maigret

I don't mean to proliferate the threads, but I was curious about how many in this group read Simenon's Maigret novels. In some ways Maigret is Wolfe's opposite; he's a policeman, he likes to mix in society, he's married, and he's not a genius in the Wolfe/Holmes sense. But in other ways, he reminds me of Wolfe: loves food and drink; smokes his pipe obsessively; has iron-clad habits; and is physically bear-like. The detectives and their authors appeal to me in similar ways, but I may be in the minority.

I think I've read a couple. They didn't grab me like the Wolfe novels, but I remember thinking I could read more. IIRC, Maigret seemed to have a more human approach to people.

My favorite mysteries have a good dose of humor in them, and as I recall, the humor in Maigret is a small sprinkle? It's been awhile. I'm always getting Simenon mixed up with Leslie Charteris, who wrote The Saint. I liked those, again, not as well as Wolfe.

ETA: New threads are what make a group live! :)

I tried Maigret many (many, many) years ago and didn't care for them. However, I probably ought to give the series another chance.

Stout's books were the second author my mother, a librarian, recommended to me when I had finished the kid's side of the local public library. (I had to get her to tell the librarians to let me troll the adult end of the building!) Christie was first. I guess this is why I tend to like the older, more traditional and generally cozy mysteries.

What is it that you like about Maigret?

DianeS
owned by Wilma, Angel, and Simba
rented out by Fleur, Gizmo, Hedwig, Itsy, and Jaspurr

I have about a dozen. It has been quite some time since I read any Georges Simenon, and am hazy on the details, apart from the pipe smoking and a hazy memory of "noirish" atmospherics. I recall enjoying the few I've read, and Maigret is always on my list of series to flesh out. A quick check on Wikipedia shows 75 novel and 28 short stories published between 1931 and 1972. To a completist like myself, it would be dangerous to get interested.

Yes, very dangerous for a completist! Simenon apparently was something of a compulsive writer, literally. Although technically detective novels, the Maigret series is really more in line with psychological thrillers, and the humor is much more droll than it is in Stout's work.

I'm also both a Wolfe and a Maigret fan. Besides the reasons ostrom listed, I like how the authors described New York and Paris, respectively. The image I have is Maigret walking in Paris enjoying the springtime weather and stopping at a bar for a calvados.