One of my favorites so far in the series. Émile Ducrau is a fantastic character along with Simenon's usually strong settings and simple dialogue. ( )

Maigret is called to investigate what has happened in this small provincial town on the outskirts of Paris. Somebody has apparently attempted to murder Ducrau, a local businessman whose business concerns are the basis of the town's economy. He has been stabbed in the back and then tossed into the canal. By chance he is rescued and seems little the worse for wear but Maigret senses that events have not run their course, so he hangs around.

Indeed Ducrau's son then commits suicide and a lock keeper is murdered, so there is a case to sort out.

Maigret has applied for and been granted early retirement (that came as a surprise to me as this is relatively early on in the series), so this will very likely be his last case. He doesn't particularly want to return home as Mrs Maigret has been packing up the house, even the bed, and they are moving to a cottage on the River Loire. Ducrau thinks he sees a kindred spirit in Maigret and offers him a job on his retirement, more or less as a security officer. But Ducrau is not a nice man and Maigret can't see himself working for him. In fact he is looking forward to his retirement, he thinks.

This is quite a heavy, dark feeling, novel. While Ducrau runs his businesses in a very hands-on way, and is well known, he is far from popular. His family and servants live in fear of him, and many people have reason to wish him harm. This is a faily "typical" Maigret novel, with lots of psychological overtones. ( )

Diverso dai Maigret letti finora, pieno di pathos, amicizia famiglia e morte di intrecciano su uno sfondo di nostalgia per il prossimo pensionamento di Maigret. Bello, mi è piaciuto anche se non l'ho divorato voracemente come i precedenti. ( )

Another classic early Maigret, well worth chasing up because of the wonderful evocation of 1930s canal atmosphere, although perhaps not one of Simenon's strongest when seen purely as a detective story. The author's extended and somewhat patronising investigation of the psychology of a self-made businessman rather takes over the book and allows us to lose track of the underlying crime story, to the extent that I was a little unsure at the end of the book who — if anyone — had actually been murdered. ( )