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'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves It was indeed a photograph, a picture of a woman. But the face was completely hidden, scribbled all over in red ink. Someone had tried to obliterate the head, someone very angry. The pen had bitten into the paper. There were so many criss-crossed lines that not a single square millimetre had been left visible. On the other hand, below the head, the torso had not been touched. A pair of large breasts. A light-coloured silk show more dress, very tight and very low cut. Sailors don't talk much to other men, especially not to policemen. But after Captain Fallut's body is found floating near his trawler, they all mention the Evil Eye when they speak of the Ocean's voyage. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as The Sailors' Rendezvous. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent show lessTags
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The collapse of the Grand Banks fisheries is a sad example of failed conservation. For centuries, swarms of cod off the Newfoundland coast fed millions. A nexus of technology, politics, economics, and wildly bad science destroyed the shoals so thoroughly that Canada prohibited cod fishing in 1992.
However, in Georges Simenon’s ninth entry in the annals of Chief Detective Inspector Maigret, the fisheries are alive and well — which is more than you can say for the captain of the trawler Océan, whose strangled corpse is fished from the harbor of Fécamp after a voyage to the Grand Banks so strange that Breton sailors whisper amongst themselves of curses.
Simenon is a gifted observer with a talent for evoking times, places, and emotions show more in bare and efficient prose. His setting is France’s chief port for Grand Banks fishermen, but Norman beaches had also become a tourist destination during the 19th century. This is Simenon’s entry point as Maigret upends his wife’s vacation plans by dragging her to the coast in response to a friend’s plea to look into the case.
This is the first time Madame Maigret appears as a major supporting character, and I hope it isn’t the last. Though she spends most of the novel knitting on the beach while her husband is off brooding somewhere, their easy comfort with each other serves as a foil for the lives disintegrating around them.
The rising tide of tragedy threatens to overwhelm even Maigret’s stoicism. Indeed, though he offers his trademark laconic commentary (“I don’t think anything”) to an inquirer, Madame Maigret is closer to the mark when she observes, “I’ve hardly ever seen you get so worked up about a case.” The two of them may be united amidst a world of discord, but those around them are not so lucky.
Simenon’s centering of the Maigret marriage could be read as a paean to bourgeois morality, but it’s not that simple. By mystery’s end, three things are clear about middle-class propriety: rejecting it can be destructive, embracing it can be deadening, and with the proper motivation it can crumble in a moment.
If there’s a moral, it’s this: some know what they have, while some don't know what they’re missing. The former can weather storms of violent passion, the latter cannot. If your morality is built on ignorance, what happens when knowledge is thrust upon you? Safety lies not in your moral compass or personal rectitude, but in a hand to hold and the understanding that neither of you will ever let go. show less
However, in Georges Simenon’s ninth entry in the annals of Chief Detective Inspector Maigret, the fisheries are alive and well — which is more than you can say for the captain of the trawler Océan, whose strangled corpse is fished from the harbor of Fécamp after a voyage to the Grand Banks so strange that Breton sailors whisper amongst themselves of curses.
Simenon is a gifted observer with a talent for evoking times, places, and emotions show more in bare and efficient prose. His setting is France’s chief port for Grand Banks fishermen, but Norman beaches had also become a tourist destination during the 19th century. This is Simenon’s entry point as Maigret upends his wife’s vacation plans by dragging her to the coast in response to a friend’s plea to look into the case.
This is the first time Madame Maigret appears as a major supporting character, and I hope it isn’t the last. Though she spends most of the novel knitting on the beach while her husband is off brooding somewhere, their easy comfort with each other serves as a foil for the lives disintegrating around them.
The rising tide of tragedy threatens to overwhelm even Maigret’s stoicism. Indeed, though he offers his trademark laconic commentary (“I don’t think anything”) to an inquirer, Madame Maigret is closer to the mark when she observes, “I’ve hardly ever seen you get so worked up about a case.” The two of them may be united amidst a world of discord, but those around them are not so lucky.
Simenon’s centering of the Maigret marriage could be read as a paean to bourgeois morality, but it’s not that simple. By mystery’s end, three things are clear about middle-class propriety: rejecting it can be destructive, embracing it can be deadening, and with the proper motivation it can crumble in a moment.
If there’s a moral, it’s this: some know what they have, while some don't know what they’re missing. The former can weather storms of violent passion, the latter cannot. If your morality is built on ignorance, what happens when knowledge is thrust upon you? Safety lies not in your moral compass or personal rectitude, but in a hand to hold and the understanding that neither of you will ever let go. show less
A call from a former schoolmate-turned-teacher sends Chief Inspector Maigret to investigate the murder of Captain Octave Fallut in the Norman fishing port of Fécamp soon after his ship, a cod-fishing vessel called the Océan returns after three months fishing off the Grand Banks in Canada’s Newfoundland.
The ship’s wireless operator, Pierre La Clinche, has been arrested for the murder. La Clinche’s loyal fiancée, Marie Léonnec, tries to get La Clinche to talk to Maigret but La Clinche either prevaricates or says nothing. The just-completed voyage had been cursed from the beginning, with the death of the cabin boy. The many accidents, the meager catch and incredibly odd decisions by the mercurial Captain Fallut caused the show more superstitious sailors to blame the Evil Eye, and half of them refuse to ever set sail with the Océan again. Like La Clinche, the sailors know more than they’re telling. So how will Maigret get to the bottom of Captain Fallut’s death?
Although they hail from different social classes, the femme fataleAdèle Noirhomme reminds me very much of The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan. I think that F. Scott Fitzgerald would have recognized another woman who takes up with a smitten man out of boredom, only to wreak havoc on so many people around her and then, with barely a backward glance, moves on without having to take any responsibility. Nick says at the end of The Great Gatsby:
I’ve always hated the selfish Daisy, and I’ll always hate the equally thoughtless Adèle. Daisy and Tom Buchanan retreat to their money; Adèle retreats to her sex appeal and animal magnetism. And, in both cases, it falls to others — some innocent, some feckless — to pay the price.
Like so many Maigret novels, The Grand Banks Café comes to a bittersweet ending, one that makes you ask, “If only…” at several different points in the novel. I never saw the denouement coming, but, when it did, everything made perfect sense. And, reader, you can decide whether the ending was happy — or not.
I was fortunate enough to listen to the Audible version of The Grand Banks Café, and, with Gareth Armstrong once again narrating in this ninth novel in this long-running series, I could picture Michael Gambon, the quintessential Maigret, on the hunt. Highly recommended. show less
The ship’s wireless operator, Pierre La Clinche, has been arrested for the murder. La Clinche’s loyal fiancée, Marie Léonnec, tries to get La Clinche to talk to Maigret but La Clinche either prevaricates or says nothing. The just-completed voyage had been cursed from the beginning, with the death of the cabin boy. The many accidents, the meager catch and incredibly odd decisions by the mercurial Captain Fallut caused the show more superstitious sailors to blame the Evil Eye, and half of them refuse to ever set sail with the Océan again. Like La Clinche, the sailors know more than they’re telling. So how will Maigret get to the bottom of Captain Fallut’s death?
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
I’ve always hated the selfish Daisy, and I’ll always hate the equally thoughtless Adèle. Daisy and Tom Buchanan retreat to their money; Adèle retreats to her sex appeal and animal magnetism. And, in both cases, it falls to others — some innocent, some feckless — to pay the price.
Like so many Maigret novels, The Grand Banks Café comes to a bittersweet ending, one that makes you ask, “If only…” at several different points in the novel. I never saw the denouement coming, but, when it did, everything made perfect sense. And, reader, you can decide whether the ending was happy — or not.
I was fortunate enough to listen to the Audible version of The Grand Banks Café, and, with Gareth Armstrong once again narrating in this ninth novel in this long-running series, I could picture Michael Gambon, the quintessential Maigret, on the hunt. Highly recommended. show less
This is one of the best Maigret books i have read. It is gripping.You can smell the fish. You can smell the confined surroundings of the boat. You feel the claustrophobia. You can sense the guilt of the main characters, the human weakness and the shame. This is all conveyed using such a clear and concise style and vocabulary, You see it all through Maigret's eyes and are part of his journey of deduction.
Maigret is getting ready to leave Paris with his wife for the holidays when a letter arrives from an old schoolmate asking for his help. So Alsace is forgotten and despite the initial objections in Mme Maigret, they are off to Fécamp in the northwestern part of France. But unlike the rest of the tourists, they are not there for the beach or to meet one of the fish boats - Maigret is called because a young man is accused of murder and the people who know him refuse to believe it.
The story seems straightforward: a cod-fishing boat called the Océan had come back after 3 months at sea, reporting a tragedy (a boy drowned) and a series of bad luck. The captain, Octave Fallut, had behaved weirdly through the whole trip and just hours after show more the ship docks, is found dead in the water. Due to the history of the trip and the circumstances at the time the man died, the ship’s wireless operator, Pierre La Clinche, is arrested and accused of the murder. And that's the man Maigret is called to assist.
The police is nice enough to allow the Parisian detective to assist but Pierre seems too scared and unwilling to be helped. His fiancée comes to Fécamp to try to help him and to talk to Maigret and that seems to agitate the accused man even more. And then what looks like a suicide note is found although it is clear that the captain is murdered. Nothing seems to be what it appeared to be initially.
It soon becomes clear that whatever happened is related to the 3 months at sea - so we (together with Maigret) have to learn a lot about cod-fishing vessels and how they operate. And somewhere in there another woman emerges.
It takes awhile for the truth to emerge (and for the second part of the novel, I frequently wanted to tell one character or another to just say what they mean and to stop weaseling around the truth) but when it does it is logical and actually makes sense. And it made a lot of the weird reactions a lot more understandable... or at least explains some of them.
As usual Simenon's novels put you in the time and place they are set in - the early 1930s France is vivid and lively. It is a rough time in that part of France and sailors are not exactly the most polite people in the world. But that's part of the charm of these novels - I can really live without the melodramatics of both Adele and Mary (the other woman and the fiancée respectively) and some of the reactions of the men seem way over the top looking at them from 2025 but I suspect that they are close to what one would have encountered at the time.
I continue to enjoy my reading of the Maigret novels in somewhat chronological order - while these may be dated by today's standards and some elements simply feel too much, they are enjoyable and entertaining and figuring out the cases is always a pleasure. show less
The story seems straightforward: a cod-fishing boat called the Océan had come back after 3 months at sea, reporting a tragedy (a boy drowned) and a series of bad luck. The captain, Octave Fallut, had behaved weirdly through the whole trip and just hours after show more the ship docks, is found dead in the water. Due to the history of the trip and the circumstances at the time the man died, the ship’s wireless operator, Pierre La Clinche, is arrested and accused of the murder. And that's the man Maigret is called to assist.
The police is nice enough to allow the Parisian detective to assist but Pierre seems too scared and unwilling to be helped. His fiancée comes to Fécamp to try to help him and to talk to Maigret and that seems to agitate the accused man even more. And then what looks like a suicide note is found although it is clear that the captain is murdered. Nothing seems to be what it appeared to be initially.
It soon becomes clear that whatever happened is related to the 3 months at sea - so we (together with Maigret) have to learn a lot about cod-fishing vessels and how they operate. And somewhere in there another woman emerges.
It takes awhile for the truth to emerge (and for the second part of the novel, I frequently wanted to tell one character or another to just say what they mean and to stop weaseling around the truth) but when it does it is logical and actually makes sense. And it made a lot of the weird reactions a lot more understandable... or at least explains some of them.
As usual Simenon's novels put you in the time and place they are set in - the early 1930s France is vivid and lively. It is a rough time in that part of France and sailors are not exactly the most polite people in the world. But that's part of the charm of these novels - I can really live without the melodramatics of both Adele and Mary (the other woman and the fiancée respectively) and some of the reactions of the men seem way over the top looking at them from 2025 but I suspect that they are close to what one would have encountered at the time.
I continue to enjoy my reading of the Maigret novels in somewhat chronological order - while these may be dated by today's standards and some elements simply feel too much, they are enjoyable and entertaining and figuring out the cases is always a pleasure. show less
For a Parisian policeman, Maigret seems to spend a remarkable proportion of his time outside his own patch and messing about in boats. In this early story (from 1931), he changes the immemorial pattern of their family holidays and takes Mme Maigret to the seaside in Normandy, where an old friend has asked him to come to the aid of a former pupil accused of murdering the captain of the trawler where he is wireless operator. This gives Simenon the excuse to feed us a lot of colourful - and fascinating - detail about what life was like for the men that worked on steam trawlers in the inter-war years, beefed up with the atmosphere of the sleazy sailors' bar that gives the book its title. All good fun, and it scarcely matters that the murder show more rather takes second place, or that Maigret's highly unofficial and unprofessional intervention in the case doesn't seem to upset the local police or the Juge d'Instruction at all. show less
Great, but ultimately a bit simplistic. Young seaman is engaged to pleasant gal back home. Crusty captain is also expected to marry plain lady from the home port- but ... the captain falls for a ravishing floozy who is all the ultimate in cheap feminine attraction- loud, boorish, obvious but beckoning. She uses her charms with the captain hoping for a better life and he stows her (secretly) on board the fishing boat (to be out to sea for 4 months). A boy notices the sneaking and taunts the captain and the boy is accidentally killed. The young naïve seaman has seen this and ultimately investigates the stashed away woman and guess what? He, too, is taken by the eternal feminine ... drawn irresistibly to her cheap charms. Of course he is show more disgusted with himself afterwards (though he is still drawn to her). Captain is killed and that is what brings Maigret in who has to figure it out rather sl0wly- and "all because of a woman" - which is pretty much the theme of the book. Ok, fine- but really I think he overdoes the cheap charms a bit... show less
Penguin had a great idea when they decided to publish Maigret stories that had never been published before in English. The thing is that there was probably a reason why these were never published in English. For the most part, they are not the best of the Maigret stories -- like this one, originally published in 1931. But if you're a Maigret fan, you won't mind, in fact, you'll probably enjoy spending more time with Maigret.
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The prolific Belgian-born writer Georges Simenon produced hundreds of fictional works under his own name and 17 pseudonyms, in addition to more than 70 books about Inspector Maigret, long "the favorite sleuth of highbrow detective-story readers" (SR). More than 50 "Simenons" have been made into films. In addition to his mystery stories, he wrote show more what he called "hard" books, the serious psychological novels numbering well over 100. The autobiographical Pedigree, set in his native town of Liege, is perhaps his finest work. The publication of Simenon's intimate memoirs also attracted considerable attention. Simenon himself once said that he would never write a "great novel." Yet Gide called him "a great novelist, perhaps the greatest and truest novelist we have in French literature today," and Thornton Wilder (see Vol. 1) found that Simenon's narrative gift extends "to the tips of his fingers." The following are some of Simenon's novels, exclusive of the Maigret detective stories, that are in print. (Bowker Author Biography) Georges Simenon was born on February 13, 1903 in Liege, Belgium. He wrote more than 200 fiction works under 16 different pseudonyms. His first book, The Case of Peter the Lent led to 80 more of the like including the main character, Inspector Maigret. He published over 400 books that were translated into 50 different languages and sold by the millions. He also wrote psychological novels, including The Man Who Watched the Train Go By. He died on September 4, 1989 in Lausanne. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Grand Banks Café
- Original title
- Au Rendez-Vous des Terres-Neuvas, 1933
- Alternate titles
- The Sailors' Rendezvous; Maigret Answers A Plea; The Grand Banks Café
- Original publication date
- 1931-08 (original French) (original French); 1940 (English: Ludwig) (English: Ludwig); 2014 (English: Coward) (English: Coward)
- People/Characters
- Jules Maigret; Louise Maigret; Pierre Le Clinche; Marie Léonnec; Léon (owner of The Grand Banks Café); Octave Fallut (show all 11); Jorissen; Madame Bernard; Gaston Buzier; Adèle Noirhomme; Chief Inspector Girard
- Important places
- Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, Paris, France; Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France; Yport, Normandy, France
- First words
- . . . that he's the finest young man around here there ever was, and that all this could well be the death of his mother.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The man, too preoccupied with his offspring, did not recognize Maigret, who in any case quickened his step, looked away and pulled a wry face.
- Original language
- French
- Disambiguation notice
- In the French original, Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuves (August 1931).
Variously published in English as:
(i) "The Sailors' Rendezvous," in Maigret Keeps a Rendezvous (1940), in Ma... (show all)inly Maigret (1946), and The Sailors' Rendezvous (1970); and
(ii) Maigret Answers a Plea (reported; but not confirmed) (all translated by Margaret Ludwig); and
(iii) The Grand Banks Café (2014) (tr. David Coward)
There is an Omnibus edition containing this work, by the same name. This work is not the omnibus edition.
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