Maigret's First Case

After he moved to the USA, Simenon seems to have had a phase of uncharacteristic uncertainty about what to do with his most popular character. Should he remain in 1930s Paris where he seemed most at home, should he move forward to the new postwar era, or was it time to Reichenbach him? A good fallback in that kind of situation is always to give him a prequel and use it to tinker with the back-story a bit, so in this book, Simenon takes us back to 1913, with the young Jules Maigret newly married and recently promoted the detective branch of the police. Which is interesting, because up to now we have been allowed to assume he was in his sixties in the mid-1930s. Simenon has quietly made him young enough to carry on working well into the show more 1950s!
A musician on his way from work late at night is caught up in a disturbance at the home of the wealthy Balthazar family, and the young detective Maigret is on duty when he reports it at the local police station. The family deny all knowledge when he goes to check it out but the musician is a credible witness and there are all sorts of inconsistencies in what the family tell him, so there seems to be a case to investigate. Maigret’s boss recuses himself on the grounds that the Balthazars are friends of his wife, so Maigret gets the chance of his first independent investigation. Of course there is more to it than that, and Maigret has to learn some hard lessons about the reality of police work…
A fun little diversion, full of interesting period detail and not unduly laden with “little did he know that a few years on he would be in charge at the Quai d’Orsay…” stuff. Disappointing to discover that Mme Maigret was never young and frivolous, though… show less

As a lover of the French language, I found this enjoyable. As someone who likes to try to figure out mysteries, I was frustrated. Like in the other Maigret I read this year, information is often just handed to you on a plate, so one is deprived of the pleasure of trying to piece together clues and form theories about whodunit and why. It was fun, though, watching a young detective stumble through his first case and seeing hints of the investigator he would become. I do wish he (and the story) had been given a little more room to develop instead of having things come to a screeching halt, since he -- and you -- end up feeling cheated by the abrupt ending.

First released in 1948 when Georges Simenon was in exile in Arizona, Maigret’s First Case recounts Jules Maigret’s early days in what was then the Sûreté, and even then he was curious, clever, persistent, and hungry for justice. It’s 1913, and Maigret has been with the police for four years. He’s now secretary to the patrician and condescending police Superintendent Maxime Le Bret. Then Maigret finds evidence of some very funny business with the wealthy and powerful Gendreau-Balthazar family, who happen to be friends of Le Bret’s.

Maigret, unsurprisingly, doesn’t let Richard Gendreau-Balthazar’s wealth, prominence, or sarcasm keep him for getting to the bottom of a crime. And we get to see what created the Maigret we all show more know and love. show less

A solid Maigret. Though many people don't, I have a fondness for prequel novels in long series. Fun stuff. This one was a little more straight ahead than some others, no convoluted plot happenings. Narrator was good. It might have been better if there was a french speaker narrating the book in english with the accent to make it sound more authentic, but this narrator did a fine job.

I'm not sure all the loose ends got tied up, and I didn't find the ending satisfying. But this isn't Hercule Poirot, it's Maigret, so loose ends are not the point. But the characters didn't come to life either. Maigret got some attention, but I have to admit I prefer the older, more mature and confident Maigret. The only similarity was the pipe. On the other hand, this is one of a new series that Penguin is publishing in the Penguin Classics series and as far as my library is concerned, it's one that either wasn't published before in English, or old editions are hard to find and I never found one. So I am very much looking forward to more of these new editions by Penguin if they provide new material and hope I don't end up with repeats show more already on my shelves but with different titles. show less

I cannot remember the last time I read from the crime genre and have never really been a great fan of the whodunnit yarn. This slim book has persuaded me that I would like to read further stories or should I say, cases in which Monsieur Maigret is involved. It was a gentle read reflecting the days of old with a real flavour of la belle France. Maigret's character was written such that you warmed to him as the plot developed. I think I could get to like this Maigret character and would commend him.

Police