Originally titled Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters, this was the first Maigret novel Simenon wrote after moving to live in Connecticut. It's a bit of a wild plot with car chases, gun fights, beatings, kidnapping, tough guys, floozies and lots of booze.
Lognon is the sad sack detective who witnesses a body being thrown from a car on to the pavement, with the car speeding off. Lognon goes to a bar close by where there was a telephone and then glanced up to see a second car leaving the street and when he went back to where he had seen the body, found that the body wasn’t there. Maigret has to deal with a brace of American crooks in Paris and their different and decisive way of dealing with the police.
Simenon books are reliably enjoyable and quick to read. With this one the writing is as crisp and atmospheric as can be expected from the hugely talented Simenon.
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