On a train coming from Poland via Germany and Belgium, and then on to Paris, Inspector Vinchon works through the passengers in the first class compartment. It's the French-Belgian border and it stops for 51 minutes for passports and customs. When he gets to the last passenger in the cabin, he tries to wake him but finds that he is dead. It's only when a doctor examines the man without his shirt that the authorities realize that Otto Braun's death is not natural. There's a small needle mark over his heart. It's murder. Inspector Vinchon needs help and Superintendent Maigret gets a call at 3am. Can you come to Jeumont quickly? Librarian's note #1: the story has 3 names in English translation, "Jeumont, 51 Minutes Wait," "Inspector Maigret Deduces," and "Jeumont, 51 Minutes Stop." Librarian's note #2: this story is not easy to find. I found "... 51 Minutes ..." in a compilation of 32 short stories by numerous authors, "Murder on the Railways" published in 1996 by Orion and edited by Peter Haining. Librarian's note #3: there are 28 or 29 Maigret short stories by Simenon. Entries for each of them can be found on Goodreads by searching for: "a Maigret short story."
Author
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life. Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed. He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain. During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)). Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981). In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award. In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
