Part of Series
While on holiday, Inspector Maigret is drawn into the murder of a teenage girl and subsequent disappearance of her brother and must confront an evil that is hidden in plain sight. During their holidays in Sables-d’Olonne, Maigret’s wife is hospitalized with appendicitis, and Maigret receives a strange note instructing him to visit a patient in another ward. To solve the mysterious case that has left a young woman dead and her brother missing, Maigret must give one of his best performances yet in a story laced with mood, class tension, and in the end, of course, justice. “One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” — The Guardian Alors que le couple Maigret se repose quelques jours aux Sables-d'Olonne, Mme Maigret est victime d'une crise d'appendicite. A l'hôpital où elle est soignée, une religieuse implore le commissaire de s'intéresser à « la malade du 15 ». Dans quelles circonstances cette jeune femme est-elle tombée de la voiture que conduisait son beau-frère, le Dr Philippe Bellamy ? Pourquoi ce dernier semble-t-il faire si peur à la jeune Lucile Duffieux, une gamine de quatorze ans qui sera assassinée peu après ? Qu'est devenu Emile, son frère aîné, parti pour Paris où il n'est jamais arrivé? Et Maigret d'oublier ses vacances. Entre deux visites à l'hôpital, il va percer à jour une de ces passions morbides qui peuvent naître au sein d'une vie en apparence aussi calme et équilibrée que celle du Dr Bellamy...
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.
