Maigret Wins the Game (Inspector Maigret and the Killers, 1954)

Georges Simenon. Inspector Maigret and the Killers (1954) A typical Maigret, with

straightforward reporting of the action, and limited  narration of Maigret’s problem solving. We do get a lot of his reactions to his colleagues, and the suspects and witnesses. But it’s up to us to sift the clues from the red herrings and come up with the solution(s).

Here, a dead body is dumped almost at the feet of a cop who happens to suffer from what Freud labelled an inferiority complex. Simenon (that is Maigret’s) take is that it’s an aggrieved sense of unrewarded superiority. Anyhow, the corpse disappears, the cop is beaten up, and Maigret is told he’s dealing with Americans, who are professionals when comes to crime. This annoys Maigret, I mean who wouldn’t bristle at being told he’s out of his league? In the end Maigret wins, of course.

The British made Maigret TV series are better, more subtle and nuanced than these books, which are good for a train ride or plane flight, when one is not fully engaged with the book. This one is below Simenon’s usual standard. **½