MAIGRET AND THE IDLE BURGLAR by Georges Simenon (1961).
One
of very early detective books from France.
One
of those good novels which put emphasis not just on crimes but also people and
the surrounding environment.
Wonderful
mystery with wonderful characters..
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layers. – Maigret. A chief superintendent. A very good,
old-fashioned inspector( two yrs away from retirement ) who spent countless
hours on street therefore, knows every corner of the city and every people in
it.
Now, because of so called
modernization of the department, he has to spend hours everyday writing reports
in his office, sometimes, not even allowed to be in the crime scene due to some
kinds of NEW and STRICT jurisdiction regulations imposed by new-white
color-college educated-bureaucraps. Which of course doesn’t affect him at all.
Can’t even slow him down.
He personally assumes that all
the officers pour in 80% of their time filling in forms these days. Totally
ridiculous.
He has seen everything, done
everything and possibly arrested every sort of criminals in his career. Yet, he
still holds personal grudge against murderers and that kind of passion makes
him probably the best cop in the city.
He is very lucky to have an
understanding and thoughtful/intelligent wife with whom he discusses his cases
quite openly.
Aristide Fumel. Inspector. Because he can’t
read or write well, despite of his age (51 yrs), he still stays on the bottom
of the leather.
Very ugly but somehow manages to
marry once. However, his wife just disappears one day and after all those
years, he still is looking for his wife.
What’s funny is even with all
above personal problems, he is one of the best inspectors in Paris. And because high-profile bank rubber
case sucks up all the resources, he has a sole responsibility for C case.
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lace. – 60’s Paris.
Apparently the whole police department is going through upgrading and
modernization for the new century. But that only means there won’t be any more
rooms for old school cops like Maigret and Fumel. Then again, you can’t solve
every case with systemized approach and organized man power only, because the
crimes are committed on the street not in the conference room or police head
quarter. So Maigret and Fumel are still the core of the police department even
if they try not to acknowledge it.
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lot. –This is one of the very early works from the
early stage of modern detective novel. However, this book contains all the
necessary elements.
1. Main detective (Maigret) and his
trusted sidekick (Fumel).
2. Very detailed description of real
police procedurals.
3. The department is against the
main detective, so our hero is sandwiched between his own people behind him and
villain in front of him.
Now, the actual plot. Just like
real police work, there are a lot going on at the same time.
First, there is a gang of bank
robbers emptying bank after bank without any troubles which makes media
friendly public prosecutor real nervous. Then there is a murder of a quite
burglar (main title). And for a minor note, a drama school student, a girl of
seventeen, runs away from home possibly with unknown man.
From the police’s point of view,
the bank robber is the major crime and therefore, all the resources are
naturally poured into this one. However for Maigret who has known Cuendet (the
idle burglar) for decades, the priority is little different.
Maigret, as a chief-inspector who
runs the investigation unit, has to pay total attention to the bank robber
case. But for him, this is the kind of
case which requires nothing but time to find the criminals, because sooner or
late, they will find the trace of gangs and all they need is one tiny whole in
their (gang’s) network to break it wide open.
For the Cuendet case, things are
totally different. In order to find the murderer, Maigret has to find out all
about the burglar, his world, to establish the pattern and the suspects. Since
there is no evidence what so ever to connect the killing to anyone, Maigret
tries to get into Cuendet’s mind by talking to people who know him, staying the
same hotel C used to sleep and eating the same dishes at the same restaurant on
the same table.
And he is doing this while
leading the 24 hrs pursuit of bank gangs. And it is officially not even his
case. Obsession, if you ask me.
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erdict. – I’ve said this a lot, but any
old (1961), foreign language (French) detective novels which survive and get to
re-publish in 21 century are either great or important. This book is both.
This book, its story and its
characters are all aged so well, it is hard to believe this book (series) is
written over 50 yrs ago.
It ends very peacefully with
quite a few questions up in the air. Actually, come to think of it, none of
them are answered!! Man, what a book!!
Yet, it achieves a very
satisfying ending in which you will feel good about Maigret and what he
achieves.
A great reading.
