Amazing!

Georges Simenon never ceases to stun and amaze me. Not only is the story up to the great man's usual standards, and the narration as perfect as the words being expressed, but this novel explains sociopathy in a way that psychiatric tomes fail. The humanity of Maigret as a literary character is unmatched. Literally, utterly fabulous.

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Maigret is well served by Armstrong

Great reading brings Maigret's world alive. I still see Rupert Davies face (from the 60s tv series) but the voice is now Gareth Armstrong's, and he differentiates all the other characters so well. Possibly not the very best of the stories but they are always very inventive for their time.

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Another good novella from Simenon.

Simenon shows the humane nature of Maigret here. He seeks the killer of a quiet young man, who dies for no obvious reason and with no clues as to who did the deed. (I felt this was a bit like Albert Camus’ novel L’Étranger [The Outsider/The Stranger] but from the police viewpoint, not the murderers’). As usual, Maigret is patient and dogged with moments of inspiration. His approach is to wait and see like a fisherman reeling his line in as he can. Many may feel that he should just clap him in irons, and I could understand that being what the ‘public’ may want. Maigret understands his killer and knows that he won’t escape because it’s not in his nature to do so.
As usual, Simenon’s story is on the brief side, more a short story, a novella at most, how Audible can retail them at the same cost as tomes many times the length, I have no idea. Gareth Armstrong does well narrating, and if he reads all the 70+ stories he’s got a good gig.

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Great story and reading.

I liked everything about the book. The realistic characters and Margaret’s relationship with his wife. And of course the character of Paris.

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Maigret: Detecting a great story.

Gareth Armstrong's presentation of Maigret is an absolute master class in how to create a compelling audiobook. The Maigret stories have their own strength and integrity which outshines the class-ridden cap doffing worlds of Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Whimsey and even Sherlock Holmes. In a particularly critical view of class in the world of French society, Georges Simenon's hero takes us through different layers of society with the practised ease of a really good writer.

However, translating from the French text is one thing but bringing to life these stories for an English audience is where Armstrong excels. His nuanced use of English regional accents to symbiotically reconstruct the regional French accents in the stories is a gem of an insight into how best to present this work. Add to this his acting skills and professional delivery and he produces a one-man radio drama as much as an audiobook.

The fact that he has also worked through the entire collection of Maigret stories, over 80 in all, is a monumental accomplishment that provides the listener with hours of entertainment. Then into this richly layered crafting we also add Simenon's own gift of ageing Maigret through the timeline of the stories and that makes the dynamic is really superb.

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4 people found this helpful

Not one of the best

The usual succinct but strong characterisation from Simenon. Sadly it is not one of the best Maigretstories. It makes some valid points about society but it is rather a slow uninspired plot. Even the Chief himself seems rather tired by it all.

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1 person found this helpful