Maigret at Picratt's cover art

Maigret at Picratt's

Inspector Maigret, Book 36

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About this listen

A young cabaret dancer in a black silk dress leads Maigret into a seamy world of nightclubs, drug addiction and exploitation on the streets of Montmartre.

'He opened the door for her and watched her walk away down the huge corridor, then hesitate at the top of the stairs. Heads turned as she passed. You sensed she came from a different world, the world of the night, and there was something almost indecent about her in the harsh light of a winter's day.'

This novel has been published in previous translations as Maigret and the Strangled Stripper and Maigret in Montmartre.

©2016 Georges Simenon (P)2017 Audible, Ltd. Classics Crime Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime
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Great as always but homophobic and addiction phobic… I suppose due to the time it was written.

Great as always but…

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what do you get from Simenon, a master class in detective fiction that never fails to deliver.

a master story teller

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Real team work is seen in this tale from the seamier side of Paris. Maigret works out who the villain is, but doesn’t know where he can be. LaPointe gets a starring role as the youngest member of the team, and gets a risky role that he rises to. Maigret leaves Quai des Orfevre to be based locally at Picratts with his team working around Paris. Even Lognan has a part in proceedings. The performing girls get a sympathetic part in events, despite being the subject of the villain’s nefarious activities as he’s a murderer.

Maigret uses his team.

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Not sure what was going on with Simenon when he wrote this one, but it really is a bad one. Quite a feeble plot and, as previous reviewers have noted, disgustingly homophobic, and misogynistic. There really is not much distance between the attitudes expressed herein towards gay men and those of the Nazis. I’m not exaggerating. A rape victim bursts into tears because her dress has been ruined. The final scene, with Maigret and La Pointe watching a stripper being humiliated by a night-club owner, is pathetic.

As usual, Gareth Armstrong is fantastic. No blame should attach to him for this.

A duff one

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Not sure if this hasn't put me off all future reading of Maigrets. It was horrific. Maigret stories are often a bit unsavory and sometimes even slightly depressing - but this was much more than that. This was deeply shocking. Thank goodness things have changed enough since the 50s that we can now be shocked that writers got away with such creepy attitudes. ... The narrator however is excellent. As he is with all the Maigrets. He has the main voices just right. But I wonder how disturbing he found it having to narrate this one?

Ghastly, nasty and savage homophobia.

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