‘Maigret in Vichy’ by Georges Simenon

(Translated by Ros Schwartz)
Published by Penguin Classics,
6 June 2019.
ISBN: 978-0-241-78818-9
Originally published 1968.

Inspector Maigret has had some concerns about his health: nothing major, just lethargy, digestive discomfort, and occasional dizziness, but a friend who is a doctor notices that he is not himself and advises him to take a holiday, and go, with his wife, to Vichy to drink the waters. Madame Maigret expects her husband to miss his usual heavy work schedule and be restless in his enforced idleness, but to her surprise he settles into the prescribed routine of long, gentle walks, a carefully planned diet, a rest in the afternoon, and of course the regular glasses of mineral water. However, one thing has not changed, and Madame Maigret realises that Maigret is observing the people that they see, and deducing things about their characters and lifestyles. One of the most intriguing people that they see regularly is a woman who always wears lilac. She is middle aged, elegant, and totally self-contained, never interacting with anyone, and often appearing not to even notice them.

One day the lady in lilac is not there and Maigret reads in the newspaper that she has been found strangled to death in her home. Despite his instinct to discover the truth, Maigret tries not to become involved in the investigation, even though Lecoeur, the detective in charge of the case, had once been one of Maigret’s inspectors in Paris and is eager for his old chief to offer his expertise. And so, slowly Maigret finds himself drawn into the case. The woman’s name is Hélène Lange, and when Maigret accepts Lecoeur’s invitation to look at her home, he realises his assessment of her character had been accurate, she had been a woman totally obsessed with herself. Also, she is a woman of mystery: she appears to be wealthy but there is no clear source of her money. Hélène’s only living relation is her younger sister, and when she arrives to formally identify the body and arrange for the funeral, it is evident that she too has something to hide. It takes all of Maigret’s deductive powers and well-honed instincts to discover the truth about Hélène Lange, and the reason why she died.

Maigret In Vichy is number sixty-eight in the classic series featuring Inspector Maigret. It is a short, gently paced, contemplative novel with fascinating psychological insights. A great novel from a master of the genre. 
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Reviewer:  Carol Westron 

Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium in 1903 and died in 1989. At sixteen he began work as a journalist on the Gazette de Liège. He moved to Paris in 1922 and became a prolific writer of popular fiction, working under a number of pseudonyms. In 1931 he published the first of the novels featuring Maigret, his most famous and enduring creation. He wrote 75 books in the Maigret series.  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies.  

www.carolwestron.com