'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves

In this classic novel featuring Simenon's literary legend, a curious encounter on the tram leads Inspector Maigret to a sinister case

Inspector Maigret is savouring a beautiful spring morning in Paris when he has his wallet stolen by a pickpocket - only to find it returned the next day, on the condition he visit the thief's apartment. What Maigret discovers there sees him investigating an unusual murder, and embroiled in the world of aspiring film-makers - one where ever-changing loyalties can have tragic consequences.

Translated by Siân Reynolds

Other titles in this collection include: Maigret's Holiday, Maigret Sets a Trap, Maigret Defends Himself, Maigret's Doubts, Maigret's Patience, The Saint-Fiacre Affair, Maigret and the Lazy Burglar, The Carter of 'La Providence', Maigret and the Old People, Maigret's Dead Man and Maigret in Vichy

'Not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend' The Times

"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere" - Financial Times

"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" - The Times

"Terrific...the 75 Inspector Maigret books are almost uniformly wonderful. They are not crime or even detective fiction as ordinarily understood...they are about human foibles, moral failings and compromises, set in an evocatively atmospheric Paris" - Sunday Times

"A great writer of detail, of atmosphere " - Financial Times

"A genius … Simenon broke all the rules" - Daily Telegraph

"The novels brim with atmosphere, insight and intelligence . . . quite unlike anything else written before or since" - The Times

"Exceptional… Simenon’s writing still seems fresh…one of the great pleasures is the summoning of France’s many landscapes and accompanying social milieux . . . There is also, and it’s a chief glory of the books, a whole range of different Parises, from the shiny rich to the hypocritical bourgeois middle to the struggling, furious world of the poor, desperate and professionally criminal" - Times Literary Supplement