'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves

He recalled his travelling companion's agitated sleep - was it really sleep? - his sighs, and his sobbing. Then the two dangling legs, the patent-leather shoes and hand-knitted socks . . . An insipid face. Glazed eyes. And Maigret was not surprised to see a grey beard eating into his cheeks.

A distressed passenger leaps off a night train and vanishes into the woods. Maigret, on his way to a well-earned break in the Dordogne, is soon plunged into the pursuit of a madman, hiding amongst the seemingly respectable citizens of Bergerac.

Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations.

'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray

'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent