Maigret number 7 presents a younger, more active and brash detective than I've come to know from the later books in the series, and it's fascinating to read them out of order to really feel the difference in temper, and yet still recognise the same character.

Where the later books are complex, this one is, instead, convoluted, which is not without its own attraction. This Maigret shows signs of the psychological method he will more fully develop as he matures, and I was a little shocked at the violence he was prepared to use in this case, both with his fists and his gun. At one point he's rather reckless, perhaps even displaying a touch of arrogance that the older Maigret would surely deplore.

If Simenon had intended to develop this growth of character from the outset over the course of four decades of writing, then he was a genius; if not, then he was inspired, perhaps, in a sense, possessed, by his great creation. And yet you could easily pick up any single book in the series and find it no more than a competent crime thriller. Inspired genius! Simenon hasn't let me down yet. ( )

Avant le voyant d’Etampes (rien à voir, d’ailleurs), il y eu le carrefour d’Étampes. le Carrefour des Trois Veuves ! Un Maigret atypique (une des premières enquêtes de 1931 d’ailleurs, ce qui pourrait être une explication) avec de l’action, des coups de révolver, des menottes et des voitures qui foncent dans la nuit.

Après plus d’une trentaine de Maigret, une chose de plus que je trouve fascinante avec Simenon, c’est son traitement des relations hommes-femmes dans une époque bien tradi-patriarcale. Et alors qu’il se vantait d’avoir connu 10’000 femmes lors d’un entretien avec Fellini (il dira par la suite que ce fut une boutade), le commissaire Maigret semble asexué et insensible aux charmes féminins. Pour autant, que dire descriptions des femmes qui parsèment ses livres et peuvent paraître aujourd’hui bien « étranges » ?

Et les relations Monsieur et Madame Maigret ? Et les différents couples représentés ? Le témoignage d’une époque ? ( )

Tras diecisiete horas de interrogatorio a un sospechoso sin conseguir que confiese, Maigret decide dejarlo en libertad: Carl Andersen, ciudadano danés afincado en Francia, es inocente, a menos que sea un maestro de la simulación. Pero entonces ¿quién asesinó a Isaac Goldberg, corredor de diamantes holandés, que apareció en el coche de Andersen con un disparo en el pecho? Maigret tendrá que desplazarse hasta la Encrucijada de las Tres Viudas, un cruce de carreteras a pocos kilómetros de Arpajon en el que sólo hay tres casas aisladas: la villa de un agente de seguros y su esposa, la gasolinera de un boxeador retirado y la decadente mansión de Andersen y su hermana, una joven cautivadora como una actriz de Hollywood que vive encerrada en su habitación. Maigret tendrá que sobreponerse a su debilidad para resolver una compleja trama internacional en la que todos los implicados parecen ocultar algo.

One of these times I’ll figure it out ( )

Maigret at the Crossroads
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback (April 2014) a new translation* by Linda Coverdale of the French language original "La Nuit du carrefour" (1931)

See gif at https://c.tenor.com/tDNSI0Lm4u4AAAAM/maigret-britbox.gif
English actor Rowan Atkinson as Chief Inspector Maigret. Gif sourced from Maigret gifs.

This was my favourite Maigret to date. The mystery starts off as being so confusing and improbable that it seems almost miraculous that it can be solved at all. There are three households nearby to a crossroads: a Danish brother and sister living in isolation, an insurance agent and his wife, a garage & petrol station and its owner. One morning the body of a jewelry fence is found inside the insurance agent's car, but it is parked in the garage of the Danish couple's house.

The Danish couple is suspected but soon cleared, the insurance agent demands the return of his car, the garage owner attempts to get chummy with Maigret, who rebuffs him, and then the jeweler's wife is murdered as well, as soon as she arrives at the scene. Maigret still manages to piece it all together in what comes off as a tour-de-force.

See poster at https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzNjYTViMzctOWExNC00YjQ0LTk4N2ItMDQ0YmE4...
Promotional poster** for the TV miniseries adaptation of "Night at the Crossroads" with Rowan Atkinson as Inspector Maigret. Image sourced from IMDb

I've now read almost a dozen of the early Maigret novellas in the past four weeks and they continue to impress with how different they are not only from each other, but also from other "Golden Age of Crime" novels of that interwar era. What is even more impressive is that the first dozen were all published in 1931 as if he wrote one every month. Perhaps it is not that surprising from an author who wrote over 500 books in his lifetime, but it still an eyeopener.

To confuse the completists, this is Maigret #6 in the recent Penguin Classics series of new translations (2013-2019) of the Inspector Maigret novels and short stories, but it is Maigret #7 in the previous standard Maigret Series listing on Library Thing.

Trivia and Links
* Some earlier English translations have given the title as Maigret at the Crossroads.
** The British ITV adaptation used the subtitle "The Three Windows," whereas in the original novel, one of the houses was known as the house of "The Three Widows."

The Night at the Crossroads, under its original French title La Nuit du carrefour, was adapted as a French language film in 1932, directed by Jean Renoir with his brother Pierre Renoir (both are sons of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir) in the role of Inspector Maigret. The entire film with English subtitles can be viewed on YouTube here.

It was adapted for French television in 1969, as part of the long running TV series Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (The Investigations of Commissioner Maigret) (1967-1990) with Jean Richard as Inspector Maigret.

The most recent English language adaptation was as "Maigret: Night at the Crossroads" (2017) dir. Sarah Harding as Season 2 Episode 1 of the British ITV series Maigret (2016-2017) with Rowan Atkinson as Inspector Maigret. A trailer can be viewed on YouTube here.

There is an article about the Penguin Classics re-translations of the Inspector Maigret novels at Maigret, the Enduring Appeal of the Parisian Sleuth by Paddy Kehoe, RTE, August 17, 2019. ( )