PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS : MAIGRET IS AFRAID : INSPECTOR MAIGRET #42 – GEORGES SIMENON-ROS SCHWARTZ

His artistry is supreme John Banville This was natural. It is the same everywhere. Rarely, however, had Maigret had such a strong sense of a clique. In a small town like this, of course there are the worthies, who are few and who inevitably meet each other several times a day, even if it is only in the street. Then there are the others, like those who stood huddled on the sidelines looking disgruntled. Maigret s impromptu visit to an old college friend draws him into a murky investigation in a small provincial town ruled by snobbery, fear and intimidation. One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories Guardian