PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS : MAIGRETS CHILDHOOD FRIEND PB B – GEORGES SIMENON-SHAUN WHITESIDE

The father of contemporary European detective fiction Ann Cleeves Florentin pulled one of those faces which had once amused his classmates so much and disarmed the teachers . . . Maigret didn t dare to ask why he had come to see him. He studied him, struggling to believe that so many years had passed . . . He was so used to acting the fool that his face automatically assumed comical expressions. But his face was still greyish, his eyes anxious. A visit from a long-lost schoolmate who has fallen on hard times forces Maigret to unpick a seedy tangle of love affairs in Montmartre, and to confront the tragedy of a wasted life. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret s Boyhood Friend. His artistry is supreme John Banville One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century Guardian