Maigret Goes Home

The Moulin police receive an anonymous note that "a crime will be committed in the church at Saint-Fiacre during the first mass on All Souls Day." They forward the note to Paris, assuming it's a practical joke. But Saint Fiacre is Maigret's hometown, and he decides to attend that mass. Sure enough, the Countess of Saint-Fiacre drops dead in church. The doctor diagnoses heart failure, but how to explain the note that foretold this natural death? Was the failure of her heart somehow induced? And by whom? Wonderful complications ensue. The young heir is a good-for-nothing playboy in need of money. The secretary was actually the lover of the aging countess. Even the village priest is behaving strangely. Curiously, it's the suspects themselves who solve the mystery more than Maigret, whose presence alone is somehow enough to bring out the truth. An excellent Maigret subtly enriched by the Chief Inspector's nostalgic flashbacks.

Maigret Goes Home (published in 1932, first published in English in 1940) is among the best stories by Simenon that I have encountered. It takes place in 1928, early in Maigret's career, and involves a unique visit to Maigret's childhood home, the village of Saint-Fiacre. Maigret Goes Home is a compelling story, one in which the mystery puzzle, the characters themselves, their psychology, and the intriguing locale all share front stage. Maigret is investigating an anonymous note warning that a death will occur during the first Mass on All Soul's Day at Saint-Fiacre. With Maigret in attendance, Countess de Saint-Fiacre dies during the mass from heart failure. Maigret is convinced of foul play, but evidence is lacking. The aristocratic family of de Saint-Fiacre has suffered financial and moral decline since the death of Count some years ago. As Maigret's investigation proceeds, his disappointment with his childhood home grows. Nonetheless, Maigret's remains influenced by vestiges of his childhood admiration for the imposing Count de Saint-Fiacre, now dead for many years. The suspects are many, and the ending is less predictable than some Maigret stories. My copy of Maigret Goes Home is a good quality, standard size paperback published by Harvest Books in 1990. Translated by Robert Baldick. The inside cover lists about forty Maigret titles available from Harvest Books. For those new to Georges Simenon, he wrote 75 novels and 28 short stories involving the highly popular Maigret from 1931 to 1972. Note: Simenon did not adhere to a strict chronological sequence. That is, later stories often returned to a younger Maigret. Furthermore, many Maigret stories were not translated to English until many years after their release in France. Consequently, the English publication date is not a reliable indication to the time period of a particular Maigret story.