Maigret and the Apparition

A married colleague leaves the apartment building of a beauitful young woman and is gunned down by a professional killer. Chief Inspector Maigret is called in to lead the investigation. Was Inspector Lognon cheating on his bed ridden wife or engaged in an undercover investigation? These are some of the questions that Jules Maigret and his team from the Quai des Orfevres must figure out. Inspector Maigret likes to tell his admirers that he has no technique. Each case is solved in its own way. Those of us who love the series get to see the many facets of Maigret's brilliance. The fun of "Maigret and the Appiration" is that we get to see the Inspector in his role as the brilliant interrogator. He is smart, incisive and unrelenting in this role. Over the years, Georges Simenon published more than 500 million copies of Jules Maigret stories. This volume was published in 1963 and Simenon had been writing Maigret novels for pver thirty years. "Maigret and the Apparition" is a good example of Simenon's writing when he was in his prime. Recommended.

Lapointe advises Maigret at his apartment that Inspector Lognon, a plain-clothes detective, has been wounded. When Lognon is on the trail of something he makes a mystery of it. The concierge at the address on Avenue Junot says she heard a car and then shots. At the time Lognon seemed to be seeing an apparition. Lognon's wife is a hypochondriac. Madame Maigret takes her in to comfort her while Lognon is in a coma from the attemped murder. Maigret goes to see a Dutchman, a rich art collector, whose household has been under a sort of surveillance by an ancient inhabitant of the Avenue Junot. Msigret has a feeling that someone is in danger but he doesn't know the person's identity. He calls Scotland Yard because the Dutchman's wife was married formerly to a man named Muir. As the mystery is uncovered, the subject of the forgery of paintings emerges. It seems that the police officer became a shooting victim through a misunderstanding that he was a member of a rival gang. The economy of the writing, the terse style used, is one of the pleasures of reading the works of Georges Simenon.

As usually, Simenon creates a splendid atmosphere with Maigret.It's a jubilation to read this book.