Maigret in Court

Once again I'm reminded of the subtle quality of Simenon's writing. The story begins not with a body, but with the accused already in the dock. Maigret himself has put Gaston Meurant there for the murder of his aunt and the small child she was babysitting. The evidence was damning, and yet Maigret was not satisfied with the way the facts fit the personalities involved. He continued to work on the case after it was solved. And in chapter one we watch him upsetting all the lawyers in court by recasting the investigation at the trial. Then we follow Maigret's restless search for the truth as he plays cat and mouse with all the same characters all over again. Maigret is ever ambivalent about guilt and judgment, and this unconventional attitude adds depth to a rather simple story. When the chief inspector retires in two years, he'll be released from his role in court, a disturbing role because, as he sees it, the evidence is always a mere digest of any particular human drama. So this simple story deals not only with the past and present, but also with an untried future.