The Madman of Bergerac

In Georges Simenon's 16th Maigret novel, our man manages to combine a routine police assignment with pleasure trip to visit a retired colleague in Bergerac. While on the long train trip south, however, a fellow passenger arouses Maigret's suspicions and when the fellow leaps from the train in the middle of the night Maigret follows suit. Maigret catches a bullet for his trouble and awakes in Bergerac to find himself under suspicion of murder. Two local women have been killed in separate unexplained attacks with a ghoulish twist: The assailant pierced their hearts with a needle. The arrival of Maigret's friend, the former detective Leduc, soon dispels any notion of guilt and much to the chagrin of the local authorities Maigret's injuries prevent him from traveling. With the assistance of Madame Maigret, the intrepid Paris detective works to solve the crime from his bed! He manages to unravel quite a tangled web of deceit - just when the local prosecutor has decided that the case has been resolved by the killer's suicide. Simenon also uses the story's location to express his disdain for the rustics who inhabit Bergerac (At one point, Maigret asks his wife if the town has a movie theater. She answers affirmatively, but adds that she had seen the theater's current attraction at least three years ago in Paris!). The Madman of Bergerac has a few loose ends and the explanation of the murders is a bit far-fetched, but Simenon weaves an excellent subplot that takes center stage and ends with a bang - or two. Simenon gives us another entertaining Maigret story and as always it will not detain the reader for more than a few hours.

Great dealer, excellent service buy with confidence. Great book too! funny, fast and well written. Simenon says in one sentence what many writers struggle to say in a paragraph.

Georges Simenon created 75 short novels and nearly 30 short stories featuring Inspector Maigret. With such prodigious output there was considerable danger of repetition, even monotony. And yet, the Maigret mysteries are notable for their variety. The Madman of Bergerac is a classic example of Simenon's ability to surprise the reader. Within pages we find our friend (and indeed it is difficult not to like and to admire Maigret) shot for no apparent reason. Feverish and in pain, Maigret tries to unravel two murders from his bed in a small hotel in Bergerac before more killings occur. Maigret (and the reader) must rely on second hand accounts and descriptions of various locales related to the murders. All that visit him - the local prosecutor, the examining magistrate, the local police inspector, and others - are convinced that these murders are the work of a madman. Maigret himself is unsure, and in expressing doubt alienates the local authorities. Paying attention to dialogue is always important in a Maigret mystery, but with Maigret trapped in his bed, barely able to move, dialogue is even more critical. Lacking his Parisian detective staff the incapacitated Maigret proceeds by way of his intellect and deductive skills, giving us greater insight into Maigret himself. As with many Maigret mysteries, the solution is in part dependent on information provided by police agencies elsewhere. This is as it should be as these stories are an early form of the procedural mystery. The Madman of Bergerac was first published in France in 1932. This 2003 paperback edition by Penguin Books is most welcome. The stylish cover and unique size (4.75 x 6.5 inches) lend a contemporary feeling to this reprint. The price is a little high, but nonetheless I am looking forward to more Maigret mysteries from Penguin Books.

Reading Simenon is like eating pistachios--it soon becomes compulsive because the item consumed is so tasty. In "The Madman," Inspector Maigret is laid up in a provincial French town after being wounded by a man he was tracking (for his own, not police, reasons). Intrigued by rumors of a "madman" on the loose in this town, Simenon begins his own bedside investigation into the crime. Without benefit of even a wheelchair to survey much of the town's layout (a lá Jimmy Stewart in "Rear Window," which this novel predates by several decades), Maigret's insight into human nature is such that, within the confines of 150 or so pages, he pieces together what is happening, unraveling a host of small-town hypocricies along the way. My only complaint about the Maigret novels (and what keeps me holding back the fifth of five stars from my review) is that, unlike Simenon's "dark" novels, they have "happy endings"; i.e., the bad guy is caught. Reality often veers away from our desires for "closure," yet even with the Maigret novels, Simenon lays bare the thin skrim that separates civility from ruthlessness.

I am not mad. Salvador Dali. That premise, so aptly stated by Salvador Dali, forms the philosophy that guides Inspector Maigret in his search for the person the inhabitants of the quaint French town of Dordogne consider to be a maniacal killer. The fact that this premise deeply offends the bourgeoisie sensibilities of the townsfolk of Dordogne seems not to matter overly much to Maigret although it certainly added to the enjoyment of reading Georges Simenon's "The Madman of Bergerac". Georges Simenon was the author of over 100 Inspector Maigret mystery stories. They were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1960s. Inspector Maigret stories also appeared in film and TV versions. Simenon also authored dozens of books that he described as "romans durs", roughly translated as`hard stories' that had a darker tone than his Maigret novels. Simenon seems to have fallen under the radar in recent decades but in recent years he seems to have been rediscovered by a new generation of mystery/detective story fans. Penguin Books has begun to reissue some of those Maigret mysteries and the New York Review of Books Press has reissued some of his `hard stories'. Penguin's latest Inspector Maigret Mystery reissue, "The Madman of Bergerac" is a fine example of the Simenon's craft and a fine example of Simenon's craftsmanship. In the absence of a book description I think it appropriate to set out the basic plot of the book. Set in 1932, it is a warm, sunny March in Paris and since Inspector Maigret is not particularly busy and his wife is out of town he decides to take up the open invitation to visit is his retired former colleague Inspector Leduc. Leduc has a cottage near Dordogne in south-west France. Unable to sleep on the overnight train ride because of the disturbing noises made by the fellow in the upper berth, Maigret follows his berth-mate into the corridor to get some air. He is so astonished to see the man jump off the train as it slows down around a curve in the tracks on its approach to a station that he jumps off the train in pursuit. The man immediately shoots Maigret. Maigret is found and taken to hospital where he is accused by the police of being "the madman of Bergerac", a killer who has already killed two local girls. Once he is identified as a police inspector from Paris, Maigret sets out to solve the crimes. However, due to his wounds Simenon is confined to his bed. He sends for his wife to assist him and quickly begins and completes the investigation while confined to bed-rest. As implied at the beginning of the review, Maigret insists that the killer is very likely a local who appears to one and all to be perfectly sane - apart from the fact that he every now and again commits a brutal murder. This theory is considered insulting by the townsfolk but Maigret is not deterred and the investigation continues. Simenon's Inspector Maigret mysteries are often compared to Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries. There are many resemb