'The truth was, Maigret knew nothing! Maigret felt. Maigret was sure he was right, would have bet his life on it. But in vain he'd turned the problem over a hundred times in his head, in vain he'd had every taxi driver in Paris questioned'

Written and published in journals during the Second World War, these seventeen short stories distil the atmosphere, themes and psychological intensity that make Simenon's famous detective series so compelling.

Translated by Howard Curtis and Ros Schwartz

'Not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor' Boyd Tonkin, Times