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Maigret And The Man On The Bench (2003)

Maigret and the Man on the Bench (2003)

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Series
Rating
3.78 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0156028379 (ISBN13: 9780156028370)
Language
English
Publisher
mariner books

About book Maigret And The Man On The Bench (2003)

Simenon, Georges. MAIGRET AND THE MAN ON THE BENCH. (1953). ****. The similarity of plot twists between this novel and “Maigret and the Wine Merchant” is amazing. This, too, involves a man who has lost his job and is afraid to tell his wife about it. He manages to continue to leave the house at the same time every morning and to come home at the same time every evening, and also manages to give his wife the same amount of money at the end of each month as if he was still receiving his regular salary. This continues on for almost three years. Suddenly, however, the man was discovered in a small alley, stabbed to death. Maigret is on the case. He learns that the man has been out of work and spent most of his time sitting on park benches. He also learned that the man had taken up with a mistress and always seemed to have lots of money to spend. The murdered man managed to live two lives, but with no apparent source of income. We meet the man’s family and learn that he had been brow-beaten by his wife and unfavorably compared to the husbands of her sisters, who were held up to him as ideals of success. We also learn that he had a daughter that he adored that wanted to get away from the house in the worst way. All of these disparate characters led the murdered man to lead his double life and, in some way, manage to earn a living somehow. Suddenly, however, Maigret learns that his way of earning a living was on the wrong side of the law, and forces Maigret to come to terms with a whole new cast of characters. Recommended.

I have not read a Maigret novel since high school, and I highly enjoyed revisiting this classic author. If you like what I would call a "classic" mystery story, Maigret may be a detective for you! He is a chief superintendant, and you really don't learn much about his private life, instead the focus is on the current investigation. In this case, there is a man found stabbed to death on a boulevard, and when his wife identifies the body, she is shocked to find that he is wearing light brown shoes (gasp!) and a tie that is almost RED! It is further discovered that his place of business has gone under and has been for several years, yet he is still traveling to the city every day, pretending to go to work. Did he have a hidden life? Maigret soon is on the case, locating witnesses that might have been able to shed light on the case. Wonderful little story. Not long to read (took me a couple of hours) and a very nice way to spend the afternoon. Maigret is featured in 75 novels, so there are plenty more where that came from!

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After watching three weeks of the Tour de France in July I felt compelled to pay one of my periodic visits to that country through the eyes of Chief Inspector Maigret. A reviewer says that Maigret doesn't so much solve crimes as solve people, which makes him different from so many other detectives in fiction. This book - set in 1952 Paris - is filled with the features readers have expected from Simenon's Maigret stories - authentic settings, characters from (mostly) middle and lower-class French society, and frequent stops at cafes and brasseries for meals. The story revolves around a man found stabbed to death in an alley wearing brown shoes, which the shrewish widow finds appalling and claims he would never do. This sets in motion the trip through the various pathways of Paris and it's citizens - shopgirls, warehousemen, prostitutes, sneak thieves, circus performers and other characters both high and low.
—Patrick SG

Maigret is called to see the body of a man stabbed in the back in a narrow Parisian alleyway. The man seems utterly unremarkable, so why would anyone bother to stab him? Maigret's digging uncovers a timid husband who was too afraid to tell his wife he had long ago lost his job, a bratty daughter who has little regard for her parents and an elderly brothel keeper.This was my first Simenon and I really liked going with Maigret and his team of young inspectors all over Paris. They can't spot a cafe or brassiere without needing a little drink and where to lunch is planned with care. I have just one complaint and I've had to knock half a star off because of it.SPOILER____The whole affair wraps up with a person who isn't even a character in the book. Really. I went back wondering if it had been a very minor character that I had forgotten about, but nope. Not there. Just a name at the end. Weird._________I'll read more from Simenon, and I'll have a lot of choices as he wrote over two hundred books.
—jennifer

Though long a fan of the French TV series starring Bruno Cremer, this was my first Maigret novel. (OK, so yeah, I cheated and read it in English.) I noticed that barring a few small things, the films are faithful to the books.The translation was very good, giving a flavour of the period without sounding over the top or reading like a translation--as a translator myself, I know how difficult that is!A case that looks straightforward enough--a man found stabbed in an alleyway--proves to have unexpected twists and turns. The author's love of his city comes shining through as Maigret almost wishes himself back on the beat, questioning the bench-sitters who might hold clues to the mystery. Simenon can't resist being rather snarky about people who move to "the suburbs"--in his world, who would want to? Such folk are immediately suspect!
—Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)

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