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Inspector Maigret #2
The Carter of 'La Providence'
What was the woman doing here? Why was her body found in a stable, wearing pearl earrings, a stylish bracelet and white buckskin shoes?
She must have been alive when she got there because the crime had been committed after ten in the evening. But how? And why? No one had heard a thing! She had not screamed. The two carters had not woken up. If a whip had not been mislaid, the body might not have been discovered for a couple of weeks and only by chance when someone turned over the straw.
These questions lead Maigret into an unfamiliar world of the navigable rivers and canals of France, with their run-down cafes, shadowy towpaths, and eccentric inhabitants.
This is a recent translation of the second novel in the Inspector Maigret series - Georges Simenon's tragic tale of lost identity. The Penguin series features brilliant renderings by some of today's best translators from French to English and introduces the intrepid Inspector to a brand new audience.
She must have been alive when she got there because the crime had been committed after ten in the evening. But how? And why? No one had heard a thing! She had not screamed. The two carters had not woken up. If a whip had not been mislaid, the body might not have been discovered for a couple of weeks and only by chance when someone turned over the straw.
These questions lead Maigret into an unfamiliar world of the navigable rivers and canals of France, with their run-down cafes, shadowy towpaths, and eccentric inhabitants.
This is a recent translation of the second novel in the Inspector Maigret series - Georges Simenon's tragic tale of lost identity. The Penguin series features brilliant renderings by some of today's best translators from French to English and introduces the intrepid Inspector to a brand new audience.
154 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1931
About the author
Georges Simenon
1,945 books1,969 followersGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
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June 11, 2022
Lunchtime Audiobook Listen May 2022
And so having more time now that most of the house renovation has been finished we are spending more time listening to books at lunchtime. And this is the latest .
And I have to say it has been really enjoyable. I think my wife is becoming a bit of a Maigret fan or is it the reading of Gareth Armstrong ?
Anyway this story IS brilliantly read by Gareth Armstrong. The wrong person could ruin these stories, but he makes them even better.
Personal Challenge Read March 2019
Ok firstly it say Maigret #2, it’s NOT, it’s the 4th in the series. Does that really make any difference, well no as each story so far has been stand alone, but I’m a pedantic old (?) sod so it does to me.
I will write more on the morow but suffice to say “woah, series respect to M. Georges Simenon, this book had it all: intrigue pathos, seduction, exertion, emotion but above all kindness and understanding."
This book starts with the discovery of a woman's body in a stable attached to a lock keepers cottage and bar. The story then moves forward with all the action focussed around the boats that travel up and down the canals in France, some of these are tradesman transporting their goods and some are just tourists or holidaymakers in rented boats.
Maigret moves up and down the tow path villages on an ancient bicycle verifying alibis and the whereabouts of various boats at the time of the crime, and then lo
Again the book is atmospheric and evocative of early/mid century France and is a truly stupendous novel involving a detective.
I seriously think a contender for my book of the year.
And so having more time now that most of the house renovation has been finished we are spending more time listening to books at lunchtime. And this is the latest .
And I have to say it has been really enjoyable. I think my wife is becoming a bit of a Maigret fan or is it the reading of Gareth Armstrong ?
Anyway this story IS brilliantly read by Gareth Armstrong. The wrong person could ruin these stories, but he makes them even better.
Personal Challenge Read March 2019
Ok firstly it say Maigret #2, it’s NOT, it’s the 4th in the series. Does that really make any difference, well no as each story so far has been stand alone, but I’m a pedantic old (?) sod so it does to me.
I will write more on the morow but suffice to say “woah, series respect to M. Georges Simenon, this book had it all: intrigue pathos, seduction, exertion, emotion but above all kindness and understanding."
This book starts with the discovery of a woman's body in a stable attached to a lock keepers cottage and bar. The story then moves forward with all the action focussed around the boats that travel up and down the canals in France, some of these are tradesman transporting their goods and some are just tourists or holidaymakers in rented boats.
Maigret moves up and down the tow path villages on an ancient bicycle verifying alibis and the whereabouts of various boats at the time of the crime, and then lo
Again the book is atmospheric and evocative of early/mid century France and is a truly stupendous novel involving a detective.
I seriously think a contender for my book of the year.
April 20, 2019
”There are all kinds of bolt-holes. Some have the smell of whisky, eau de Cologne, a woman and the sounds of gramophone records….”
She didn’t look like the type of woman who would be found dead in a stable. She is dressed very well; one might even say with sophistication. She is draped in expensive jewels. She is very pretty. One can’t imagine she was frolicking with a stable boy. She looks like the type of woman who does her lovemaking on silk sheets with a glass of champagne close to hand. Her lover would be a man of pedigree, and if he happens to lack the proper family tree, then certainly he must be a man of means.
And yet here she is dead, hastily, ineptly buried in the straw. The ghastly finger marks around her neck indicate a crime of passion. Certainly, it wasn’t robbery.
Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the Flying Squad is assigned to investigate the murder at the canals in Epernay. He is considered by many to be the Sherlock Holmes of French mysteries, but where Holmes relies on reason to solve his cases, Maigret relies on intuition. They both like to smoke pipes, and both routinely solve cases that are considered baffling to others. While Holmes is rail thin, Maigret is chubby due to his fondness for gourmet foods. If other detectives, or in the case of Holmes his friend Watson, are trying to help with a case, they soon learn that it is best to observe and wait to be told how they can best be of assistance. Puzzles are best left to the grand masters.
I have this vision of Maigret walking along the canal with his bowler hat pulled down tightly over his eyes, a pipe clamped between his teeth, and his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He is lost in thought as he ponders the slender clues the case has given him.
As Maigret tries to penetrate the close knit community of bargemen, boaters, and the small villages that service their needs, he must tread lightly, or his efforts will be thwarted by a wall of silence. Simenon, the creator of Maigret, was an avid boater. He writes about these canal communities and brings them to life with his sparse, insightful prose. They feel so authentic because Simenon is writing what he saw as he passed through these places with his own boat.
The woman, dead in the straw, was part of a yachting party which included her husband, the colonel, his mistress Madame Negretti, a Russian boat captain named Vladimir, and a young man named Willy, who is one of those people who attaches himself to rich people by the warmth of his personality and the delicate nature of his wit.
As the image of the woman emerges, along with the rather unseemly characteristics of her companions, she certainly isn’t who she first appears to be. As the orgies, drinking, and hedonistic lifestyle of herself and her companions come to light, Maigret finds it more and more difficult to feel respect for the victim. She was careless with her person.
Regardless, there is a murderer, and they must be found.
As he investigates, Maigret meets colorful people, such as the woman with the ample bosom who is trying to feed her barge crew while Maigret asks his nonsensical questions. ”She spoke with a singsong intonation almost as strong as a southern accent. But she wasn’t at all bothered. She waited. She seemed to be protecting the two men with the fullness of her brazen flesh.”
Isn’t that great? ”The fullness of her brazen flesh.” I can just see Maigret, flustered, trying to formulate questions while his eyes dip and linger. The embarrassment of seeing the knowing smirk wrinkling the lips of the woman because she knows the power of her female wonder.
The book is full of interesting word choices and fascinating observations.
I also like this description of the carter’s hands: ”But it fell back again weakly, gnarled, calloused, spotted with small blue dots which must have been the vestiges of old tattoos.” The evolution of hands, right? Those hands have done many things. They have experienced various traumas that have changed the topography of the skin.
Hands tell the story of our lives.
There are 85 novels featuring Maigret and numerous short stories, so even though they are each about 150 pages, together they form quite the canon of devotion to the character. I’ve read that, just as Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock, Simenon also tried to dispose of his famous character, but found the hue and cry was too much to withstand and wisely resurrected Maigret. Doyle also caved under the pressure.
Some creations must live forever.
It is always a pleasure to spend some time with Maigret. I also enjoy Simenon’s stand alone novels, which tend to be grittier and more noirish than the Maigret series. One I recently reviewed is The Widow.
Simenon’s are perfect for travelling. I always find it a comfort to stick at least one Simenon book in with the stack of reading companions I choose for each trip. This book is best read with coffee, strawberry jam, and a fluffy croissant.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
She didn’t look like the type of woman who would be found dead in a stable. She is dressed very well; one might even say with sophistication. She is draped in expensive jewels. She is very pretty. One can’t imagine she was frolicking with a stable boy. She looks like the type of woman who does her lovemaking on silk sheets with a glass of champagne close to hand. Her lover would be a man of pedigree, and if he happens to lack the proper family tree, then certainly he must be a man of means.
And yet here she is dead, hastily, ineptly buried in the straw. The ghastly finger marks around her neck indicate a crime of passion. Certainly, it wasn’t robbery.
Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the Flying Squad is assigned to investigate the murder at the canals in Epernay. He is considered by many to be the Sherlock Holmes of French mysteries, but where Holmes relies on reason to solve his cases, Maigret relies on intuition. They both like to smoke pipes, and both routinely solve cases that are considered baffling to others. While Holmes is rail thin, Maigret is chubby due to his fondness for gourmet foods. If other detectives, or in the case of Holmes his friend Watson, are trying to help with a case, they soon learn that it is best to observe and wait to be told how they can best be of assistance. Puzzles are best left to the grand masters.
I have this vision of Maigret walking along the canal with his bowler hat pulled down tightly over his eyes, a pipe clamped between his teeth, and his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He is lost in thought as he ponders the slender clues the case has given him.
As Maigret tries to penetrate the close knit community of bargemen, boaters, and the small villages that service their needs, he must tread lightly, or his efforts will be thwarted by a wall of silence. Simenon, the creator of Maigret, was an avid boater. He writes about these canal communities and brings them to life with his sparse, insightful prose. They feel so authentic because Simenon is writing what he saw as he passed through these places with his own boat.
The woman, dead in the straw, was part of a yachting party which included her husband, the colonel, his mistress Madame Negretti, a Russian boat captain named Vladimir, and a young man named Willy, who is one of those people who attaches himself to rich people by the warmth of his personality and the delicate nature of his wit.
As the image of the woman emerges, along with the rather unseemly characteristics of her companions, she certainly isn’t who she first appears to be. As the orgies, drinking, and hedonistic lifestyle of herself and her companions come to light, Maigret finds it more and more difficult to feel respect for the victim. She was careless with her person.
Regardless, there is a murderer, and they must be found.
As he investigates, Maigret meets colorful people, such as the woman with the ample bosom who is trying to feed her barge crew while Maigret asks his nonsensical questions. ”She spoke with a singsong intonation almost as strong as a southern accent. But she wasn’t at all bothered. She waited. She seemed to be protecting the two men with the fullness of her brazen flesh.”
Isn’t that great? ”The fullness of her brazen flesh.” I can just see Maigret, flustered, trying to formulate questions while his eyes dip and linger. The embarrassment of seeing the knowing smirk wrinkling the lips of the woman because she knows the power of her female wonder.
The book is full of interesting word choices and fascinating observations.
I also like this description of the carter’s hands: ”But it fell back again weakly, gnarled, calloused, spotted with small blue dots which must have been the vestiges of old tattoos.” The evolution of hands, right? Those hands have done many things. They have experienced various traumas that have changed the topography of the skin.
Hands tell the story of our lives.
There are 85 novels featuring Maigret and numerous short stories, so even though they are each about 150 pages, together they form quite the canon of devotion to the character. I’ve read that, just as Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock, Simenon also tried to dispose of his famous character, but found the hue and cry was too much to withstand and wisely resurrected Maigret. Doyle also caved under the pressure.
Some creations must live forever.
It is always a pleasure to spend some time with Maigret. I also enjoy Simenon’s stand alone novels, which tend to be grittier and more noirish than the Maigret series. One I recently reviewed is The Widow.
Simenon’s are perfect for travelling. I always find it a comfort to stick at least one Simenon book in with the stack of reading companions I choose for each trip. This book is best read with coffee, strawberry jam, and a fluffy croissant.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
July 18, 2023
Charles van Buren
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a traditional mystery at all
April 13, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Kindle Edition review
Publication date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
ASIN: B00DMCPHZ6
This review may contain SPOILERS but the greatest SPOILER of all is the title. The first English title was THE CRIME AT LOCK 14 thereby avoiding the dead giveaway to the criminal's identity. It really does not matter as much as you may suppose as this novel really isn't a mystery in the traditional sense. It is more of a crime novel or maybe a psychological study with the killer's identity obvious very early in the story. Whatever it is, the ending is far too sympathetic to an aging criminal who murdered two people for his own convenience and one for retribution. Note that the Amazon listing labels this book as Inspector Maigret #4 while Goodreads labels it #2.
It has been a very long time since I read Georges Simenon but I do not remember any of the other Inspector Maigret novels being as unsatisfying as this one. One of the few virtues I see in this book is that the quality of Simenon's writing is up to the standards which I remember. Another is that if you have any interest in nautical matters on Europe's inland waterways, there is a lot of detail on that subject.
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a traditional mystery at all
April 13, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Kindle Edition review
Publication date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
ASIN: B00DMCPHZ6
This review may contain SPOILERS but the greatest SPOILER of all is the title. The first English title was THE CRIME AT LOCK 14 thereby avoiding the dead giveaway to the criminal's identity. It really does not matter as much as you may suppose as this novel really isn't a mystery in the traditional sense. It is more of a crime novel or maybe a psychological study with the killer's identity obvious very early in the story. Whatever it is, the ending is far too sympathetic to an aging criminal who murdered two people for his own convenience and one for retribution. Note that the Amazon listing labels this book as Inspector Maigret #4 while Goodreads labels it #2.
It has been a very long time since I read Georges Simenon but I do not remember any of the other Inspector Maigret novels being as unsatisfying as this one. One of the few virtues I see in this book is that the quality of Simenon's writing is up to the standards which I remember. Another is that if you have any interest in nautical matters on Europe's inland waterways, there is a lot of detail on that subject.
April 3, 2024
I found this investigation by Maigret a little sad, like the weather that Simenon describes and the one we know now: grey and rainy.
Maigret himself seems quite melancholy during this investigation. Maybe because he knows the end of it before we do, and he feels like a waste of a life that shouldn't have ended like this.
This is a good point about the descriptions of Simenon: they are always so successful and allow you to "feel" the atmosphere of his novels.
Maigret himself seems quite melancholy during this investigation. Maybe because he knows the end of it before we do, and he feels like a waste of a life that shouldn't have ended like this.
This is a good point about the descriptions of Simenon: they are always so successful and allow you to "feel" the atmosphere of his novels.
Read
July 6, 2019The murder victim is an expensively dressed woman found under some straw in a stable beside a canal - she is wearing jewellery, the reader can only assume that Inspector Maigret has been summoned from Paris to deal with one of those Creme Passionelles, like you find in fancy assortments of chocolates.
And as in all the other Simenon stories I've read so far (A crime in Holland, Tropic Moon, Maigret and the Saturday Caller, The Two-penny bar, Maigret in Court ), this one is also a case of cherchez la femme, if only Maigret knew that himself - his investigations would go much faster.
Luckly in this case all the suspects are travelling on the canal and can only get away at speeds almost approaching three miles an hour, thus allowing our intrepid inspector to hurry after them along towpaths on a borrowed push bike which is tremendous fun (to read about, I try to be open minded about the joys of cycling besides canals in wet April weather in pursuit of potential criminals).
This story includes a Brash blonde from Brussels, that could be the description of a beer, but is perhaps Simenon's ideal woman providing a bourgeois home environment even on a barge, with solid regular meals for the men, regular sex for the husband, and a maternal comforting bosom for the eponymous carter.
The use of police forensics 1930s I found a particular joy, as always the story is atmospheric and deftly told, though I felt already half way through that Simenon was dragging things out a bit, one has to assume that Maigret was having an off day not to have wrapped up the investigetion in under eighty pages. Rich in detail, with a curious sense of the author believing that everybody else is having much more sex than he is (apart from barge carters, but they at least have their horses).
And as in all the other Simenon stories I've read so far (A crime in Holland, Tropic Moon, Maigret and the Saturday Caller, The Two-penny bar, Maigret in Court ), this one is also a case of cherchez la femme, if only Maigret knew that himself - his investigations would go much faster.
Luckly in this case all the suspects are travelling on the canal and can only get away at speeds almost approaching three miles an hour, thus allowing our intrepid inspector to hurry after them along towpaths on a borrowed push bike which is tremendous fun (to read about, I try to be open minded about the joys of cycling besides canals in wet April weather in pursuit of potential criminals).
This story includes a Brash blonde from Brussels, that could be the description of a beer, but is perhaps Simenon's ideal woman providing a bourgeois home environment even on a barge, with solid regular meals for the men, regular sex for the husband, and a maternal comforting bosom for the eponymous carter.
The use of police forensics 1930s I found a particular joy, as always the story is atmospheric and deftly told, though I felt already half way through that Simenon was dragging things out a bit, one has to assume that Maigret was having an off day not to have wrapped up the investigetion in under eighty pages. Rich in detail, with a curious sense of the author believing that everybody else is having much more sex than he is (apart from barge carters, but they at least have their horses).
June 28, 2019
This was my second Maigret novel, and the best part? It was a whodunit. Being an incorrigible mystery lover, I simply can’t resist a good murder mystery.
Be prepared to be transported back in time and place to the canals & locks of Dizy, France in the 1930s. The author’s depiction of that time and place is realistic and helps create the atmosphere.
The body of a “society woman” has been discovered in a stable. She would be identified as the wife of Sir Lampson, who has been travelling in his pleasure yacht with his mysterious companions.
Sir Lampson is very calm – extraordinarily calm, about his wife’s murder. A former colonel in the British Army, he was stationed in India, but a scandal forced him into retirement. The gentleman never had much luck with his marriages – his first wife died in India, his second wife divorced him, and the third one is found murdered.
What’s a good mystery with only one murder? Another death would follow, the victim being Lampson’s another companion.
Maigret would conduct his investigation into the murders with patient and tact. He would slowly piece together the clues and try to uncover old secrets.
The narrative is not fast paced but I still found it engrossing. The ending was not what I expected, but still satisfying. I also liked the diversity and portrayal of the characters in the story.
I would love to explore more Maigret stories, and the best way to explore a series is to start from the beginning and read the books chronologically. That’s how you get to see the evolution of the characters and the plots.
Recommended to readers who love good old-fashioned mysteries! Also, the book won’t require much time to read, and some readers would be able to finish it in one sitting.
Be prepared to be transported back in time and place to the canals & locks of Dizy, France in the 1930s. The author’s depiction of that time and place is realistic and helps create the atmosphere.
The body of a “society woman” has been discovered in a stable. She would be identified as the wife of Sir Lampson, who has been travelling in his pleasure yacht with his mysterious companions.
Sir Lampson is very calm – extraordinarily calm, about his wife’s murder. A former colonel in the British Army, he was stationed in India, but a scandal forced him into retirement. The gentleman never had much luck with his marriages – his first wife died in India, his second wife divorced him, and the third one is found murdered.
What’s a good mystery with only one murder? Another death would follow, the victim being Lampson’s another companion.
Maigret would conduct his investigation into the murders with patient and tact. He would slowly piece together the clues and try to uncover old secrets.
The narrative is not fast paced but I still found it engrossing. The ending was not what I expected, but still satisfying. I also liked the diversity and portrayal of the characters in the story.
I would love to explore more Maigret stories, and the best way to explore a series is to start from the beginning and read the books chronologically. That’s how you get to see the evolution of the characters and the plots.
Recommended to readers who love good old-fashioned mysteries! Also, the book won’t require much time to read, and some readers would be able to finish it in one sitting.
May 4, 2019
Inspector Maigret investigates first one then a second death on the canal.
The slow, but persistent rhythm of barges and locks. Beautiful descriptions of the water-ways of France...
Clues, but where will they lead?
He went out feeling that perhaps he was now holding one end of the thread but also fearing he would drop it.
‘The cap in the stables … The cufflink in the yard … And the YCF badge near the stone bridge …’
Which of these clues would point Maigret toward the murderer?
Fascinating, detailed police work and as a rare bonus - a car chase with the driver ready to race except the Inspector says "Not so fast!"
Enjoy!
The slow, but persistent rhythm of barges and locks. Beautiful descriptions of the water-ways of France...
Clues, but where will they lead?
He went out feeling that perhaps he was now holding one end of the thread but also fearing he would drop it.
‘The cap in the stables … The cufflink in the yard … And the YCF badge near the stone bridge …’
Which of these clues would point Maigret toward the murderer?
Fascinating, detailed police work and as a rare bonus - a car chase with the driver ready to race except the Inspector says "Not so fast!"
Enjoy!
November 3, 2020
I found this much harder than The Two-Penny Bar, which I've just read - to get in to. I'm not sure if Simenon is not quite into his stride - some publishers have marked this as no. 2 but I suspect it is more to do with a weak translation. My copy is part of a Penguin 'Red Classics' issue published in 2006. Here's an example of what can only be POOR quality translation:
'Your lunch is ready. . .'
He did not bother to answer the red-headed girl, for all that she had said that to him as sweetly as possible. He went out feeling that he might be holding the key to the mystery, but at the same time terrified of dropping it.
So yes I understand what is meant here - the girl speaks politely to Maigret - but grief - 'for all that she had said that to him. . .' There aren't obvious mistakes but this sort of continual jerkiness - a sense of being jarred as you try to follow the quick changes in conversation and mixture of what Maigret is thinking along with his abrupt issue of orders to various people around him - something is missing - which I sensed only occasionally in my David Watson copy of The Two-Penny Bar. That book is part of a new publication series in Penguin Classics - 2014. I think Paul Secor has mentioned - the new Inspector Maigret series by Penguin.
Sorry folks to bore you with so many publication details - but a translator can really mess up a book. Nuff said.
So - to the story. When you've read a few Maigrets you start to see the pattern -although The Hanged Man of St. Pholien - I think is a much later work and doesn't really follow these earlier ones. Simenon wrote 75 Maigret books and 28 short stories - featuring Maigret - as the blurb tells you. This one, like 'Two-Penny' splits into two halfs - the first part where Maigret is immersed in a whole world of people - about which he knows very little, in this case - ha - it is the canal system which follows the Marne river across the top of northern France and eventually connects with the Rhône. I used Google Maps to follow all the small towns which grew along the canals. When you look at the map you marvel at the intricate winding coils of the River Marne and see immediately the long straight lines of the canal - which would have allowed water transport for a huge number of industries in the late 18th and 19th centuries. This is one of the aspects of Simenon that I particularly like. He draws a whole realistic picture of the way of life on these canals - the reader like Simenon is plunged into the world of barges and bargees, panamas, tankers, dinghies and the Lock system - allowing the boats to navigate both 'up' and 'down-river'.
From time to time Maigret had to get off his bicycle to pass a barge's horses which, harnessed together, took up the whole width of the towpath, moving one leg after another, in an effort which threw every muscle into relief.
Two horses were being led by a little girl between eight and ten, wearing a red dress and carrying her doll.
The villages, for the most part, were a fair distance from the canal. The result was that the regular ribbon of still water seemed to stretch away in absolute solitude.
A field here and there with men bent over the dark earth. But nearly always woods. And reeds five or six feet high added still further to the impression of calm.
A barge was taking on a load of chalk near a quarry, in a cloud of dust which was whitening her hull and the men working on her.
Simenon writes a pastoral scene but this is clearly undercut by the elements of brutality to both man and beast on which Europe created its Industrial Revolution.
I grew up in a town called Marple where the Macclesfield canal meets the Peak Forest canal and I have spent many hours watching barges and boats of all types move up and down through the massive lock systems. Google tells me - 'there is a spectacular flight of 16 locks at Marple'. So, I was completely drawn in by Simenon's accurate portrayal of the lock system - the lock keeper and the lock keeper's house - the boats queuing to pass through the locks. There is a high-action scene towards the end when Maigret's lead falls into a lock and is crushed against the side of a rising barge -all the sluice gates are open and the water is boiling beneath the rising boat. So many times I have looked down from the walls of the lock - I could see every aspect of the scene - the horror of it - despite our translator.
Other themes emerging - I can see why the Maigret stories are so successful - they're a bit like James Bond movies - hot chicks (prostitutes), rich toffs - with various international identities - the Russian Vladimir, the sultry Gloria - Spanish, the first victim Mary - found in a hay barn with pearls in her ears, a silk dress and buck-skin shoes to indicate her high-class status.
And always there are no criminals - when Maigret finally pieces all the clues together there is only ever a "normal" person who has committed the crime. Maigret's story is never just about the hard facts - what is extraordinary and thus compelling about our inspector is that he manages to reconstruct the whole story behind why the murder has taken place. In this case - the old carter has a long history of penal servitude in the French colonies - I couldn't help but feel strong overtones of Henri Charière's Papillon and also of Jean Valjean - indeed our suspect here is also Jean.
These are magical stories - magic in the sense that although they are clearly constructed in a very real world our hero Maigret is not simply a police detective. In every story he has an extraordinary ability to sympathise and understand his prime suspect.
I should point out I suppose that Papillon was published in 1969 and therefore really has nothing to do with Lock 14, first published as Le Charretier de 'La Providence' in 1931 - BUT - there are such strong tropes of France using its foreign colonies to dispose of the 'undesirable elements' of society and that is clearly the story being told here in Lock 14.
Simenon - a light writer - a fun genre? Careful reading allows you to see how he is dissecting the values of European powers and disassembling the familiar values of society and class.
'Your lunch is ready. . .'
He did not bother to answer the red-headed girl, for all that she had said that to him as sweetly as possible. He went out feeling that he might be holding the key to the mystery, but at the same time terrified of dropping it.
So yes I understand what is meant here - the girl speaks politely to Maigret - but grief - 'for all that she had said that to him. . .' There aren't obvious mistakes but this sort of continual jerkiness - a sense of being jarred as you try to follow the quick changes in conversation and mixture of what Maigret is thinking along with his abrupt issue of orders to various people around him - something is missing - which I sensed only occasionally in my David Watson copy of The Two-Penny Bar. That book is part of a new publication series in Penguin Classics - 2014. I think Paul Secor has mentioned - the new Inspector Maigret series by Penguin.
Sorry folks to bore you with so many publication details - but a translator can really mess up a book. Nuff said.
So - to the story. When you've read a few Maigrets you start to see the pattern -although The Hanged Man of St. Pholien - I think is a much later work and doesn't really follow these earlier ones. Simenon wrote 75 Maigret books and 28 short stories - featuring Maigret - as the blurb tells you. This one, like 'Two-Penny' splits into two halfs - the first part where Maigret is immersed in a whole world of people - about which he knows very little, in this case - ha - it is the canal system which follows the Marne river across the top of northern France and eventually connects with the Rhône. I used Google Maps to follow all the small towns which grew along the canals. When you look at the map you marvel at the intricate winding coils of the River Marne and see immediately the long straight lines of the canal - which would have allowed water transport for a huge number of industries in the late 18th and 19th centuries. This is one of the aspects of Simenon that I particularly like. He draws a whole realistic picture of the way of life on these canals - the reader like Simenon is plunged into the world of barges and bargees, panamas, tankers, dinghies and the Lock system - allowing the boats to navigate both 'up' and 'down-river'.
From time to time Maigret had to get off his bicycle to pass a barge's horses which, harnessed together, took up the whole width of the towpath, moving one leg after another, in an effort which threw every muscle into relief.
Two horses were being led by a little girl between eight and ten, wearing a red dress and carrying her doll.
The villages, for the most part, were a fair distance from the canal. The result was that the regular ribbon of still water seemed to stretch away in absolute solitude.
A field here and there with men bent over the dark earth. But nearly always woods. And reeds five or six feet high added still further to the impression of calm.
A barge was taking on a load of chalk near a quarry, in a cloud of dust which was whitening her hull and the men working on her.
Simenon writes a pastoral scene but this is clearly undercut by the elements of brutality to both man and beast on which Europe created its Industrial Revolution.
I grew up in a town called Marple where the Macclesfield canal meets the Peak Forest canal and I have spent many hours watching barges and boats of all types move up and down through the massive lock systems. Google tells me - 'there is a spectacular flight of 16 locks at Marple'. So, I was completely drawn in by Simenon's accurate portrayal of the lock system - the lock keeper and the lock keeper's house - the boats queuing to pass through the locks. There is a high-action scene towards the end when Maigret's lead falls into a lock and is crushed against the side of a rising barge -all the sluice gates are open and the water is boiling beneath the rising boat. So many times I have looked down from the walls of the lock - I could see every aspect of the scene - the horror of it - despite our translator.
Other themes emerging - I can see why the Maigret stories are so successful - they're a bit like James Bond movies - hot chicks (prostitutes), rich toffs - with various international identities - the Russian Vladimir, the sultry Gloria - Spanish, the first victim Mary - found in a hay barn with pearls in her ears, a silk dress and buck-skin shoes to indicate her high-class status.
And always there are no criminals - when Maigret finally pieces all the clues together there is only ever a "normal" person who has committed the crime. Maigret's story is never just about the hard facts - what is extraordinary and thus compelling about our inspector is that he manages to reconstruct the whole story behind why the murder has taken place. In this case - the old carter has a long history of penal servitude in the French colonies - I couldn't help but feel strong overtones of Henri Charière's Papillon and also of Jean Valjean - indeed our suspect here is also Jean.
These are magical stories - magic in the sense that although they are clearly constructed in a very real world our hero Maigret is not simply a police detective. In every story he has an extraordinary ability to sympathise and understand his prime suspect.
I should point out I suppose that Papillon was published in 1969 and therefore really has nothing to do with Lock 14, first published as Le Charretier de 'La Providence' in 1931 - BUT - there are such strong tropes of France using its foreign colonies to dispose of the 'undesirable elements' of society and that is clearly the story being told here in Lock 14.
Simenon - a light writer - a fun genre? Careful reading allows you to see how he is dissecting the values of European powers and disassembling the familiar values of society and class.
February 13, 2017
This is my first Maigret, and it failed to wow me in the same way that English mysteries do. There is no dramatic murder, the group of suspects who all have equal motives and opportunities, the red herrings thrown all over the place and the final suspenseful chapter when the sleuth tears away the mask from the face of the most unlikely suspect with the panache of a magician producing the proverbial rabbit from the hat. Yes, yes, I know it never happens in real life - but I do not read mysteries to experience reality; I just want to escape for a few hours into my loved realm of imagination.
Which is why the book rated only three stars from me: it is a highly subjective rating.
The story is set on the Marne Canal, where a woman's body is discovered in a stable of a canalside inn in Dizy. It is the wife of an English Lord, Colonel Lampson, travelling on the barge the Southern Cross in the company of his wife, his mistress, his friend Willy Marco and the seaman Vladimir. The colonel's boat is a virtual "den of vice", and the milord is a lecher and a drunkard. Willy also has a dubious past, as do the others on the vessel - every one of them is a potential suspect. As the narrative progresses, Maigret cycles miles and miles back and forth along the canal, digging up one clue after another in true bulldog fashion (even though he's French!) until the picture is pieced together.
As a police procedural, I would call this story excellent. Also, the final denouement is also quite believable and satisfying. Simenon's knowledge of canal life also helps in providing a veneer of veracity.
But I will not be reading another Maigret soon. Give me my English lord done to death in an isolated country house while a veritable criminal conclave is flocking under his roof; also the eccentric detective, the beautiful adventuress, the shady butler, the mysterious foreigner and the multitude of clues and unbelievable coincidences.
Which is why the book rated only three stars from me: it is a highly subjective rating.
The story is set on the Marne Canal, where a woman's body is discovered in a stable of a canalside inn in Dizy. It is the wife of an English Lord, Colonel Lampson, travelling on the barge the Southern Cross in the company of his wife, his mistress, his friend Willy Marco and the seaman Vladimir. The colonel's boat is a virtual "den of vice", and the milord is a lecher and a drunkard. Willy also has a dubious past, as do the others on the vessel - every one of them is a potential suspect. As the narrative progresses, Maigret cycles miles and miles back and forth along the canal, digging up one clue after another in true bulldog fashion (even though he's French!) until the picture is pieced together.
As a police procedural, I would call this story excellent. Also, the final denouement is also quite believable and satisfying. Simenon's knowledge of canal life also helps in providing a veneer of veracity.
But I will not be reading another Maigret soon. Give me my English lord done to death in an isolated country house while a veritable criminal conclave is flocking under his roof; also the eccentric detective, the beautiful adventuress, the shady butler, the mysterious foreigner and the multitude of clues and unbelievable coincidences.
September 21, 2024
Reading this bleak book, set in bleak weather amongst people living bleak lives along what I’m sure is a bleak stretch of canal, I’m reminded that Simenon was born in Belgium. Rain, mud, cold, misery and, of course, murder.
Once I started to read it, with all its wintry canal misery, I realised I’d read it before. That’s what stuck with me, not the workings of the plot which were, to be honest, a bit creaky. Like arthritic joints affected by the cold?
To be fair to Belgium, I should say that it’s set in northern France.
Once I started to read it, with all its wintry canal misery, I realised I’d read it before. That’s what stuck with me, not the workings of the plot which were, to be honest, a bit creaky. Like arthritic joints affected by the cold?
To be fair to Belgium, I should say that it’s set in northern France.
July 14, 2022
A sad tale well-told. The writing is quite descriptive and places you right there at the scene.
Favorite passages:
"Two carters got up, heavy with red wine, eyes shining, and made their way out to the stable adjoining the café, where they slept on straw, next to their horses."
'And Madame Negretti?'
'A dead weight. A beautiful woman who is incapable of existing except on a couch, smoking cigarettes and drinking sweet liqueurs.'
Favorite passages:
"Two carters got up, heavy with red wine, eyes shining, and made their way out to the stable adjoining the café, where they slept on straw, next to their horses."
'And Madame Negretti?'
'A dead weight. A beautiful woman who is incapable of existing except on a couch, smoking cigarettes and drinking sweet liqueurs.'
March 21, 2014
Sir Walter Lampson, a retired English colonel who served in India, and his wife Mary have a very modern marriage, each openly with a lover. But, despite his supposed free-thinking ways, when Mary Lampson turns up dead in a stable, Sir Walter is the top suspect; he remains so when Willy Marco, Sir Walter’s general factotum and Mary’s lover, is found dead a day later.
While this second Maigret novel of Georges Simenon has also been published under the title of Lock 14, my favorite title under which it has been published in translation is Maigret Meets a Milord because that title highlights the subtle class satire evoked therein. I shall never forget the scene between the snobbish and pretentious chief magistrate who, dazzled by Sir Walter’s title and pedigree, makes an utter fool of himself. While Simenon was vehemently apolitical, he painted a comic picture of two aristocrats — one French and one English — coming to an understanding despite “the recent unpleasantness.”
Maigret novels aren’t for fans of non-stop suspense thrillers, nor for readers expecting intricate puzzles. Instead, the persistent Maigret uses psychology and an understanding that criminals are people like anyone else. Fans of Miss Jane Marple or Chief Inspector Morse might want to explore Simenon novels for their next favorite series.
While this second Maigret novel of Georges Simenon has also been published under the title of Lock 14, my favorite title under which it has been published in translation is Maigret Meets a Milord because that title highlights the subtle class satire evoked therein. I shall never forget the scene between the snobbish and pretentious chief magistrate who, dazzled by Sir Walter’s title and pedigree, makes an utter fool of himself. While Simenon was vehemently apolitical, he painted a comic picture of two aristocrats — one French and one English — coming to an understanding despite “the recent unpleasantness.”
Maigret novels aren’t for fans of non-stop suspense thrillers, nor for readers expecting intricate puzzles. Instead, the persistent Maigret uses psychology and an understanding that criminals are people like anyone else. Fans of Miss Jane Marple or Chief Inspector Morse might want to explore Simenon novels for their next favorite series.
September 15, 2021
Murder by the canal. Once again Maigret does a great job of solving the murder. The setting and description I found fascinating. The atmosphere of continuous rain and gloom is palpable.
The characters are once again difficult to like. It was amusing to picture Maigret on a bike riding along the canal in pursuit of answers. Jean the carter is a contradiction a learned doctor now walking horses pulling a barge. His motivation for killing his wife and then Willy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time is hard to fathom.
The death scene in the stable of the barge is well done. The most unbelievable bit is Maigret being able to cycle 40 odd kilometers in a day chasing the Providence barge. The English Lord for me was a caricature.
The characters are once again difficult to like. It was amusing to picture Maigret on a bike riding along the canal in pursuit of answers. Jean the carter is a contradiction a learned doctor now walking horses pulling a barge. His motivation for killing his wife and then Willy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time is hard to fathom.
The death scene in the stable of the barge is well done. The most unbelievable bit is Maigret being able to cycle 40 odd kilometers in a day chasing the Providence barge. The English Lord for me was a caricature.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2019
I'm still not sure where I stand on the Maigret novels. This is the third or fourth one I've read & I quite enjoy them, but I'm not sure it's enough to continue with the series.
Lok 14 starts promisingly, with a murder by a canal & Simenon creates an interesting picture of the place & the people working & living there. However, even for a short novella, there isn't quite enough going on to keep my attention. I still have another Maigret story on my bookshelf, so perhaps when I pick that one up at some point in the future I may be more enthused.
Lok 14 starts promisingly, with a murder by a canal & Simenon creates an interesting picture of the place & the people working & living there. However, even for a short novella, there isn't quite enough going on to keep my attention. I still have another Maigret story on my bookshelf, so perhaps when I pick that one up at some point in the future I may be more enthused.
April 7, 2017
I wondered whether I was reading a police report about a murder when I began this book. The incongruous title of the book also indicated that this was not a whodunit but a whydunit.
In rather pedestrian prose the author seems focused on stagecraft: where was everyone at the time of the murder, and on the minutia in events taking place around a canal lock. This fixation is partially explained by the fact that Simenon was fond of boats, and spent six months in 1928 (around the time this book was written) navigating the rivers and canals of France, and thus had a commanding knowledge into such activities.
The plot is uneven. The murderer is introduced midway into the novel, which consequently veers the action in a new direction. Some characters like the English boater, Sir Walter Lampson, are well drawn, while others, including the murderer, the lock-keeper and the victim are not. It appears that Simenon began with trying to recapture his former life on the canals, then threw in a murder to spice things up and injected his detective Maigret into the story for company, and then, like the proverbial boat on uncharted waters, followed these threads to see how things would pan out, introducing the murderer, new characters, and new situations as he sailed along the plot’s choppy waters. A great deal is spent on analysing the psychology of the murderer and on what led to the crime—Simenon hallmarks.
Simenon wrote seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories on his character Maigret alone, not counting the many other books he wrote under two dozen pseudonyms. He wrote up to 80 pages a day. With such a prodigious output one has to excuse the pedestrian prose—here was a journeyman writer who had become an industry unto himself and had caught the zeitgeist for crime fiction, a classical James Patterson. Why worry about beautiful prose, let’s just worry about the what, the how and the why, and churn them out as fast as hands can write and brains can conjure plot, seems to have been his operating principle.
My one regret, after hearing so much about Maigret, was that I didn’t get to form a lasting impression of him unlike that other famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, or his English counterpart, Sherlock Holmes. There was none of the eccentricity that made those other detectives larger than life; Maigret came across as a dull and dutiful cop doing his unpleasant job of solving murders.
In rather pedestrian prose the author seems focused on stagecraft: where was everyone at the time of the murder, and on the minutia in events taking place around a canal lock. This fixation is partially explained by the fact that Simenon was fond of boats, and spent six months in 1928 (around the time this book was written) navigating the rivers and canals of France, and thus had a commanding knowledge into such activities.
The plot is uneven. The murderer is introduced midway into the novel, which consequently veers the action in a new direction. Some characters like the English boater, Sir Walter Lampson, are well drawn, while others, including the murderer, the lock-keeper and the victim are not. It appears that Simenon began with trying to recapture his former life on the canals, then threw in a murder to spice things up and injected his detective Maigret into the story for company, and then, like the proverbial boat on uncharted waters, followed these threads to see how things would pan out, introducing the murderer, new characters, and new situations as he sailed along the plot’s choppy waters. A great deal is spent on analysing the psychology of the murderer and on what led to the crime—Simenon hallmarks.
Simenon wrote seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories on his character Maigret alone, not counting the many other books he wrote under two dozen pseudonyms. He wrote up to 80 pages a day. With such a prodigious output one has to excuse the pedestrian prose—here was a journeyman writer who had become an industry unto himself and had caught the zeitgeist for crime fiction, a classical James Patterson. Why worry about beautiful prose, let’s just worry about the what, the how and the why, and churn them out as fast as hands can write and brains can conjure plot, seems to have been his operating principle.
My one regret, after hearing so much about Maigret, was that I didn’t get to form a lasting impression of him unlike that other famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, or his English counterpart, Sherlock Holmes. There was none of the eccentricity that made those other detectives larger than life; Maigret came across as a dull and dutiful cop doing his unpleasant job of solving murders.
July 17, 2023
4 Stars. I'm trying to avoid the word 'difficult,' but the story dances here and there; it's disjointed and some of the resolution is presented, rather than developed with you and me following along. Yet it's the best Maigret I've encountered. Brilliant. I don't think it's the translation. Rather it's Simenon's writing style. First, I had to understand the word 'carter.' It defines a person who leads horses pulling a cart of commercial goods like foodstuffs. Back in the 1920s and 30s on the numerous navigable rivers and canals of France, most of the barges were commercial like "La Providence." It employed a carter on the bank to lead horses pulling the barge. Today the barges are mainly motorized pleasure craft. So, a man leading the horses for the shallow-draft boats may be involved. There are other barges on the scene, including "Southern Cross," a pleasure craft. Maigret enters the world of seedy characters and third-class pubs after the body of a well-dressed woman is found in an overnight horse stable. It turns out that Mary Lampson was the wife of an English gentleman on "Southern Cross." Progress is exasperatingly slow. Then Maigret goes to work. (May 2023)
April 19, 2019
I'm a big Maigret and Simenon fan. But I think this one was lost in my Kindle for a while.
I like the ones where he gets out of town. I think this is the second in the series. It goes under several names. It was recently nominated for a monthly read in a group and I was surprised to discover that I was reading it - only under a different title!
I like the ones where he gets out of town. I think this is the second in the series. It goes under several names. It was recently nominated for a monthly read in a group and I was surprised to discover that I was reading it - only under a different title!
November 13, 2023
As far as I've read, there is no bad novel by Mr. Simenon. On the contrary, I'd say that his books remember me Balzac and his Human Comedy. The detective part is a welcome bonus.
PS: I do not like the title of the English edition: Lock 14. It lacks personality...
PS: I do not like the title of the English edition: Lock 14. It lacks personality...
November 15, 2023
George Simenon es un escritor provocador que no se queda en la comodidad y perfección de su oficio, sino que busca desafíos para ir sorteando una vez y otra más, por lo menos así me lo hace sentir en sus libros.
En este segunda caso del inspector Maigret, ubica la acción en uno de los escenarios más tortuosos y difíciles de imaginar, a lo largo de un canal con esclusas para el paso de embarcaciones marítimas, incluso unas que son jaladas por caballos, debido a este flujo, a las orillas se encuentran pequeños lugares para comer, establos para los animales y tienda de diversos.
La historia es violenta, una mujer de mediana edad, con ropas caras y con un dejo de belleza, es encontrada muerta en el establo cerca de una esclusa, el inspector Maigret más sorprendido que nosotros con el lugar y las horribles condiciones qué hay, siempre húmedo, lloviendo, lodo por todos lados, inicia una investigación.
Hay muchos personajes de los cuales hablar, y cada uno aporta su grano de arena para hacernos llegar el retrato de desazón, degradación y dureza que se muestra,
Lo chocante de que un yate ande navegando en estos canales usados casi exclusivamente para transportar mercancías o personas, hace que el inspector centre su investigación en el, el dueño es Sir Lampson un anciano Coronel retirado que prestó servicios en la India y desde que se jubilo parece andar errante sin un rumbo fijo y padeciendo los placeres humanos, y digo padeciendo porque al conocerlo no parece ser un hombre contento con su vida, aún cuando esta pasa entre mujeres, tomando y viajando en su yate.
Conforme Maigret rasca la superficie, van saliendo los gusanos, unos grandotes y malolientes que nos muestran lo que esconde la raza humana debajo del colchón.
El final como siempre, importa más el porqué y no tanto el quien, y Simenon es un maestro es desplegar todas las razones que llevan a un ser humano a quitarle la vida a otro, al conocerlas uno se queda con los ojos abiertos y la mente rodando, sobre lo complejas, funestas y terminantes que a veces pueden ser las relaciones humanas.
En este segunda caso del inspector Maigret, ubica la acción en uno de los escenarios más tortuosos y difíciles de imaginar, a lo largo de un canal con esclusas para el paso de embarcaciones marítimas, incluso unas que son jaladas por caballos, debido a este flujo, a las orillas se encuentran pequeños lugares para comer, establos para los animales y tienda de diversos.
La historia es violenta, una mujer de mediana edad, con ropas caras y con un dejo de belleza, es encontrada muerta en el establo cerca de una esclusa, el inspector Maigret más sorprendido que nosotros con el lugar y las horribles condiciones qué hay, siempre húmedo, lloviendo, lodo por todos lados, inicia una investigación.
Hay muchos personajes de los cuales hablar, y cada uno aporta su grano de arena para hacernos llegar el retrato de desazón, degradación y dureza que se muestra,
Lo chocante de que un yate ande navegando en estos canales usados casi exclusivamente para transportar mercancías o personas, hace que el inspector centre su investigación en el, el dueño es Sir Lampson un anciano Coronel retirado que prestó servicios en la India y desde que se jubilo parece andar errante sin un rumbo fijo y padeciendo los placeres humanos, y digo padeciendo porque al conocerlo no parece ser un hombre contento con su vida, aún cuando esta pasa entre mujeres, tomando y viajando en su yate.
Conforme Maigret rasca la superficie, van saliendo los gusanos, unos grandotes y malolientes que nos muestran lo que esconde la raza humana debajo del colchón.
El final como siempre, importa más el porqué y no tanto el quien, y Simenon es un maestro es desplegar todas las razones que llevan a un ser humano a quitarle la vida a otro, al conocerlas uno se queda con los ojos abiertos y la mente rodando, sobre lo complejas, funestas y terminantes que a veces pueden ser las relaciones humanas.
April 13, 2019
Charles van Buren
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a traditional mystery at all
April 13, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Kindle Edition review
Publication date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
ASIN: B00DMCPHZ6
This review may contain SPOILERS but the greatest SPOILER of all is the title. The first English title was THE CRIME AT LOCK 14 thereby avoiding the dead giveaway. It really does not matter as much as you may suppose as this novel really isn't a mystery in the traditional sense. It is more of a crime novel or maybe a psychological study. Whatever it is, the ending is far too sympathetic to an aging criminal who murdered two people for his own convenience and one for retribution. Note that the Amazon listing labels this book as Inspector Maigret #4 while Goodreads labels it #2.
It has been a very long time since I read Georges Simenon but I do not remember any of the other Inspector Maigret novels being as unsatisfying as this one. One of the few virtues I see in this book is that the quality of Simenon's writing is up to the standards which I remember. Another is that if you have any interest in nautical matters on Europe's inland waterways, there is a lot of detail on that subject.
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a traditional mystery at all
April 13, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Kindle Edition review
Publication date: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
ASIN: B00DMCPHZ6
This review may contain SPOILERS but the greatest SPOILER of all is the title. The first English title was THE CRIME AT LOCK 14 thereby avoiding the dead giveaway. It really does not matter as much as you may suppose as this novel really isn't a mystery in the traditional sense. It is more of a crime novel or maybe a psychological study. Whatever it is, the ending is far too sympathetic to an aging criminal who murdered two people for his own convenience and one for retribution. Note that the Amazon listing labels this book as Inspector Maigret #4 while Goodreads labels it #2.
It has been a very long time since I read Georges Simenon but I do not remember any of the other Inspector Maigret novels being as unsatisfying as this one. One of the few virtues I see in this book is that the quality of Simenon's writing is up to the standards which I remember. Another is that if you have any interest in nautical matters on Europe's inland waterways, there is a lot of detail on that subject.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2021
Inspector Maigret doggedly pursues the mystery of who killed the woman in the stable along the canal who looks like she should be at an elegant party instead.
Somewhat unsatisfying read. The title leads one like a shining light to the killer, but how Maigret gets there is a slow methodical pursuit of the perpetrator through the rain and mud, walking and biking from lock to lock along the towpath with an occasional respite opportunity. Not my favorite of the first 4 Maigret stories I've read. The best part was the setting, life along the canals of France in 1930.
This a short novella could easily be read in one sitting. This was my PB I carried around in my purse to pull out while I waited for take out orders so took much longer!
Somewhat unsatisfying read. The title leads one like a shining light to the killer, but how Maigret gets there is a slow methodical pursuit of the perpetrator through the rain and mud, walking and biking from lock to lock along the towpath with an occasional respite opportunity. Not my favorite of the first 4 Maigret stories I've read. The best part was the setting, life along the canals of France in 1930.
This a short novella could easily be read in one sitting. This was my PB I carried around in my purse to pull out while I waited for take out orders so took much longer!
May 9, 2015
This Inspector Maigret mystery is set on and around a French inland canal around 1930 (about the time this one was written), at a time when a lot of the barges using these inland canals were powered by horses pulling them from towpaths alongside the canal. A woman's dead body is discovered in a stable by two carters (men who worked with the barges) who had been sleeping in the stable that night nearby. How did she get there, and why? Inspector Maigret is called down from Paris to investigate and the story takes off. Another great mystery which helped Georges Simenon consolidate his reputation as the greeat French mystery writer of the mid-20th century.
October 9, 2018
The librarian who checked me out remarked that The Carter of 'La Providence' was "an oldie but goodie." I totally agree.
July 30, 2016
There’s a gentle rhythm to ‘The Carter of La Providence’. It’s not the same kind of gentleness one finds in a Miss Marple novel, as it’s nowhere near as cosy as that. But this murder mystery on the water ways and locks of France comes with its own peaceful rhythm, like water lapping on the edge of a dock at dawn. A murder takes place in a world with a slower pace of life, and even though the crime is brutal, the world just keeps making its own quiet way.
Initially it seems that the discovery of a dead body in a remote lock, where everybody present seems to have an alibi, is the introduction to a locked room mystery. But Simenon doesn’t really follow that path. Instead he gives us one of his ruminations on morality, mortality and the corrosive effect of lies, betrayal and broken love. The taciturn and unemotional Maigret acts as ballast, unflappable at the centre and prompting the other characters to pepper him with disjointed monologues, which are as beautifully revealing as they are artificial.
If there’s a difference between this and the contemporaneous classic British school of crime fiction, it’s a frankness about death and sex. Christie would never treat a corpse as shabbily as Simenon does (or prolong a character’s death to such a painful extent); while the mere thought of an English aristocrat travelling Europe having what’s really a drunken non-stop orgy, would be enough to straighten Hercule Poirot’s moustache.
Initially it seems that the discovery of a dead body in a remote lock, where everybody present seems to have an alibi, is the introduction to a locked room mystery. But Simenon doesn’t really follow that path. Instead he gives us one of his ruminations on morality, mortality and the corrosive effect of lies, betrayal and broken love. The taciturn and unemotional Maigret acts as ballast, unflappable at the centre and prompting the other characters to pepper him with disjointed monologues, which are as beautifully revealing as they are artificial.
If there’s a difference between this and the contemporaneous classic British school of crime fiction, it’s a frankness about death and sex. Christie would never treat a corpse as shabbily as Simenon does (or prolong a character’s death to such a painful extent); while the mere thought of an English aristocrat travelling Europe having what’s really a drunken non-stop orgy, would be enough to straighten Hercule Poirot’s moustache.
May 6, 2021
I read another edition of this entitled Lock 14 some years ago and gave it a four star rating. I'm not sure whether it's the result of a different translation or whether I'm more attuned to Simenon's Maigret novels these days, but my rating went up after this reading, as did my appreciation for the novel.
Simenon's creation of the atmosphere of the locks along the Marne River and his description of the characters is masterful. Once again, the solution of the crime is secondary. It's not what a reader will remember when they finish reading this novel - at least the solution isn't what I will remember.
Simenon's creation of the atmosphere of the locks along the Marne River and his description of the characters is masterful. Once again, the solution of the crime is secondary. It's not what a reader will remember when they finish reading this novel - at least the solution isn't what I will remember.
January 16, 2022
Murder on the Canal
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback (2014) of a new translation* by David Coward from the French language original Le Charretier de la "Providence" (1931)
Maigret investigates a murder on the French canal system and spends a lot of time travelling up and down the towpaths interviewing various boat crews and suspects. The victim is the wife of an English lord who cruises the waterways with various hangers on, but the book title is in reference to the job of the handler who manages the horses which tow otherwise powerless barges along the canal system.
Maigret walking in the rain. This has nothing to do with 'The Carter of La Providence', but the imagery reminded me of the wet and muddy conditions in the book. Gif sourced from Spock Variety Hour on Tumblr.
Whether it was due to the number of unlikeable characters or just the limited locale settings, I wasn't quite as intrigued by The Carter... as I have been by other early Maigrets, but the Chief Inspector still manages to pull off some surprising deductions with rather limited clues.
I've now read several of the early Maigret novellas in the past few weeks and they continue to impress with how different they are not only from each other but also from other "Golden Age of Crime" novels of that interwar era. What is even more impressive is that the first dozen were all published in 1931 as if he wrote one every month. Perhaps it is not that surprising from an author who wrote over 500 books in his lifetime, but it still an eyeopener.
Continuing the confusion for completists, this is Maigret #4 in the Penguin Classics series of new translations (2013-2019) of the Inspector Maigret novels and short stories, but is listed as Maigret #2 in the previous standard Maigret Series Listopia as listed on Goodreads.
Trivia and Links
* Previous English translations have given the title as Lock 14 or Maigret meets a Milord.
The Carter of 'La Providence', under its original French title Le charretier de la providence, was adapted for French television in 1980, as Episode 48 of the long running TV series Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (The Investigations of Commissioner Maigret) (1967-1990) with Jean Richard as Inspector Maigret.
There is an article about the Penguin Classics re-translations of the Inspector Maigret novels at Maigret, the Enduring Appeal of the Parisian Sleuth by Paddy Kehoe, RTE, August 17, 2019.
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback (2014) of a new translation* by David Coward from the French language original Le Charretier de la "Providence" (1931)
Maigret investigates a murder on the French canal system and spends a lot of time travelling up and down the towpaths interviewing various boat crews and suspects. The victim is the wife of an English lord who cruises the waterways with various hangers on, but the book title is in reference to the job of the handler who manages the horses which tow otherwise powerless barges along the canal system.
Maigret walking in the rain. This has nothing to do with 'The Carter of La Providence', but the imagery reminded me of the wet and muddy conditions in the book. Gif sourced from Spock Variety Hour on Tumblr.
Whether it was due to the number of unlikeable characters or just the limited locale settings, I wasn't quite as intrigued by The Carter... as I have been by other early Maigrets, but the Chief Inspector still manages to pull off some surprising deductions with rather limited clues.
I've now read several of the early Maigret novellas in the past few weeks and they continue to impress with how different they are not only from each other but also from other "Golden Age of Crime" novels of that interwar era. What is even more impressive is that the first dozen were all published in 1931 as if he wrote one every month. Perhaps it is not that surprising from an author who wrote over 500 books in his lifetime, but it still an eyeopener.
Continuing the confusion for completists, this is Maigret #4 in the Penguin Classics series of new translations (2013-2019) of the Inspector Maigret novels and short stories, but is listed as Maigret #2 in the previous standard Maigret Series Listopia as listed on Goodreads.
Trivia and Links
* Previous English translations have given the title as Lock 14 or Maigret meets a Milord.
The Carter of 'La Providence', under its original French title Le charretier de la providence, was adapted for French television in 1980, as Episode 48 of the long running TV series Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (The Investigations of Commissioner Maigret) (1967-1990) with Jean Richard as Inspector Maigret.
There is an article about the Penguin Classics re-translations of the Inspector Maigret novels at Maigret, the Enduring Appeal of the Parisian Sleuth by Paddy Kehoe, RTE, August 17, 2019.
June 1, 2016
My first Inspector Maigret and second Simenon. I previously read "The Widow" which also happens to be set near a canal. I thought they were both great. It's a neat trick to clearly evoke places and characters so economically.
September 7, 2018
Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the Flying Squad searches for clues. A woman has been discovered dead aboard a narrow boat. She’s been murdered. This is canal country in northeast France where narrow or canal boats move swiftly, carrying goods or passengers from embankment to embankment.
Hustle is a necessity to maintain one’s place in a line of boats. Captains are expected to use all guile and jealousy at their disposal to guard against another boat that wishes to take his or her place. The canals are crowded, and the boat ahead is in your way in a fashion similar to bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway.
Numerous locks along the canals allow boats to travel without sudden shifts in elevation of the water. Locks have replaced waterfalls. Anyway, because of the constant movement, with the exception of late nights and early mornings, the scene of the crime is moving and any boaters who may have been in the vicinity of the murder are moving as well.
Thus, Maigret’s work is not easy. He has the dark of night on his side because all boats are tied up. He also has the telephone at the local hotel or tavern along the river where he can call the operator of the locks ahead and get their reports of boats. He can call his police station or other authorities along the way for help.
Maigret must learn the canal routes, types of boats, boaters, and navigation in addition to the typical details of the victim and their relations. Not to mention the movement, boating in a narrow body of water is something different than ocean shipping. People make their lives aboard a boat. It’s their home. They like their privacy and, the fact that they can’t survive by staying in one place too long, can be seen by a detective as running away.
So, in this novella (which is fulfilling as a full novel), you have this energy and flux as an undertone to the whole story. Of course, there’s the canal path along which teams of draft horses walk and pull boats (think of the Erie Canal). This is 1931 when teams were still common. However, the tow path becomes a method of quick transportation for the Inspector who commandeers a bicycle to catch his prey.
Georges Simenon was twenty-eight years old when he published this very enjoyable book in 1931. He was a boater himself when he wrote this and several other novels.
Hustle is a necessity to maintain one’s place in a line of boats. Captains are expected to use all guile and jealousy at their disposal to guard against another boat that wishes to take his or her place. The canals are crowded, and the boat ahead is in your way in a fashion similar to bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway.
Numerous locks along the canals allow boats to travel without sudden shifts in elevation of the water. Locks have replaced waterfalls. Anyway, because of the constant movement, with the exception of late nights and early mornings, the scene of the crime is moving and any boaters who may have been in the vicinity of the murder are moving as well.
Thus, Maigret’s work is not easy. He has the dark of night on his side because all boats are tied up. He also has the telephone at the local hotel or tavern along the river where he can call the operator of the locks ahead and get their reports of boats. He can call his police station or other authorities along the way for help.
Maigret must learn the canal routes, types of boats, boaters, and navigation in addition to the typical details of the victim and their relations. Not to mention the movement, boating in a narrow body of water is something different than ocean shipping. People make their lives aboard a boat. It’s their home. They like their privacy and, the fact that they can’t survive by staying in one place too long, can be seen by a detective as running away.
So, in this novella (which is fulfilling as a full novel), you have this energy and flux as an undertone to the whole story. Of course, there’s the canal path along which teams of draft horses walk and pull boats (think of the Erie Canal). This is 1931 when teams were still common. However, the tow path becomes a method of quick transportation for the Inspector who commandeers a bicycle to catch his prey.
Georges Simenon was twenty-eight years old when he published this very enjoyable book in 1931. He was a boater himself when he wrote this and several other novels.
March 30, 2016
What is so wonderful about Simenon is the economy of his writing. This is a short book (152 pages, not the 192 that Goodreads seem to think), but there is plenty of atmosphere, character, psychology and plot. He is particularly good at openings. Here, in three pages, he has established the scene on the rain-soaked Marne canal with Dickensian atmosphere, described the workings of the canal which will be crucial to the story, and introduced the finding of the body which will provide the puzzle for Maigret. It is the oppressive, hard-working, hard-drinking life of the canal that Simenon evokes so powerfully. He himself had a boat on which he explored the canals of France, Belgium and Holland in 1928. This novel was first published in 1931. The poverty and camaraderie of the community of bargees and their wives is very well described.
One of the several English titles this book has gone under was Maigret Meets a Milord, and a leading figure here is a retired English colonel from the Indian Army, Sir Walter Lampson. Initially he is something of a comic caricature, but he grows in depth and sinisterness as the novel progresses. There is a satirical scene at an inquest, where the local magistrate, himself an aspiring aristocrat absurdly proud of the 'de' in his name, is so impressed by the Englishman that he does not feel it necessary to detain him, even though it is his wife who has been murdered and Sir Walter is inevitably under suspicion.
Maigret himself is more active than in many of the novels. Here he cycles 50 kilometres "without once stopping for a beer".
As with many Simenon novels the question of culpability and guilt is ambiguous. The suggestion is that severe psychological damage may lead any of us into committing acts that we would otherwise not contemplate.
Simenon is the crime writers' crime writer, in the hackneyed phrase, admired by almost all of them, and one can see why. Each novel seems to be a concise masterclass in the genre.
One of the several English titles this book has gone under was Maigret Meets a Milord, and a leading figure here is a retired English colonel from the Indian Army, Sir Walter Lampson. Initially he is something of a comic caricature, but he grows in depth and sinisterness as the novel progresses. There is a satirical scene at an inquest, where the local magistrate, himself an aspiring aristocrat absurdly proud of the 'de' in his name, is so impressed by the Englishman that he does not feel it necessary to detain him, even though it is his wife who has been murdered and Sir Walter is inevitably under suspicion.
Maigret himself is more active than in many of the novels. Here he cycles 50 kilometres "without once stopping for a beer".
As with many Simenon novels the question of culpability and guilt is ambiguous. The suggestion is that severe psychological damage may lead any of us into committing acts that we would otherwise not contemplate.
Simenon is the crime writers' crime writer, in the hackneyed phrase, admired by almost all of them, and one can see why. Each novel seems to be a concise masterclass in the genre.
June 11, 2011
It was inevitable that I would finally break down and uy one of the Penguin ebooks of the truly gifted writer Georges Simenon who created one of the 20th century's most memorable detective characters, Maigret. One of Simenon's first Maigret tales is Lock 14 and is reissued in a translation by Robert Baldick. (The French title, "Le Charretier de la 'Providence'" is arguably a better title as it refers to the barge workers central to the story; but it has also been issued in English as "The Crime at Lock 14", "Maigret Meets a Milord" and "The Triumph of Inspector Maigret", each title becoming less and less relevant. But I, too, digress.)
Simenon's stark prose, and dark settings many of us never encounter -- in this case the barge workers along the Marne river in France around 1930 before modern shipping replaced them -- is wonderfully bleak. I think it's raining almost the entire story, with mud everywhere. In the opening pages, a women, otherwise tastefully dressed and ready for cocktails, is found half buried in a stable under some hay; two barge workers, into their cups before retiring, slept beside her all night without discovering the corpse. As Maigret attempts to unravel the mystery, barges -- including perhaps a murderer -- are passing the scene daily as they progress through the lock system of the river.
It's not a long read but it is compelling and every page digs us deeper into this rough and shabby world dangerously balanced on the edge of disaster that could strike at a moment's notice. It isn't until a second body turns up that Maigret begins to turn the clues into a vision of what might have happened and how events long past have come to haunt the present. Highly recommended.
Simenon's stark prose, and dark settings many of us never encounter -- in this case the barge workers along the Marne river in France around 1930 before modern shipping replaced them -- is wonderfully bleak. I think it's raining almost the entire story, with mud everywhere. In the opening pages, a women, otherwise tastefully dressed and ready for cocktails, is found half buried in a stable under some hay; two barge workers, into their cups before retiring, slept beside her all night without discovering the corpse. As Maigret attempts to unravel the mystery, barges -- including perhaps a murderer -- are passing the scene daily as they progress through the lock system of the river.
It's not a long read but it is compelling and every page digs us deeper into this rough and shabby world dangerously balanced on the edge of disaster that could strike at a moment's notice. It isn't until a second body turns up that Maigret begins to turn the clues into a vision of what might have happened and how events long past have come to haunt the present. Highly recommended.
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