Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard [Paperback]

Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams." Harry Warren/Al Dubin.

Georges Simenon was prolific in both his literary and public life. Simenon turned out hundreds of novels and his obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he found he could only write twelve novels in the year they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). These hard stories typically involved a person's descent from normality (or a life that seems to bear the appearance of normality) into nihilism and despair. NYRB has reissued a number of hard stories and Penguin has republished quite a few Maigret stories. Georges Simenon's "Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard" is one of Penguin's latest Inspector Maigret reissuance. The other new releases are Inspector Cadaver (Inspector Maigret Mysteries) and My Friend Maigret (Inspector Maigret Mysteries).

When Louis Thouret is found murdered just off the Boulevard Saint-Martin Inspector Maigret is called to investigate. Maigret thinks of this as a run-of-the mill stabbing that occurs but when Mrs. Thouret is asked to identify the body she seems shocked by the fact that he is not wearing the same clothes (including some shockingly racy brown shoes his wife would never have permitted him to wear) he had on when he left for work that morning but his wallet contained far more money than he normally carries. These oddities pique Maigret's interest. What brought Thouret to this Boulevard? What caused him to wear a second set of clothes and those fancy brown shoes? How did Thouret manage to acquire the hefty wad of cash found in his wallet? As the plot develops Maigret seeks to unravel the mystery of Thouret's murder and also the explanation behind what appears to be Thouret's double-life as it played itself out on and around the streets and alleys near the Boulevard Saint-Martin.

The tone and style of Simeon's hard stories differ significantly from his Maigret mysteries. In "Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard", however, we have a character, Thouret, whose dual life seems to mark him as someone who could have been the subject of a hard story. Here, it seems as if Maigret appears just when the hard story ends, and his investigation takes a look back in time to discover how this life ended the way it did. I enjoyed this connection between the two types of Simenon stories. I always enjoy the Maigret mysteries but this walk along a boulevard of broken dreams was, for me, one of Simenon's best Maigret efforts.

L. Fleisig

Of the several Maigret police procedurals I've read, this is probably the least of them, and yet it is still better than most recent mysteries. The novel begins with great promise, a puzzling murder--then seems to dwindle out near the end.

A stabbed corpse is found in a Paris cul de sac off a busy boulevard. This is not extraordinary--murders happen in the city. The strange thing is that the victim is not wearing the black shoes he had on when he left wife and home that morning, nor is his necktie the same. Even stranger, he has "gone to work" three years at a place of business which was closed. And yet he has plenty of money.

Chief Inspector Maigret tracks it all down, piece by piece, and the reader is treated to wonderful characters and the byways of Paris. That is all excellent, as well as the dialogue and the economy of language to make a point. The book is well worth reading for all these things.

But the ending just wasn't up to the rest of the novel, alas. For a book to merit top rating, it needs to have a satisfying ending, and I didn't find it so here.

Simenon is said to have described his stories as sketches, somewhat like preliminary drawings by an artist. This is not to say that the Maigret mysteries are unfinished, but they are perhaps lacking in decorative elements. This particular story - Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard - has elements, particularly the rather abrupt ending, that make it seem even less polished. However, the thesis is intriguing and this is classic Maigret with all of his daily routines and his personal foibles.

Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard reminds me of an early Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Man with the Twisted Lip, a tale of an apparently successful businessman, Mr. Neville St. Clair, that secretly poses as a beggar as he (unbeknownst to his family) has lost his job. Due to unfortunate circumstances the beggar is accused of murdering St. Clair (himself, that is), but refuses to reveal his true identify and thereby shame his family.

In Maigret's case, however, the secret identity of Louis Thouret only becomes known as Maigret begins investigating Thouret's actual murder.

Thouret's routine, that of spending his days sitting on a bench, provided no explanation for his substantial income. Maigret slowly peels back each layer of this puzzle, revealing a double life, duplicity, blackmail, theft, and murder. The introduction of the culprit, a stranger, a new character, in the final chapter is disconcerting, even though such events do occur in actual investigations. The astute reader, undoubtedly, would have considered this possibility or something similar as other leads proved untenable.

Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard was published in France in 1953, but was not available in English until 1975.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  4.6 out of 5 stars