Maigret's Boyhood Friend

Rating:
Summary: George Simenon is in a League of his Own.
Review: There is a definite reason why a French language novel written in 1968 by a Belgian crime writer was translated into English and reissued in 2004. Simply, "Maigret's Boyhood Friend" is a tour de force.

Georges Simenon is the master of the psychological police procedural. His hero, Jules Maigret is the rumpled middle aged Chief of the Paris Criminal Investigation Section. He solves his crimes because he has deep understanding human nature and the psychic abberations that can lead to murder. The pleasure of a good Maigret story is to watch him through the use of skillful interrogations and crime scene investigation solve complex mysteries.

In this story, Jules Maigret's boyhood friend whom he has not seen in 20 years comes to ask for help. The former class clown, is now the kept man of a kept woman. She is murdered and he is afraid that he will be arrested. The suspects include the Maigret's boyhood friend and the dead woman's four lovers. To solve this mystery, Maigret must win a psychological battle with an imposing building concierge who is refusing to tell him what she knows. Classic Maigret material.