Maigret at the Crossroads

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This is the first Maigret book I've read, and I'll be reading others. It's blessedly short and to-the-point, and written in punchy, spare prose that's almost reminiscent of Hemingway in places (though occasionally clumsily translated). "She laughed for, in spite of everything, Maigret was disturbed by the subtle eroticism which she managed to inject into the atmosphere, especially when she came up to him to light a cigarette." You can see a direct line from here to the French New Wave cinema.

The actual plot is slight. An honorable man is implicated in a murder. Who would have been interested in framing him? A series of well-placed, honestly described clues get us about two thirds of the way through, and then the whole thing unfortunately collapses in a Pythonesque mess. Enjoyable.