My Friend Maigret by Georges Simenon

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Maigret looked at the Seine, outside, through the curtain of rain, and thought of the Mediterranean sun

Maigret is going about his work in rainy Paris with his usual pipe and quiet determination – followed closely by Inspector Pyke from Scotland Yard, who has come to study the famous detective’s methods. Then a call from a Mediterranean island sends the two men off to the Côte d’Azur, where they must investigate a strange death amid the eccentric inhabitants of an isolated community.

Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels, and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories has made him a household name in Europe.

Translated by Shaun Whiteside