I had wanted to read anything by Georges Simenon for a while when I found this book. Simenon crams a lot of plot and character into a short space. Nevertheless his style is terse and pithy. The characters are not the "hard-boiled" type we associate with other crime writer of the era. Rather, Maigret has to deal with his people's problems and personalities which are inseparable from their talents. Even some of the bad guys have redeemable personalities. The story is a little hard to follow and can slow down your progress through this short book, particularly if you get distracted by your unfamiliarity with Paris geography. But I enjoyed it and I need to sample more of Inspector Maigret.

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