FFB: Maigret Sets a Trap

Belgian-French author Georges Simenon (1903–1989) was certainly one of the most prolific writers of all time. I must admit that every time I read of Simenon's literary output, I am both amazed and envious. He published around 200 novels, 150 novellas, several nonfiction books and articles and an almost countless number of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. It's been said he churned out 60 to 80 pages a day (which in English would be equivalent to roughly 15,000 to 20,000 words).

Although his standalone psychological suspense novels are probably his best and most-highly reviewed works, it's his series featuring Inspector Jules Maigret, commissioner of the Paris Brigade Criminelle, for which Simenon is best remembered. Maigret is a heavy drinking, pipe smoking stocky man of average height whose laid-back sleuthing style relies more on pure intuition than traditional police leg work. The character has been the subject of several TV adaptations, such as the ITV series titled simply, Maigret, starring Michael Gambon, following an earlier film version (1958) with Jean Gabin in the title role, which won the Edgar Award and was nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards. The character has been portrayed by French, British, Irish, Austrian, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, and Russian actors.

In Maigret Sets a Trap (Maigret tend un piège) from 1955, it's the middle of a hot and steamy summer in Paris, and the Parisians are terrified. A Jack the Ripper-style serial killer has evaded police for five months, stabbing and murdering a woman each month, all with similar physical descriptions and all killed in the same Montmarte neighborhood. Dubbed "The Montmartre Maniac" by the newspapers, the psychopathic villain seems to be smugly taunting the police, who have no clues. Under pressure from the public, Maigret takes the advice of a famous psychologist and uses the journalists' obsession with the case to devise an elaborate trap to play on the killer's ego and trick him into making a mistake.

Maigret dangles policewomen with the same physical characteristics as the previous victims as bait in the Montmarte target zone, including young rookie Marthe Jusserand, a newly-minted member of Maigret's team. The plan seems to have failed at first, but during the villain's escape, Jusserand manages to get the suspect's description and grab one of his buttons and a piece of cloth from his jacket. The man is tracked and arrested, case seemingly closed—until another victim is killed while the suspect is still in jail. Maigret has a slight crisis of conscience, wondering if they've nabbed an innocent man, but then he sets a second trap and reveals the killer in a dramatic twist.

A bit of interesting trivia: Inspector Maigret was allegedly based on a real-life French policeman named Charles Chevenier. For a bit of added fun, the Simenon tribute site Trussel.com has photos and a Google map of the murder locations mentioned in Maigret Sets a Trap.