Maigret's First Case (Inspector Maigret)

Description:

The story of how it all began: an investigation into a dynastic family pulls a young Maigret away from his desk and into a web of fame, money, and corruption.

At age twenty-six, Maigret is a secretary at the Saint-Georges district police station: a lowly, mostly deskbound job. Late one night, a young musician comes in. He had been walking home, he says, when he saw a woman at the window of a mansion, shouting for help. Then a gunshot rang out.

The mansion belongs to the Gendreau-Balthazar family, Maigret realizes, whose coffee brand is a household name. Such a high-profile case could be his big break--except this family has powerful friends, among them Maigret's boss. Can the ambitious young officer conduct an honest investigation? Or must he choose between his idealism and his hopes of promotion? A taut and unpredictable thriller, Maigret's First Case is also a finely shaded psychological portrait of the fledgling genius who will--one day--become France's most famous detective.

Brief description: Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liège, Belgium. An intrepid traveler with a profound interest in people, Simenon strove on and off the page to understand--and not to judge--the human condition in all its shades. His books include the Inspector Maigret series and a richly varied body of wider work united by its evocative power, its economy of means, and its penetrating psychological insight. He is among the most widely read writers in the global canon.