Georges Simenon- "Madame Maigret's Own Case"
'Steuvels had been brought to Maigret's office, amicably, and the usual grilling had begun. He had sat in the green plush armchair facing the window, which overlooked the Seine. That evening it was pouring, and throughout the ten or twelve hours the interrogation had lasted, they had heard the rain beating against the windowpanes and the gurgling of water in the gutter. The bookbinder wore glasses with thick lenses and steel rims. His abundant, rather long hair was shaggy, and his tie was crooked.
He was a cultured man, however, who had read a lot. He remained calm and deliberate, though his delicate, ruddy skin flushed easily.
"How do you explain the fact that human teeth have been found in your furnace?"
"I don't explain it."
This is from page eleven, in which we first meet the Frans Steuvels, the bookbinder from a lower middle class area of central Paris. The novel was first published in France in 1950, under the title: "Lámie de Mme Maigret". It starts with Mme Maigret putting the lunch meal on the stove to cook slowly. She then goes out to visit her dentist. While she is sitting in the park waiting for her appointment, the woman on the bench beside her, who is in a white hat & hand made shoes, suddenly leaves to go to a man she sees in the street, and asks Mme Maigret to look after the little boy who is with her. She is away for well over an hour. So when she returns in a taxi to collect the boy, Mme Maigret has missed her dental appointment & Mr Maigret's lunch is ruined. ... This ties in to the continuing case of the two human teeth, which Detective Lapointe found in the furnace in the basement of Steuvel, the bookbinder. There was also a heavy suitcase, which he had to leave, and which had disappeared when the police next visited. Steuvels is in custody, but denies knowing anything about either the teeth or the suitcase.
As often happens in Maigret novels of this period, the actual murderer is introduced late, as is the motive for the murder. In this novel, the identity of the victim is also introduced late. Slightly earlier in the story is the disappearance of the Italian Countess Panetti, who becomes a victim of the same murderer. Most of the main characters who are introduced early: Steuvels, his shady brother, the lady in the white hat, the portly man seen with her, the private detective Alfonsi, and the lawyer Liotard, are all involved in various things not above board, which keeps them in a certain silence, although none are actually involved by choice in the mystery of the two murders themselves. Steuvels wife, Fernande is almost alone amongst the main charaters in not having broken the law.
The story also holds the usual number of false leads, as one would expect. For example: Who the Countess actually is. Whether the mysterious young boy has actually been kidnapped.
Frans Steuvels:
The son of an alcoholic prostitute in Flanders. He is put in the care of his uncle who places him in an orphanage. There he is cruelly treated, but learns a useful l trade, bookbinding. He moves to Paris, and over the years develops a repution as one of the best, so that by middle age he is doing work for many of the embassies. Frans is frugal, even miserly. He prefers to live in the same small shop with basement residence, despite his good income. His main pleasure is in his work. His wife, a former prostitute, is very tolerant of his stingey nature, for he has other good qualities. He is otherwise of a tolerant good nature, and is very well read, possessing an extensive library in his home. He occupies his weeks in prison by rereading Proust. The scam he is involved in is a consequence of his childhood poverty. Even though he has a substantial money in the bank, he has a permanent fear of poverty and finds it difficult to to resist any offered easy money.
Alfred Moss:
Steuvels' brother, who was also in the orphanage. He was a circus clown, until he he was injured. Then he became a confidence trickster, but by middle age, he is also well known in his trade as his brother is, but the nature of his profession in leaves hime on hard times. Thus the scam for which he needs his brother help.
Maitre Liotard:
A small character study which is of interest. He is a young ambitious lawyer, whose talent in his field is also mixed with a need for self promotion in the press. Impatient to succeed in a case with high publicity, his ambition leads him to break the law to help matters along.
The Detectives & Associates:
In the 1930s Maigret worked mostly on his own. By 1950, he is surrounded by subordinants, whom Maigret feels may just slow him down. The more prominant are "old" Lucas*, who is very experienced & organises the crime room; "young" Lapointe, who is bold & ambitious; Mr Dossin, the Examining Magistrate, a very cautious & careful interrogator.
[* Lucas, minus the old, I first encountered in the 1933 novel: "Maigret Mystified".]
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The English version I read was translated by "Person Unnamed" and published in 1991 by Harvest Books of San Diego, California. It is the same translation which was first published in 1959 by Doubleday, and is © The Estate of Georges Simenon. But I think it is only fair that the Translator be named. Without Her or Him I could not have read it!
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