Georges Simenon- "Maigret And The Man On The Bench"
'Afterward, Maigret had no difficulty in recalling the date, October 29, because it happened also to be his sister-in-law's birthday. He even remembered the day, a Monday, since, as everyone at Quai des Orfèvres knows, murder is rarely committed on a monday. And furthermore, as it happened, this case, unlike any other that year, had a flavour of winter about it.' --- This is how this 1952 novel begins. [translated by Eileen Ellenbrogen; published by Harcourt Brace.]
A man's body is found in a small lane, which leads off from the Boulevarde Saint-Martin, between a jeweler's shop with a big clock & an artificial flower shop with 'only one window, grimy and thick with dust'. He has been stabbed in the back. He had a look of bewildement on his face, as if his death had come as a complete surpise. The money in his wallet was untouched. His appearance in a three piece suit was quite normal, apart from the brown shoes.
The actual murderer, the thug from Marseilles named Marco, is not introduced until the last chapter. His accomplice is Mariette Gibon, who, has been introduced much earlier, is twenty years older & his lover. She rents rooms, mostly to street prostitutes, in the Rue d'Angoulême. Louis Thouret rents a room there, initially so he has somewhere to change his black shoes to brown, and to change his conservative tie for a bright one. Later he also meets his mistress there.
As Mariette cleans Louis' room once a week, she discovers the money foolishly hidden on top of the wardrobe. She steals the money, while Marco murders Louis, to conceal the theft.
However, the main essence of the novel is a discussion of the murdered man and his family: a study of the discontented!
The Thouret Family.
Louis Thouret:
A man in his forties, who has just lost his job he has had since a teenager. He cannot tell his wife, and continues to go each weekday, as if to work. He sits around on a park bench, and meets eventually with the Clown, a petty thief. With Mr Louis' gift for planning & the Clown's deftness with his fingers, they take up robbing. He is generous to old workmates, his daughter, her boyfriend, and to the mistress he soon has.
His real rebellion is mainly confined to wearing brown shoes & loud ties; out of sight of his wife! He is a naturally timid man who goes to great lengths to avoid fights with people, especially his wife.
Madame Thouret:
His wife is a large solid woman of similiar age. She is domineering, and very determined; one who must be obeyed! She married Louis as she can control him, but also despises his weakness. At her insistence, they move to the suburbs, to live close by her sisters, in a new house which is poorly built. 'She went up the stairs, which creaked at every step, not because they were old, but because they were constructed of flimsy planks of wood. It was obvious that the house and everything in it had been cheaply built. Doubtless it would not survive to be old.' [Page 14]. Her main horror at seeing the corpse of her husband is the brown shoes and the bright red tie. He would never wear them, she insists, so the murderer must have put them on him.
Monique Thouret:
Their daughter looks a younger version of her mother, except her youth softens the strong jaw and the large bones, so that she is not unattractive. But she has that determined domineering nature. She learns that her father now has money, and obtains it from him, with a view to leaving with her boyfirend, Jorisse for South America. She hates her mother for her tyranny. She despises her father for his weakness. In the end she is hard & unrepetent.
Monique told Jorisse she was pregant. Maigret thought not, and the amedical examination confirmed she was not. She tells Jorisse when they are interviewed together that she thought she was. But she admits to Maigret that is was only for a few days that she did.
She tells Jorisse he is an idiot, and dumps him. During her interview with Maigret, she has no doubt realised that her relationship was fated to turn into her parents. Not that the Detective Inspector mentions it; rather than have to think through matter during questioning, and especially inthe long wait before she is questioned, allows her time to assess herself and her life.
Postscript - Maigret & The Socratic Method.
On page 154, during Maigret's interview of Jorisse, the young man begins:
' "It really is true that I was on my way to see you."
"What for?"
"Because I was sick of running away."
"Why did you run away?"
"So as not to get myself arrested."
"Why should anyone have wanted to arrest you?"
"You know very well why."
"No, I don't."
"Because I am Monique's friend." '
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