Le Charretier de la Providence
by Georges Simenon (1931)
trans. David Coward (as ‘The Carter of La Providence’)
audiobook read by Gareth Armstrong (Bolinda, 2015)
While Maigret’s second outing works as a period piece, affording a dismal though not unkind picture of those who navigated boats through the French canals and locks in the early 1930s, his brooding personality plays little role in shaping the (non-event) investigation.
Pietr the Latvian
by Georges Simenon (A. Fayard, 1931); audiobook read by Gareth Armstrong (Bolinda, 2015); trans. David Bellos.
Inspector Maigret makes his presence felt throughout this first novel, establishing the physically imposing, somewhat misanthropic character who would feature in seventy-five books. His investigation, however, rattles along like an out-of-control train, the reader trapped inside and kept largely in the dark.