Signed, Picpus (Inspector Maigret)

Signed Picpus was first published in 1944. An earlier English translation than this one was published under the title Maigret and the Fortuneteller.The plot opens with a clerk finding a note on a blotter in a cafe predicting the murder of a clairvoyant. Mademoiselle Jeanne the clairvoyant, an attractive woman, is indeed killed, right on schedule, and Maigret's investigation begins.Maigret is suspicious of the clerk, but then he's suspicious of everyone even vaguely associated with the clairvoyant -- the muddled old man found locked in her kitchen, the old man's unpleasant wife and daughter, a suspicious fellow who often stayed at an inn on the Seine where Jeanne sometimes stayed, a mysterious man in a green convertible spotted near Jeanne's place.Maigret has his men tailing persons of interest all over Paris, and he himself interrogates people again and again. It's a pleasure to watch him in a fever of cerebral activity, getting no sleep, smoking his pipe to stay awake, fueled solely by quick cafe meals and quantities of alcohol. A hasty breakfast of sausage and white wine is typical!Like most Maigret mysteries, this one is remarkable for atmosphere. But rather than portraying one locale, Simenon shows Maigret everywhere absorbing sights and smells -- the ill-lit stairway of a Paris apartment building, a sunny inn on the Seine, a young woman's bedroom redolent of face powder and soapy water...Events surrounding the crime turn out to be incredibly complex. But Maigret has a wonderful way of tricking people into revealing things. His unmethodical methods are a delight, as are the surprising twists, quirky humor, and subtle ironies in this book.

Little things happen in the beginning, so pay attentionEarly on, it's like wading through ankle deep water. I thought "must pay attention, clues here somewhere". Scenery changes, more characters appear. Now I'm wading through knee deep water. Where is all this going? Following Maigret back and forth. Even he is puzzled. Now I'm wading through pudding. Finally some clues start to make sense, but not for long. Maigret finally figured it all out. The first crime connects to the second crime, etc. etc. It sort of ends, not with a bang as in "we got them" but with a shrug...oh, well.

Loved the settings and characters, all quite strange. A somewhat unsatisfying denouement, however. But definitely worth reading. GS was great!

Very convoluted. There is no reason for Maigret to have figured it out. The guilty for this crime don’t get punished. He could have told her in the last pages enough to change her mind. All very dark, needlessly so.

It took me awhile to familiarize myself with the author’s writing style; however, once I adjusted, I found the story very enjoyable. I am thinking I will read another Maigret book.

A lovely who-done-it, at the speed of the time it was written. So some may find it too slow, I like it.

If you like Maigret, you'll be happy. If not, it's a pity.

All the Maigret books are excellent and a good read. This one came quickly and in great shape.

Maybe it's the book, which is very good, but maybe it's also the translater, who is less wooden than some.

Been reading and enjoying Maigret books for 60 years. The story here is as good as usual. What I found that made it hard to read was the interpretation and language used. Parts of it come across as though one was eavesdropping on local gossips discussing a subject( whisper whisper Maigret did this or that). Other parts read as though it comprised of stage directions rather than a story.There is no consistent pattern in the way the story was put across.Wish it had been a Jean Stewart translation, always consistent.

This is the perfect Maigret novel in which Simenon seems to be fine tuned and at his best. The main characters in the mystery are very odd indeed and appear to be unrelated one to another, yet each has a rich psychological life. There's a suicidal accountant who comes upon a message warning of murder. There's a hopelessly dim old man who has somehow been locked in the room next to the murder and is kept prisoner by his wife. There's a clairvoyant who has more money than she earns. You get the idea. And Maigret's grumpy character is in full flower, and very funny. In addition, there are constantly surprising beautiful sentences which are not needed for the crime plot but bring smells and flavours and sounds and ideas into the innocent world of pre-war Paris. This is one of the oddest things about it. The book was first published in 1944, and presumably written during the war, but it is as blessedly free of Nazis and collaborators as the world of P G Wodehouse.

Super story, good translation and a great murder mystery. As ever with Simenon. I'll be buying more in this Penguin series.

The usual immaculate structure ,pace,and characterisation -one of the best books in the series so far and indicative of how good Simenon really was as a writer