Georges Simenon's classic mystery character is Chief Inspector Maigret. It's hard reviewing a "classic". Is it classic because it is timeless? (These stories are fairly timeless.) Or is it a classic because the author was in the right time and place in the fiction - in this case - mystery timeline?
I read two books featuring Maigret. The first was Maigret Goes Home. He goes back to solve a murder in the village where he grew up. Most of the locals do not remember him. But he remembers the murder victim - the Countess of the estate that he grew up on. Maigret's main detecting style is to ask a lot of questions and wait to see what shakes loose. And while he is waiting he watches village life slowly pass by.
The other book was Maigret and the Hotel Majestic. Set in a Paris luxury hotel, the setting is bustling and frantic. The guests come in, the help makes them comfortable and the process starts again. A bit of a bump is caused when one of those guests is found murdered in the kitchen staff's area. Why would this elegant lady be down there? Who was she really? And who knew her before she was so rich and important? It is a story of youthful loves, dreams and abandoning it all to reach more practical goals. Maigret is well known in this local, but finds himself digging into the pasts of guests and staff alike. Again, he asks all the questions and sees what rises to the surface.
I liked the second better book much better than the first. Once I finally figured out Maigret's style, I think I finally understood the author's pacing. Simenon has tried to make his books a representation of France as he had known it. The timeless cafes, coffees and cigarettes. He succeeded so well - that the Hotel book contains no clue as to when it was written - during the occupation of Paris in World War II. But that does not interfere with Maigret. Perhaps that is why he is a classic. A good read.
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