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73-645: Georges Joseph Christian Simenon ( French: [ʒɔʁʒ simnɔ̃] ; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer, most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret . One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels (including 192 under his own name), 21 volumes of memoirs and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies. Apart from his detective fiction, he achieved critical acclaim for his literary novels which he called romans durs (hard novels). Among his literary admirers were Max Jacob , François Mauriac and André Gide . Gide wrote, “I consider Simenon

146-476: A commissaire ("commissioner") of the Paris Brigade Criminelle ( Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres ), created by writer Georges Simenon . The character's full name is Jules Amédée François Maigret . Between 1931 and 1972, 75 novels and 28 short stories about Maigret were published, starting with Pietr-le-Letton (" The Strange Case of Peter

219-427: A tobacco pipe . He is described as tall and heavy, with broad shoulders, large hands, a thick face, thick hair, thick eyebrows and bright eyes of a "greenish gray" colour. He has strongly growing facial hair and therefore shaves every morning. In his investigations, Maigret's method is to put himself in another person's place in order to discover why the crime was committed, rather than just finding out whodunit . He

292-571: A Japanese-born equivalent to the French Maigret, reinvented in a modern Japanese setting, in Tōkyō . Megure Keishi , a 25-episode TV series aired from 14 April to 29 May 1978 on Asahi TV . Megure's wife was played by Sato Tomomi , who earned the praises of Simenon himself: "The best 'Madame Maigret' in my opinion, even including the French ones, was the 'Madame Maigret' on Japanese television. She

365-586: A contract with the prestigious publisher Gallimard for his new work. Maigret , written in June 1933, was intended to be the last of the series and ended with the detective in retirement. Simenon called the Maigret novels "semi-literary" and he wanted to establish himself as a serious writer. He stated his aim was to win the Nobel Prize for Literature by 1947. Simenon's notable novels of the 1930s, written after

438-461: A divorce. Denyse gave birth to Jean Dennis Chrétien Simenon (known as John) on 29 September. Régine had moved to California with Marc and Boule, and Simenon, Denyse and the baby soon moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea where they would be close to Marc. The divorce was granted in Nevada on 21 June 1950. Simenon married Denyse the following day. The newly-weds moved to Lakeville, Connecticut and also rented

511-484: A former post office building in the rue des Maraîchers. Using his father's heart condition as a pretext, Simenon quit school in June 1918, without taking his end-of-year exams. After brief periods working in a patisserie and a bookshop, Simenon found himself unemployed when the war ended in November 1918. He witnessed scenes of violent retribution against residents of Liège accused of collaboration which stayed with him for

584-679: A great novelist, perhaps the greatest, and the most genuine novelist that we have had in contemporary French literature.” Born and raised in Liège , Belgium, Simenon lived for extended periods in France (1922–1945), the United States (1946–1955) and finally Switzerland (1957–1989). Much of his work is semi-autobiographical, inspired by his childhood and youth in Liège, extensive travels in Europe and

657-597: A group consisting of his four loyal police colleagues (Sgt./Inspector Lucas, Janvier, Lapointe, and Torrence ). Other prominent characters include police surgeon Dr. Paul, Judge Coméliau, the Examining Magistrate who alternates between being a help and a hindrance to Maigret, and Dr. Pardon, Maigret's friend and physician. Maigret doesn't like his first name being used and prefers to be simply called "Maigret". Even Maigret's wife largely restricts herself to calling him "Maigret", only calling him by his first name

730-432: A handful of times. In most novels, Maigret is aged around 45 to 55 years. There are contradictory clues to his year of birth. In Monsieur Gallet, décédé , which takes place in 1930, Maigret is described as 45, indicating 1885 as his year of birth. In another novel La première enquete de Maigret , where the investigation takes place in 1913, the author states that Maigret is 26, which establish his year of birth as 1887. In

803-486: A house in nearby Salmon Creek for Régine, Marc and Boule. In the five years he lived in Connecticut, Simenon wrote 13 Maigret novels and 14 romans durs including the major works La mort de Belle ( Belle ) (1952) and L'horloger d'Everton ( The Watchmaker of Everton ) (1954). Jules Maigret Jules Maigret ( French: [ʒyl mɛɡʁɛ] ), or simply Maigret , is a fictional French police detective ,

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876-693: A man's life." Soon after, he began his military service. After a brief posting with the allied occupation forces in Germany, he was transferred to the cavalry barracks in Liège and was soon given permission to resume writing for the Gazette. When Simenon's military service ended in December 1922, he resigned from the Gazette and moved to Paris to establish a base for himself and his future wife Régine, whom he preferred to call "Tigy". Now in Paris, Simenon found

949-419: A menial job with a far-right political group headed by the writer Binet-Valmer . In March 1923, he returned to Liège to marry Régine. Although neither Simenon or Régine were religious, they were married in a Catholic church to please Simenon's mother, who was devout. The newly-weds moved to Paris where Régine tried to establish herself as a painter while Simenon resumed work for Binet-Valmer and sent articles to

1022-654: A night of excess with Le Caque . Simenon was one of the last people to see Kleine alive and was deeply affected by his suicide, later referring to the incident in Les trois crimes de mes amis and Le pendu de St Pholien ( The Hanged Man of Saint Pholien ) (1931). Through Le Caque, Simenon met a young painter, Régine Renchon, and in early 1921 they began a relationship. They soon became engaged and agreed that Simenon should complete his year of compulsory military service before they married. Simenon's father died In November 1921, an event which Simenon called, "the most important day in

1095-538: A private investigation agency. The series featured guest appearances by other characters from the Maigret canon, including inspectors Lucas ( Pierre Mondy ), and Janvier ( Louis Arbessier ). In the Soviet Union, Russian theatre actor Boris Tenin portrayed Maigret in several TV films in the 1970s. In Soviet cinema, apart from Boris Tenin, Maigret was portrayed by cinema actors Vladimir Samoilov and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan . In Japan, Kinya Aikawa played Megure ,

1168-600: A series of articles highly critical of colonialism. He drew on his African experience in novels such as Le Coup de Lune ( Tropic Moon ) (1933) and 45 à l'ombre ( Aboard the Aquitaine ) (1936). In 1933, the Simenons visited Germany and Eastern Europe, and Simenon secured an interview with Leon Trotsky in exile in Turkey for Paris-Soir . On his return, he announced that he would write no more Maigret novels, and signed

1241-401: A series of three-quarter-hour dramatizations of the novels on BBC Radio 4 beginning in 1976, with Michael Gough playing Georges Simenon. The format of each play would begin with Maigret and Simenon sitting together discussing some fact or event which would then lead into Maigret's recounting a particular case, with Simenon asking questions or commenting from time to time. After Denham's death,

1314-524: A total of 17 pen names while writing 358 novels and short stories. In the summer of 1925, the Simenons took a holiday in Normandy where they met Henriette Liberge, the 18-year-old daughter of a fisherman. Régine offered her a job as their housekeeper in Paris and the young woman accepted. Simenon began calling her "Boule", and she was to become his lover and part of the Simenon household under that name for

1387-571: Is described as a person with extraordinary humanity . List of Maigret novels with date of French-language publication as well as the Penguin reissue dates and titles. List of Maigret short stories by date of first publication in French. Following the Penguin reissue of the 75 novels, actor Gareth Armstrong started recording each for Audible . recordings took one day per book. By September 2015 he had recorded 25 of them. He has since completed all 75 recordings. A production called Maigret and

1460-581: Is said to have disliked Richard's Maigret because he would not take his hat off when entering a room. Later, Bruno Cremer played the character in 54 adaptations between 1991 and 2005. Romney Brent played Maigret in the Studio One episode "Stan the Killer", whilst Luis van Rooten starred in an episode of Suspense entitled "The Old Lady of Bayeux". Louis Arbessier appeared in a televised film of Liberty Bar . The Italian actor Gino Cervi played

1533-491: The Gazette , but these were never published. In June 1919, Simenon had been introduced into a group of young artists and bohemians which called itself " Le Caque " (herring barrel). The group met at night to drink, discuss art and philosophy, and experiment with drugs such as morphine and cocaine. In early 1922 one of the members of the group, Joseph Kleine, hanged himself at the doors of the St Pholien church of Liège after

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1606-583: The Revue Sincère of Brussels for which he was the Paris correspondent. He also wrote short stories for popular magazines, but sales were sporadic. In the summer of 1923, Simenon was engaged by the Marquis de Tracy as his private secretary, which obliged him to spend nine months of the year at the aristocrat's various rural properties. Régine soon moved to a village near the Marquis's principal estate at Paray-le-Frésil , near Moulins . While working for

1679-579: The 1932 novel L'affaire Saint-Fiacre , Maigret is 42, which would mean he was born in 1890, assuming that Maigret is contemporary to the year the novel was written. Maigret began working as a police officer in Paris in his twenties. At the age of 30 he entered the Homicide Squad and later, nearing his forties, became chief inspector of the squad. It is mentioned that Maigret retired when in his mid-fifties, which gave him over 30 years of experience in

1752-541: The Americas, the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, Australia and India. They then moved back to Paris, in the fashionable Neuilly district, where they lived a life of luxury which Simenon later described as "too sumptuous". They moved home to La Rochelle in 1938 because, as Simenon later explained, "I was sickened by the life I was leading." In April the following year, Simenon's first child, Marc, was born. Simenon

1825-527: The Collège Saint-Louis, a Jesuit high school. After a year, he switched to Collège St Servais, where he studied for three years. He excelled at French, but his marks in other subjects declined. He read widely in the Russian, French and English classics, frequently played truant, and turned to petty theft in order to buy pastries and other war time luxuries. In 1917, the Simenon family moved to

1898-552: The Crossroads and Maigret in Montmartre . In 2021, the Simenon estate signed a co-production and licensing deal with Playground Entertainment and Red Arrow Studios to produce a new English-language series , with the option extending to the entire Maigret canon. In September 2024, the cast and crew for the series was announced, led by Ben Wainwright as Maigret. Maurice Denham played Chief Inspector Maigret in

1971-799: The Dead Girl . In 2024, director Pascal Bonitzer announced he would write and possibly direct an adaptation of Maigret in Society . Filming is slated to begin in the 7th arrondissement of Paris in February 2025. Denis Podalydès is set to play Maigret in the film. There have been numerous incarnations of Maigret on the small screen all around the world. He has been portrayed by French, British, Irish, Austrian, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, and Russian actors. A French version, Les Enquêtes du Commissaire Maigret , starred Jean Richard in 88 episodes between 1967 and 1990; however, Simenon himself

2044-757: The Ecole Guardienne run by the Sisters of Notre Dame. Then, between 1908 and 1914, he attended the Institut Saint-André, run by the Christian Brothers. In 1911, the Simenons moved to 53 rue de la Loi, where they took in lodgers, many of them students from Eastern Europe, Jews and political refugees. This gave the young Simenon an introduction to the wider world, which was later reflected his novels, notably Pedigree (published 1948) and Le Locataire ( The Lodger ) (1938). Following

2117-625: The French Commissariat-Géneral aux Questions Juives notified Simenon that they suspected him of being Jewish and gave him one month to prove he wasn't. Simenon was able to obtain the necessary certificates of birth and baptism through his mother, and soon after the Simenons moved to a more remote village in the Vendée. In 1944, Régine discovered Simenon's long-term affair with Boule, and Simenon also confessed to his numerous other affairs. The couple agreed to remain married for

2190-614: The Interior on suspicion of collaboration. After three months of investigations, he was cleared of all charges. Simenon went to Paris in May 1945 while Marc and Boule returned to their house near La Rochelle with Régine. Simenon, possibly out of concern that the French Communist Party might take over France, had decided to move to America. The rest of the family soon joined him in Paris and Simenon used his contacts to secure

2263-859: The Lady by Philip Mackie toured in England and Scotland in 1965, before playing at the Strand Theatre in London in October 1965. Madame Maigret was played by Charmian Eyre, and Maigret was Rupert Davies . The cinematic potential of Maigret was realized quickly: the first screen Maigret was Pierre Renoir in 1932's Night at the Crossroads , directed by his brother Jean Renoir ; the same year brought The Yellow Dog with Abel Tarride , and Harry Baur played him in 1933's A Man's Neck , directed by Julien Duvivier . In 1950, Charles Laughton played

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2336-529: The Lett ") and concluding with Maigret et Monsieur Charles (" Maigret and Monsieur Charles "). With the creation of Maigret, Simenon renewed the detective novel genre. The novels and stories have been translated into more than 50 languages. The Maigret stories have also received numerous film, television and radio adaptations. Penguin Books published new translations of 75 books in the series over as many months;

2409-507: The Maigret story L'Affaire Nahour into the comic strip Maigret in 1969. Between 1992 and 1997 the series Maigret inspired five albums, drawn by Philippe Wurm  [ fr ] and Frank Brichau  [ fr ] . On page 6 of Maigret's Revolver it states his name as Jules-Joseph Anthelme Maigret Binet-Valmer Born as the son of a physician, Binet-Valmer initially also studied medicine, but later turned his attention towards writing novels and reviews. Although Binet-Valmer

2482-440: The Marquis' employ in 1924 and returned to Paris where he and Régine found an apartment in the fashionable Place des Vosges . Simenon was writing and selling short stories at the rate of 80 typed pages a day, and now turned his hand to pulp novels. His first, Le roman d'une dactylo (The Story of a Typist) was quickly sold and two more appeared in 1924 under the pseudonyms "Jean du Perry" and "Georges Simm". From 1921 to 1934 he used

2555-406: The Marquis, Simenon began submitting stories to Le Matin whose literary editor was Colette . Colette advised him to make his work "less literary" which Simenon took to mean that he should use simple descriptions and a limited stock of common words. Simenon followed her advice and within a year became one of the paper's regular contributors. Now with a steady income from his writing, Simenon left

2628-469: The Paris mobile crime brigade was a fully developed character. The novel was serialised in Fayard's magazine Ric et Rac later that year, and was the first fictional work to appear under Simenon's real name. The first Maigret novels were launched in book form by Fayard in February 1931 at the fancy dress bal anthropométrique which had a police and criminals theme. The launching party was widely reported and

2701-529: The Simenon home in January 1946, and several weeks later told Régine that she was his new lover. Simenon fictionalised his affair with Denyse in his novels Trois chambres à Manhattan ( Three Bedrooms in Manhattan ) (1947) and Lettre à mon juge ( Act of Passion ) (1947). The Simenons and Denyse drove to Florida in the summer of 1946, and then visited Cuba in order to arrange for permanent residence visas for

2774-680: The Tavern by the Seine," and "Maigret in Montmartre") were serialized in daily one-minute installments on WNCN , a classical music station in New York City. They were read every night at midnight in a radio program called the " H.B.J. Midnight Murder Mystery Minute." Jacques Blondeau adapted the novels into the comic series Maigret (1950–53), published in Samedi Soir and Paris Journal . Rumeu (drawings) and Camille Dulac (script) adapted

2847-834: The United States. It was in Florida that Simenon wrote Lettre à mon juge , widely considered one of his major works. In June 1947, the Simenons moved to Arizona. Boule joined them there in 1948, after Régine dropped her objections to Simenon's desire to have a wife and two lovers in his household. Simenon continued to write quickly, working from 6 am to 9 am daily, and averaging 4,500 words a day. While in Arizona, Simenon wrote two Maigret novels and several romans durs (hard novels) including La neige était sale ( The Snow Was Dirty ) (1948), one of his major works. The 1951 American paperback edition of this novel sold 2 million copies. Denyse became pregnant in early 1949, and Simenon asked Régine for

2920-419: The Vendée. Later in 1940, a local doctor examined Simenon and diagnosed a serious heart illness, advising him to cut back on his favourite pastimes of pipe smoking, excessive eating, alcohol, and sex. Simenon began working on his memoirs Je me souviens (I remember), intended as a letter to his son from a father who would soon be dead. A second medical opinion was later sought, and Simenon was assured his heart

2993-495: The character on Italian television from 1964 up to 1972 in Le inchieste del commissario Maigret ; Simenon himself considered Cervi's interpretation of the character to be "very good." This series resulted in 14 novels and 2 short stories being adapted. In the late 1960s, Simenon's son Marc created a television spinoff entitled Les Dossiers de l'Agence O . Pierre Tornade starred as Maigret's former sidekick Torrence, now working for

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3066-483: The family moved to 3 rue Pasteur (now 25 rue Georges Simenon) in Liège's Outremeuse  [ fr ] neighbourhood. Simenon's brother Christian was born in September 1906 and eventually became their mother's favourite child, which Simenon resented. The young Simenon, however, idolised his father and later claimed to have partly modelled Maigret's temperament on him. At the age of three, Simenon learned to read at

3139-437: The final paragraph Binet-Valmer lets him elope to Naples together with his boyfriend Reginald Green. As a journalist, Binet-Valmer wrote for magazines such as Mercure de France , Le Matin , and Revue de Paris . He also indirectly caused Proust to change the title of his magnum opus , In Search of Lost Time : Initially it was called Les Intermittences du cœur , but when Proust learned that Binet-Valmer had published

3212-602: The first English-language Maigret in The Man on the Eiffel Tower , adapted from the 1931 novel A Battle of Nerves . The film co-starred Franchot Tone , Burgess Meredith , and Wilfrid Hyde-White . Back in France, Michel Simon played the character in Full House . Albert Préjean portrayed Maigret in three films; Picpus , Cecile Is Dead , and Majestic Hotel Cellars . A decade later, Jean Gabin played

3285-653: The highest accolades: his versions were dubbed into French and played across the Channel ; and Simenon himself said of Davies "At last, I have found the perfect Maigret!" The theme tune to the TV series, "Midnight in Montmartre", was composed by Ron Grainer . Kees Brusse and Jan Teulings also portrayed the character in separate Dutch adaptations produced around the same time. Granada Television produced an adaptation of Maigret for ITV in 1992 and 1993 in which Michael Gambon starred as Maigret; there were 12 adaptations in

3358-409: The inspiration or that Maigret was influenced by Simenon's own father. Biographers Thomas Narcejac and Fenton Bresler both see Simenon himself in his creation. Maigret is described as a large, broad-shouldered man; he is gruff but patient and fair. Recurring characters in the series include Maigret's wife Louise (usually referred to simply as Madame Maigret) and in particular "The Faithful Four",

3431-609: The next 39 years. Simenon began an affair with Josephine Baker in 1926 or 1927, and became her part-time assistant and editor of Josephine Baker's Magazine . However, the Simenons were tiring of their hectic life in Paris, and in April 1928 they set out with Boule for a six-month tour of the rivers and canals of France in a small boat, the Ginette . Without the distractions provided by Josephine Baker, Simenon's tally of published popular novels increased from 11 in 1927 to 44 in 1928. In

3504-409: The novel Le Cœur en désordre (1912), the name was changed to À la recherche du temps perdu , with the former title making an appearance as a subtitle in the volume Sodome et Gomorrhe (1921/22). However, Proust later acknowledged in a letter to Jacques Boulenger, editor of L'Opinion , that "the whole press (except Binet-Valmer) deserted" him "about Sodome et Gomorrhe ". Novelist Georges Simenon

3577-465: The novels received positive reviews. Simenon wrote 19 Maigret novels by the end of 1933, and the series eventually sold 500 million copies. In April 1932, the Simenons and Boule moved to La Rochelle in south-west France. Soon after, they left for Africa where Simenon visited his brother, who was a colonial administrator in the Belgian Congo. Simenon also visited other African colonies and wrote

3650-575: The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Liège was occupied by the German army. Henriette took in German officers as lodgers, much to Désiré's disapproval. Simenon later said that the war years provided some of the happiest times of his life. They were also memorable for a child because "my father cheated, my mother cheated, everyone cheated." In October 1914, Simenon began his studies at

3723-468: The part in three other films; Maigret Sets a Trap , Maigret et l'Affaire Saint-Fiacre , and Maigret voit rouge . Maurice Manson appeared in Maigret dirige l'enquête (1956), whilst Heinz Rühmann played the lead in a 1966 European international co-production Enter Inspector Maigret . Gerard Depardieu starred as Maigret in a 2022 French film, entitled Maigret , adapted from Maigret and

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3796-499: The police. He was from the village of Saint-Fiacre in the Allier Department, where his father Evariste Maigret was the bailiff for the local landowner; see Simenon's novel Maigret's Failure ( Un échec de Maigret ), about a school bully and contemporary, "Fatty" Ferdinand Fumal from the same village. Maigret wears a thick black overcoat , a bowler hat (which he later swaps out for a fedora ) and frequently smokes

3869-440: The project was begun in November 2013 by translators David Bellos , Anthea Bell , and Ros Schwartz . The character of Maigret was invented by Simenon while drinking in a cafe and imagining a Parisian policeman: "a large powerfully built gentleman...a pipe, a bowler hat , a thick overcoat." Maigret was reputed to be based on Marcel Guillaume, an actual French detective although Simenon himself variously claimed not to remember

3942-541: The required travel documents for America. Régine, however, refused to travel to America with Marc unless Boule stayed behind in France. Simenon reluctantly agreed to Régine's demand. The Simenons arrived in New York in October 1945 and soon moved to Canada, where they set up home at Ste-Marguerite du Lac Masson , north of Montreal. In November, Simenon met Denyse Ouimet, a 25-year-old French-Canadian, with whom he started an affair and hired as his secretary. Denyse moved into

4015-534: The rest of his life. He described these scenes in Pedigree and Les trois crimes de mes amis (My Friends' Three Crimes) (1938). In January 1919, the 15-year-old Simenon took a job as a junior reporter at the Gazette de Liège , a right-wing Catholic newspaper edited by Joseph Demarteau. Within a few months he was promoted to crime reporting, signing his articles "Georges Sim". By April he was given his own opinion and gossip column which he signed "Monsieur Le Coq." He

4088-516: The sake of their child, but to give each other their sexual freedom. In November 1944, following the German retreat, Simenon, Marc and Boule moved to a hotel in the resort town of Les Sables d'Olonne , while Régine returned to their house near La Rochelle which had now been evacuated by the Germans. In January 1945, Simenon was placed under house arrest by the police and the French Forces of

4161-521: The series was continued in 2003 with Nicholas Le Prevost playing a gruffer, more earthy Maigret and Julian Barnes playing Simenon. In the interim, Bernard Hepton starred in a 1986 Saturday Night Theatre adaptation of Maigret's Special Murder , whilst Barry Foster played the detective in 1998's Maigret's Christmas for the Afternoon Play . In 1990-1991, abridgments of some of the novels (including "Madame Maigret's Case," "Maigret and

4234-518: The spring of 1929, the Simenons and Boule set off for a tour of northern France, Belgium and Holland in a larger, custom-built boat, the Ostrogoth . Simenon had begun contributing detective stories to a new magazine called Détective and continued to publish popular novels, mainly with the publishers Fayard. During his northern tour, Simenon wrote three popular novels featuring a police inspector named Maigret, but only one, Train de nuit (Night Train)

4307-476: The temporary retirement of Maigret, include Le testament Donadieu ( The Shadow Falls ) (1937), L'homme qui regardait passer les trains ( The Man who Watched the Trains Go By ) (1938) and Le bourgmestre de Furnes ( The Burgomaster of Furnes ) (1939). André Gide and François Mauriac were among Simenon's greatest literary admirers at the time. In 1935, the Simenons undertook a world tour which included

4380-503: The two series. An earlier version, Maigret (1988) on ITV cast Richard Harris in the lead role. In 2004, Sergio Castellitto played Maigret in two Italian TV movies: La trappola ("The Trap") and L'ombra cinese ("The Chinese Shadow"). Rowan Atkinson played Maigret in four television films made by ITV from 2016 to 2017. The first two episodes were adapted from Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret's Dead Man . Two further episodes were broadcast in 2017, adapted from Maigret at

4453-407: The war years are La veuve Couderc ( The Widow Couderc ) (1942), Le fuite de M. Monde (Monsieur Monde Vanishes ) (published 1945), and Pedigree (published 1948) . Simenon also conducted correspondence, most notably with André Gide. Gide considered La veuve Couderc superior to Camus' The Stranger which was published around the same time and has a similar main character and themes. During

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4526-488: The war, Simenon sold the film rights to five of his novels to Continental Films , which was funded by the German government and banned the participation of Jews. The Continental production of Simenon's Les inconnus dans la maison ( Strangers in the House ) had exaggerated anti-Semitic themes which are not in the novel. Resistance underground newspapers began attacking Continental Films and anyone who took their money. In 1942,

4599-403: The world, wartime experiences, troubled marriages, and numerous love affairs. Critics such as John Banville have praised Simenon's novels for their psychological insights and vivid evocation of time and place. Among his most notable works are The Saint-Fiacre Affair (1932), Monsieur Hire's Engagement (1933), Act of Passion (1947), The Snow was Dirty (1948) and The Cat (1967). Simenon

4672-599: Was accepted by Fayard. Simenon began working on the latter novel (or possibly its successor Pietr-le-Letton (Pietr the Latvian) ) in September 1929 when the Ostrogoth was undergoing repairs in the Dutch city of Delfzijl , and the city is now celebrated as the birthplace of Simenon's most famous character. On his return to Paris in April 1930, Simenon completed Pietr-le-Letton, the first novel in which commissioner Maigret of

4745-555: Was also assigned interviews with leading international figures such as Hirohito, Crown Prince of Japan, and French war hero Marshal Foch. In 1920-21 he enrolled in a course on forensic science at the University of Liège in order to improve his knowledge of the latest police methods. In May 1920, Simenon began publishing short fiction in the Gazette . In September he completed his first novel, Au Pont des Arches which he self-published in 1921. He wrote two other novels while working at

4818-661: Was an assistant to Binet-Valmer for a few months in late 1922 and used that encounter for episodes in two of his novels ( Les Noces de Poitiers and Le Passage de la ligne ). From 1929, he rallyed publicly to Action Française, of which he was previously close, he joined the Camelots of the King, entered the Committee of the Association Marius Platteau (French Action Combators), accepts Maxime Real del Sarte

4891-447: Was born at 26 Rue Léopold (Liège) (now number 24) to Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. Désiré Simenon worked in an accounting office at an insurance company and had married Henriette in April 1902. Simenon was either born at 11.30 pm on Thursday 12 February 1903 (according to the birth certificate), or just after midnight on Friday 13th (the date possibly being falsified on the certificate due to superstition). The Simenon family

4964-411: Was damning—he wrote that it was the stupidest book he had ever read ( le livre le plus imbécile que j'aie jamais lu ). Other critics, such as Edmond Jaloux , had a far more favorable attitude towards the book. The ending of Lucien was very unusual for the time, because instead of having Lucien commit suicide (then considered more or less the standard ending for a novel with a homosexual protagonist), in

5037-402: Was exactly right". The title role in the 1960s British Maigret TV series was played by the actor Rupert Davies , who made his debut on 31 October 1960. Davies took over the part after Basil Sydney , who appeared as Maigret in the original transmitted pilot, proved unavailable owing to ill-health. Davies went on to star in 52 adaptations for BBC TV in that decade. His portrayal won two of

5110-522: Was in a café in La Rochelle when France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. In May 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, and La Rochelle became the reception centre for Belgian refugees. The Belgian government appointed Simenon Commissioner for Refugees, and he organised the reception, accommodation, and food and health needs for some 55,000 war refugees before the armistice of 22 June. By August, all Belgian refugees had been repatriated and Simenon resumed civilian life in his new home at Fontenay-le-Compte in

5183-430: Was not homosexual himself, several of his novels, particularly his most famous one, Lucien , deal with homosexual themes and characters. Lucien was by far Binet-Valmer's most successful book in France, getting released in no fewer than 22 printings between its first edition in 1910 and 1919. It also caused a minor scandal because of its—for the time—risqué discussion of homosexuality. Marcel Proust 's opinion of Lucien

5256-482: Was of Walloon and Flemish ancestry, settling in the Belgian Limburg in the seventeenth century. His mother's family was of Flemish, Dutch and German descent. One of his mother's most notorious ancestors was Gabriel Brühl , a criminal who preyed on Limburg from the 1720s until he was hanged in 1743. Later, Simenon would use Brühl as one of his many pen names. In April 1905, two years after Simenon's birth,

5329-430: Was sound. Simenon returned to writing Maigret stories and novels, completing two in 1940 and three in 1941. He also wrote longer novels such as Pedigree, a fictionalised reworking of Je me souviens . As a popular, non-Jewish author who avoided war themes and anti-German sentiments, Simenon had few problems in having his works published at a time of censorship and paper restrictions. Among his major works written during

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