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Inspector Maigret

 

 

Jules Joseph Anthelme Maigret, created by writer Georges Simenon, was born in 1884, as the son of an estate manager, in the Paray-le-Fresil Castle, near the town of Moulins in the Allier in the Auvergne region, where he also grew up. After finishing school in Moulins, about 200km south of Paris, Maigret began to study medicine at the Sorbonne in Paris' Latin Quarter, Paris’ well-known student neighbourhood.

 

For financial reasons, Maigret could not finish his study. Encouraged by a roommate of the little inn, where he lived, he chose a career in the police force. A career in the police promised the social security that he was seeking.

 

After spending some time in district police stations, Jules Maigret was led to the Parisian headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department at 36 Quai des Orfevres. Working there had always been the dream of the young policeman. After several years as an inspector, he was promoted to superintendent and later to head of the homicide unit. Maigret refused a further promotion to head of the Criminal Investigation Department. Maigret would not just sit at a desk every day and confer with the heads of various departments. In the course of his career at the Paris judicial police, Maigret was also invited by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) to spend a few weeks in the U.S.

 

He met the future Madame Maigret at a birthday party that he was attending with a friend. After their marriage, they moved to a house on 132 Boulevard Richard-Lenoir in Paris. Maigret and his wife, whom he always addresses as Madame Maigret, behave very respectfully to one another. They lead a quiet life and they go to the movies together every Friday. Furthermore, they meet another couple once a month. They frequently spend their weekends in a guesthouse located on the Seine just outside Paris. The food is good and so is the fishing. Years later, the couple bought a house in Meung-sur-Loire, a small town on the north bank of the Loire, about 20 kilometers west of Orleans. This cottage is later to be the main residence of the couple after Maigret retires. Since Jules Maigret does not have a driver's license, the couple-owned car is always driven by Madame Maigret.

 

Madame Maigret is a good cook, always providing her husband a meal cooked with much love. She also always has a pot of coffee ready for him - if he returns home in the early hours of the morning, the coffee pot is on the hot plate. The couple has no children, except for a stillborn daughter over whom Madame Maigret has never quite gotten over.

 

Although Madame Maigret rarely asks questions regarding her husband’s police work, she does sometime become involved in his cases. This is also reflected in the fact that she asks the right questions at the right time or provides food for thought to help Maigret make progress in a case or even solve it. In one case it's even gone so far as for her to take over her husband’s assignments.

 

Inspector Maigret is always dressed in a suit, coat and hat. He drinks too much coffee and likes beer. He solves his cases mostly without any signs of stress, but often sits in a bar, drinking a beer and smoking a pipe. While he sits seemingly unconcerned and enjoys his beer, he thinks about the evidence he obtained so far. The inspector is a keen observer and a good listener who has a great deal of insight into human nature.

 

In addition to his apartment, his office at the Quai des Orfevres is a recurrent place from where he can look at the Seine. Maigret has mostly to do with criminals who commit murder forced by circumstances or emotional state. He only has to deal with professional criminals rarely. Maigret is also always trying to understand the perpetrator’s motive, which sometimes leads to him allowing the culprit to escape.

 

Compared to Pater Brown, who wants to bring the offender closer to God and only has limited interest in criminal justice, Maigret can sometimes even let an offender escape if he has understood his motive and it is not a capital offense.

 

In sharp contrast to Sherlock Holmes, Maigret first attempts to get acquainted with the crime scene before proceeding with the investigation. He visits people and leads conversations. He sits in a nearby bar, listening and drinking a beer or a Calvados and smokes his pipe. He watches people and analyses their behaviour. He develops a feel for local traditions as well as for the people living there.

 

Inspector Maigret is a man with a great deal of patience. In the course of this investigation, he returns to the crime scene often. There, he engages in conversations with various people, conversations which may seem useless to an outsider. These discussions are important for Maigret because he ay observe and listen, and it often happens that an apparent triviality in such a conversation leads him to the solution. The longer the case continues and the closer its imminent enlightenment, the more Inspector Jules Maigret’s mood changes. He becomes grumpy and unapproachable and is not satisfied until the investigations are completed.

 

There are many adaptations of the stories about the famous Parisian commissioner, with Jean Gabin and Jean Richard probably the most famous interpreters of the role of Inspector Maigret.

 

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