“The Little Man from Archangel” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Wayward wife brings community prejudice to surface
At a time today when some Americans have been stirred into hatred of their “foreign” compatriots thanks to disparagement from on high ...
“When I Was Old” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Leafing through – some of – life’s back pages
In 1970 at age 66, Belgian author Georges Simenon published “Quand j’etais vieux” (When I Was Old), an autobiographical work. His preface ...
"The Mahé Circle" by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Slow burn and then another treasure is unearthed
In one of Georges Simenon’s books of personal recollection, “When I Was Old”, he tells how two or three times in some ...
"The Blue Room" by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
It seemed like a good bit of fun at the time…
Simenon’s skills as a novelist are on full display here, particularly the continual switching from the past to the present as he ...
"The Hand" by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Inside a disintegrating mind
In 1968 Georges Simenon, born in French-speaking Liege, Belgium, in 1903, was 65 years old, retirement age for ordinary folk but not ...
“The Krull House” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Distrust thy neighbour
Rather like Simenon’s “Mr Hire’s Engagement”, which we just read and wrote about, “The Krull House” follows the theme of outsiders who ...
“The Man from London” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
Can a decent man ignore his nagging conscience?
Simenon, that great studier of peculiar human behaviour, examines the moral dilemma of a plain man who suddenly finds a fortune in ...
“Mr Hire’s Engagement” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
When the mob is baying for blood
In its slim 152 pages, this early Simenon from 1933 manages to cover mob violence sparked by the insidious influence of unfounded ...
“The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Books)
An upright life derailed
Yesterday, Kees Popinga was a respectable mundane Dutchman, 40 years old, father of two teenagers after 16 years of marriage and second ...
"A Maigret Christmas and Other Stories” by Georges Simenon (published by Penguin Classics)
Un joyeux Noel
How many Maigret/mystery enthusiasts avidly bought all 75 of Penguin’s one-a-month reissues that began in 2013 and ended in January 2020? Probably ...
