Maigret à New York (1947)

Maigret in New York (other English-language titles include Maigret in New York's Underworld and Inspector Maigret in New York's Underworld; French: Maigret à New York) is a detective novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, featuring his character inspector Jules Maigret. The novel was written between February 27 and March 6, 1946, in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, Quebec, Canada. The novel was published in serial form in the newspaper L'Aurore, between 25 June 1946 and 7 August 1946, and in book form in July 1947 by Presses de la Cité.

Synopsis

Maigret somewhat impulsively leaves retirement to assist a French-born law student who fears for his father's life. Arriving in New York City, however, his client immediately vanishes upon docking. Acting in a private capacity, Maigret now has two mysteries to solve. Fortunately he has the assistance of a jocular FBI agent with a professional, albeit tangential interest in the matter, and an alcoholic private investigator in delving into the city's immigrant past. And Maigret with his methods proves not to be as much a fish-out-of-water as he may seem.

Translations

The book has been translated and published under different titles: in 1955 as Maigret in New York and as Maigret in New York's Underworld , in 1956 as Inspector Maigret in New York's Underworld, all translated by Adrienne Foulke; in 2016 as Maigret in New York translated by Linda Coverdale.

The first German translation by Bernhard Jolles was published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in 1956.

Adaptation

Maigret à New York, starring Jean Richard and Raymond Pellegrin (1990).

Literature

Maurice Piron, Michel Lemoine, L'Univers de Simenon, guide des romans et nouvelles (1931-1972) de Georges Simenon, Presses de la Cité, 1983, p. 306-307 ISBN 978-2-258-01152-6 (in French)