La Nuit du carrefour (1931)

Night at the Crossroads (French: La Nuit du Carrefour) is a detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. Published in 1931, it is one of the earliest novels to feature Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the judicial police. The story involves Maigret's investigation of the murder of a diamond merchant at a crossroads in the Île-de-France. The novel has been translated into English three times and adapted for film and television four times.

Plot

Isaac Goldberg, a diamond merchant from Antwerp, is found shot dead in the garage of Carl Andersen, a Dane living with his sister Else at the Three Widows Crossroads near Avrainville. The body was found in the car of Andersen's neighbour, Émile Michonnet. Andersen's car was found in Michonnet's garage. Carl and Else fled the scene and were arrested in Paris. Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the judicial police interrogates Carl who claims he did not know Goldberg, did not kill him, and does not know why Michonnet's car and the body were in his garage. He fled to Paris with his sister from panic. Maigret has insufficient evidence to hold Carl.

Maigret and Detective Lucas travel to the crossroads and find there are only four buildings in the area: the home of the Andersens; the home of Émile Michonnet and his wife; an automotive workshop; and the home of the owners of the workshop, Monsieur Oscar and his wife. Maigret interviews Else, who says that she heard nothing unusual on the night of the murder, did not know Goldberg, and it was Carl's idea to flee to Paris.

Maigret and Lucas stay at an inn in Avrainville. Madame Goldberg arrives and is shot dead as she steps out of her car. Maigret chases the gunman through the fields but loses him.

The following morning, Carl drives to Paris on business. Maigret enters the Andersen's house using a skeleton key and finds a pair of Carl's shoes that match the footprints left at the scene of Madame Goldberg's murder. He then enters Else's room. She tells him that Carl locks her in her room when he is away because she is frightened of intruders. She and Carl are from a rich family and were brought up in a castle in Denmark. They were ruined financially three years ago, and Carl insisted on moving to the crossroads because he wanted privacy.

Maigret learns that Carl did not arrive in Paris and that his car has been found abandoned near the Belgian border. The Belgian police inform Maigret that Goldberg was suspected of trafficking stolen jewellery. Maigret learns that Oscar and his wife plan to stay in Paris overnight and that Michonnet is suffering from gout and is housebound.

After arranging for police to keep a watch on Oscar and the houses at the crossroads, Maigret visits Else. He finds a pistol, barbiturates and a key to Else's door hidden in her room. Else says she was afraid Carl was going mad, so she had a spare key made for her room, and bought a revolver for protection and barbiturates to help her sleep. She drinks some beer and collapses. Suspecting poison, Maigret forces her to vomit and she recovers. He hears a gunshot and Lucas tells him that Carl has been shot in the garden of the house.

The police bring the wounded Carl to his room. He says that on his way to Paris, a man impersonating a policeman talked his way into his car and shot him. He woke up in a ditch and managed to make his way back to the crossroads where he was shot again.

Maigret sees a mechanic put a spare wheel in the back of a lorry that stopped at Oscar's workshop. Noticing that the wheel is the wrong size for the lorry, Maigret goes into the workshop and finds drugs and valuables hidden in tyres and cars. A car driven by Oscar drives by and its occupants shoot at Maigret, missing him. Maigret discovers that Michonnet and Else are missing, but they are soon found wrestling for her revolver in a dry well behind her house.

Oscar and his accomplices are arrested and brought to Carl and Else's home. Maigret questions the suspects and learns that Else is really Bertha Krull and was once involved in a bank robbery in Copenhagen. She met Carl when he helped her escape the police. A devout Christian, Carl wanted to save her soul and eventually married her. He took her to the crossroads from fear that her former accomplices would find her. Else grew tired of Carl's possessiveness and started an affair with Oscar who told her how he used his workshop to fence stolen goods. She then seduced Michonnet so he would cooperate with the gang. She knew Goldberg from her previous criminal career and offered to buy stolen jewellery from him.

Maigret alleges Oscar and Else decided to kill Goldberg and plant Michonnet's car and the body in Carl's garage to incriminate Carl. Else drugged Carl with barbiturates so he slept through the night of the murder. A gang member put on Carl's shoes and shot Madame Goldberg. The gang intended to kill Carl on his way to Paris and hide his body so the police would think he had fled to Belgium. Michonnet, realising that Else had played him for a fool, tried to poison her and shot Carl when he returned home. Madame Michonnet saw Maigret investigating Oscar's workshop, so warned Oscar by telephone.

Oscar, Else and Michonnet are jailed for their crimes. A gang member named Guido is guillotined for the murders.

Other titles

The novel was originally published in French as La Nuit du Carrefour by Fayard in Paris in 1931. It was the sixth novel Simenon wrote in the inspector Maigret series. It was first translated into English by Anthony Abbott and published as The Crossroads Murders by Hurst and Blackett in London in 1933. It was translated again by Robert Baldick in 1963 and published as Maigret at the Crossroads by Penguin. In 2014 Penguin published a new translation by Linda Coverdale, titled Night at the Crossroads.