Maigret in Court

By Georges Simenon

Book Overview

"A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason." --John Le Carr

When an innocent young man is accused of murder, Maigret is forced to question the blind justice of the law

In this thrilling courtroom drama, inspector Maigret comes to the defense of Gaston Meurant, a quiet Parisian picture framer accused of slitting his aunt's throat for money and smothering a small child. Maigret can't reconcile the violent portrait the court is painting with the man his investigations have revealed. But in order to save an innocent life from the gallows, Maigret must expose some dark secrets about Meurant, secrets that may expose him to a whole other kind of danger.

With a high-stakes courtroom setting that brings out a side of Maigret's brilliant mind rarely before seen, Maigret in Court is a painful story of an oppressive domestic tragedy and the compassionate insight of a remarkable detective.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0141985917
• ISBN13: 9780141985916
• Release Date: January 2019
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

A rather thoughtful mystery

Once again I'm reminded of the subtle quality of Simenon's writing. The story begins not with a body, but with the accused already in the dock. Maigret himself has put Gaston Meurant there for the murder of his aunt and the small child she was babysitting. The evidence was damning, and yet Maigret was not satisfied with the way the facts fit the personalities involved. He continued to work on the case after it was solved. And in chapter one we watch him upsetting all the lawyers in court by recasting the investigation at the trial. Then we follow Maigret's restless search for the truth as he plays cat and mouse with all the same characters all over again. Maigret is ever ambivalent about guilt and judgment, and this unconventional attitude adds depth to a rather simple story. When the chief inspector retires in two years, he'll be released from his role in court, a disturbing role because, as he sees it, the evidence is always a mere digest of any particular human drama. So this simple story deals not only with the past and present, but also with an untried future.