Finished reading on: December 08, 2004
The Saint-Fiacre Affair
Title of the original version reviewed: «L'affaire Saint Fiacre»
AI Translation Notice: This review was translated from the original Italian using artificial intelligence. Book quotes and excerpts are translated interpretations and will not match the author's original English phrasing or official published translations.
Maigret returns to the village where he grew up, as an elderly countess has died and he suspects she was murdered.
All the figures of a potentially sordid affair are present: the countess’s young lover, the playboy son living the high life, a young parish priest who perhaps knows more than he lets on, and so forth.
What emerges is a portrait of a provincial milieu, sketched, in truth, in a superficial and unengaging manner.
The characters, too, emerge flat, devoid of any genuine analysis of the motivations underpinning their actions and the events.
The detective element is virtually nonexistent, and Maigret feels more like an extra than a police superintendent capable of steering and managing the investigation.
Perhaps I am simply unlucky, as I cannot seem to read a book by Simenon that I truly enjoy.