Carter of 'La Providence'

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction . . . I loved the exotic setting of Parisian bars and run-down hotels, the economic storytelling' Ann Cleeves A new selection of novels featuring Simenon's literary legend, Inspector Maigret Inspector Maigret is standing in the pouring rain by a canal near the town of Épernay. A well-dressed woman, Mary Lampson, has been found strangled in a stable nearby. Why did her glamorous, hedonistic life come to such a brutal end here? Surely her taciturn husband Sir Walter knows - or maybe the answers lie with the crew of the barge La Providence. Translated by David Coward