Maigret og mordet ved grænsen

by Georges Simenon

Paperback, 1974

Status

Available

Call number

843.912

Library's review

Frankrig, Givet ca 1930
Indeholder kapitlerne "1. Anna Peeters", "2. Polarstjernen", "3. Jordemoderen", "4. Portrættet", "5. Maigrets aften", "6. Hammeren", "7. Et hul på tre timer", "8. Besøget hos ursulinerinderne", "9. Rundt om en kurvestol", "10. Solvejgs Sang", "11. Annas senere
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tilværelse".

Politikommisær Maigret får en henvendelse fra en fætter til hans kone. Fætteren har en flamsk familie Peeters i sin omgangskreds og han frygter at de er ved at blive udsat for et justitsmord. Maigret tænker lidt over det og tager så afsted for at kigge på sagen, selv om han ingen jurisdiktion har på stedet. Byen ligger lige på grænsen til Belgien og floden Meuse løber lige igennem. Det har regnet i mange dage og floden er svulmet voldsomt op.
En ung kvinde Germaine Piedboeuf er forsvundet og hun er sidst set i familien Peeters hus. Hun har et barn på 3 år sammen med sønnen i familien Joseph. Familien er flamlændere og består af forældrene og deres voksne børn, Anna Peeters på ca 27 der hjælper i deres butik, Joseph der studerer jura i Nancy og Maria der er lærerinde. Germaine har en bror Gérard og en far, der er nattevagt på den lokale fabrik. Maigret bor på det lokale hotel, men kommer tit ved familen Peeters og går ellers rundt i byen og støver oplysninger frem. Skipperen på flodprammen Nordstjernen viser sig at være til fals for hvemsomhelst og kommer gerne med falske vidnesbyrd og oplysniner. Maigret opdager at han helt bogstaveligt sidder ovenpå vigtigt bevismateriale, men nøjes med at tage det med sig. Senere dukker Germaines lig op i floden langt fra Givet og det ser ud til at hun er slået ihjel med en hammer.
Maigret opklarer sagen, men benytter sig af at han ikke er i tjeneste og gør ikke noget for at få dømt Anna, selv om hun overfor ham tilstår at have slået Germaine ihjel.

Der er masser af atmosfære i denne bog. Flamlænderne og franskmændene mistror hinanden.
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Publication

Forum, 1974.

Description

A new translation of this chilling novel, set on the Belgian border. Book fourteen in the new Penguin Maigret series. She wasn't an ordinary supplicant. She didn't lower her eyes. There was nothing humble about her bearing. She spoke frankly, looking straightahead, as if to claim what was rightfully hers. 'If you don't agree to look at our case, my parents and I will be lost, and it will be the most hateful legal error...' Maigret is asked to the windswept, rainy border town of Givet by a young woman desperate to clear her family of murder. But their well-kept shop, the sleepy community and its raging river all hide their own mysteries. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as The Flemish Shop. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member thorold
Early Maigret is full of Astérix-like excursions into neighbouring cultures, but this one is a bit of a cheat, as it's not chez les flamands in general, but chez some particular flamands who happen to live in France. (Anyway, we've already had a Maigret story set in Belgium...)
As well as taking us
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back to a culture very close to the one where he grew up - a small town on the Meuse - Simenon is also indulging his well-known fondness for the life of the rivers and canals, as once again all the main characters are involved in some way with the navigation of the river. And the weather is as bad as ever, so that the famous overcoat is perpetually soaking wet, and the chapeau-melon at risk of being blown away. In other words, this is a classic bit of early Maigret, to be enjoyed for its period atmosphere rather than for the sophistication of the crime story.
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Another good one. Chugging right along in my quest to catch up to the publishing schedule of this series.
LibraryThing member starbox
Short (156 p) but quite engrossing mystery; Inspector Maigret travels to the French-Belgian border to investigate the disappearance of a young mother. An apparently simple story has many complexities to it - the working class woman had had an illegitimate child by the son of a well to do local
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family. Could the son be angry at the cost in maintainance and the difficulties to his ongoing engagement to the diaphanous Marguerite? What about the missing woman's bad tempered brother? Or the local bargeman with a police record for indecent assault?

Simenon's descriptions of the lace really bring the account alive- a small town on the flooded River Meuse in January, the juxtaposition of the cosy houses with the mud and grey skies. And a very good ending...
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LibraryThing member Coach_of_Alva
SPOILER ALERT: Simenon as usual excels in atmospherics, here in his creation of the family and their life in their shop/house. Simenon is also realistic in his handling of the case. Maigret knows that he can find no evidence to arrest or convict the murderer and that he has helped unwittingly to
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set the police on a false trail. He is friendly enough with the murderer to get a private confession and later he has the pleasure to learn how badly the killer’s plan worked. I find the quality of this series so consistent in these early titles that I can’t say much new about this, the fourteenth of the new translations that I’ve read. Since the quality is high, I have little to complain about.
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Language

Original language

French

Original publication date

1932
1947
1940 (in English)

Physical description

158 p.; 18.5 cm

ISBN

8755303226 / 9788755303225

Local notes

Omslag: Jørgen Jørgensen
Omslagsfotografi: Jørgen Jørgensen
Omslaget viser et anker
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra fransk "Chez les Flamands" af Karen Nyrop Christensen
Maigret, bind 70

Other editions

Similar in this library

Pages

158

Library's rating

Rating

(73 ratings; 3.5)

DDC/MDS

843.912
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