Maigret's pickpocket; Summary and Reviews

Maigret's pickpocket;
by Georges Simenon

Maigret's pickpocket;
Category: Book
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Book Summary Information

Author: Georges Simenon
Edition: Unknown Binding
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1968
ISBN: 0241015537
Number of pages: 168
Publisher: H. Hamilton

Book Reviews of Maigret's pickpocket;

Book Review: Maigret feels his age
Summary: 4 Stars

Maigret is feeling his age in this story for two reasons. Maigret, as the title suggests, he has been the victim of a pickpocket. As the story opens Maigret was delighted to find an open-topped double-decker bus (Maigret does not drive a car) to take him work. This enables him to smoke a pipe before arriving at the office and Maigret lets his smoke distract him enough so that he doesn't react quickly enough to being jostled. He then realizes his wallet and badge have been lifted. He is even more surprised when the wallet and badge are returned to him the next day. It seems the pickpocket's wife has been murdered and he has returned the wallet to establish his `honesty' and help Maigret look favorably on his protestations of innocence. Maigret's investigation leads him to a side of Paris he doesn't seem quite able to comprehend, a world filled with new-wave artists and young Bohemians involved in Paris' cinematic community. Maigret's failure to quite grasp the type of lives lived by these `artists' also feeds his sense that time is beginning to pass him by. Nevertheless, Maigret will investigate and seek to solve the mystery. The dialogue between Maigret and the pickpocket

As is almost always the case with a Maigret mystery the plot, while entertaining, is not the most compelling aspect of the story. Rather, the entertainment is derived, at least for me, in seeing the world through the eyes by the ever more familiar Inspector. Simenon was a prolific writer but, despite that, did not waste words. Maigret's life and feelings aren't spelled out in the text but are, rather, inferred through Maigret's actions over time. Simenon does not lead you by the nose but presents you with just enough, a casual aside to a colleague, a reaction to a witness, or an observation made to his wife, to give you a feel for the man.

Simenon's Maigret stories are always worth reading and "Maigret's Pickpocket" is no exception. Recommended. L. Fleisig

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