Maigret Goes Home

September 1, 1989
Vintage Simenon, this novel was published first in 1931. Baldick's translation is rather elliptical but Inspector Maigret makes his presence felt as he returns to his boyhood home, Saint-Fiacre, where an unsigned note warns that a crime will be committed in the church on All Souls' Day. During the services, the widowed Countess de Fiacre dies but the autopsy proves she succumbed to a heart attack and Maigret--having closely watched the old, ailing, once beautiful woman--knows she was approached by no one in the church. He suspects murder, nevertheless, and begins to ask questions. What caused the fatal attack? Where is the Countess's lost missal? Why have the noble family's chateau and grounds deteriorated? Did the lady's wastrel son arrive in the village after her death, as he claims, or before? The truth emerges in a stunning twist to L'Affaire Saint-Fiacre.