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Book Review By Dana Samson
Madame Maigret's Admirer by Georges Simenon

When Mrs. Maigret noticed a man sitting across from their flat in the Place des Vosges every day, Maigret took to kidding her about him, calling him "her secret admirer". She noticed that when he was there, there was usually a young blonde governess on an opposite bench. One day Maigret is surprised to see the man there while he is at home, seemingly asleep. At closing time of the park, the man still hasn't moved, and Maigret goes down and discovers he's been shot dead. Maigret has Mrs. Maigret scout the neighborhood for gossip, and he learns that the blonde girl was Rita, a maid at Boris Krofta's. The concierge there says she hadn't seen Rita come out. Mrs. Maigret reports that Rita doesn't seem to have been a real maid, and Maigret goes to the Krofta's to discover they've just reported Rita missing, along with their jewels.
No information is available from records about the man, about 28, who'd been dressed as an older man. Maigret realizes that Rita might be alive and still in the house, so he returns with a search warrant, to discover Mrs. Maigret in a flat next to the one a piano was delivered to, talking to a neighbor. Maigret opens the piano case to discover Rita, but a call from his Chief comes in saying that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared hands off. Lucien, who rented the apartment, had worked for Krofka, killed Rita's accomplice when they'd discovered them spying on them. Krofta is himself a spy, and it is now a matter for Intelligence.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - Dry-cynical
How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
descript. of violence and chases - 40 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race
Unusual characteristics:

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - power
How sensitive is this character?
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - France

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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