Maigret, in retirement in Meung, is awakened early one morning by his nephew, Philippe Lauer, Mrs. Maigrets's sister's son, from Alsace, whom he'd gotten into the Quai des Orfèvres. He'd been assigned by Inspector Amadieu, who'd taken Maigret's place when he retired, to watch Pepito Palestrino, proprietor of the Floria in the Rue Fontaine, who was to be arrested the next morning in connection with the knifing murder of Barnabé the week before. Philippe had hidden himself in the Floria, and heard shooting. He found Pepito dead, and realized the murderer was still there. Panicking, he picked up the gun, rushed around, and finally left, having placed the gun in Pepito's hand. As he was leaving he bumped into a man, Joseph Audiat, who later testified. Maigret returns to Paris with his nephew and checks into a hotel. After not too long Philippe is arrested.
Maigret goes to the Floria, reopened already with a new owner, and see's Germain Cageot , "the Lawyer", who he's convinced is behind the whole thing. Maigret enlists the aid of a bar-girl, Fernande, who goes to the Tabac Fontaine, and reports to Maigre about Eugène Berniard, a brothel owner. Maigret spends an entire day in the Tabac de Fontaine, and follows Audiat out after a card game. Berniard tries to run down Maigret with his car, but injures Audiat. Maigret convinces the Chief to interrogate all concerned, but they all deny knowing each other. Finally Maigret arranges a plan with Lucas. He goes to Cageot's house in Montmartre, where he fixes the phone so that Lucas can listen in at Headquarters and transcribe the conversation. He tricks Cageot into admitting that he was behind the murders, at which point Eugène dashes in. Cageot is arrested and gets a life sentence. But Eugène escaped, fleeing to Istanbul with Fernande, where he set up a night-club. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Time/era of story: Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - nearly 100% Special suspect? - relative Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 60 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % 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: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - power How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting Europe Yes European country: - France Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog |