“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré Inspector Maigret becomes entangled in the dramas of a small town on his quest to solve the murder of their former postmistress Maigret is called from his usual duties in Paris to investigate a murder in a small village located close to La Rochelle. A local postmistress has been killed and suspicion has fallen on the local schoolmaster. When Maigret gets there, he discovers a very inward-looking community of people who hated the victim because she knew all their secrets. Maigret must determine if one of those secrets was enough to make someone into a killer.

“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian Inspector Maigret becomes entangled in the dramas of a small town on his quest to solve the murder of their former postmistress Maigret is called from his usual duties in Paris to investigate a murder in a small village located close to La Rochelle. A local postmistress has been killed and suspicion has fallen on the local schoolmaster. When Maigret gets there, he discovers a very inward-looking community of people who hated the victim because she knew all their secrets. Maigret must determine if one of those secrets was enough to make someone into a killer.

Robert Philip Hanssen was one of the FBI's most trusted agents, a 25 year veteran, devout Catholic and devoted suburban family man. But as he rose up the ranks, he was leading another life as a devilishly clever spy for the Russian government, selling America's most closely guarded national security secrets. Now, Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist Vise untangles Hanssen's web of deceit to tell the story of how he avoided detection for decades while becoming the most dangerous double agent in FBI history--and how the FBI eventually brought him down.

Maigret one day receives an anonymous letter written on extravagantly splendid stationery. Without giving further details, it states that a murder will be committed shortly and pleads for Maigret's help. Maigret, though used to letters from cranks that lead nowhere, is shaken. He has no trouble tracing the stationery to the house where it came from -- the sumptuous Paris establishment of an eminently successful expert in Maritime Law, who is surrounded by family, various office help, and household staff.

A pickpocket helps himself to Maigret's wallet and which then leads him to a complicated case of murder. Police procedural.

When Maigret receives a visit from an old schoolmate whose mistress has been shot to death, he feels compelled to look into the case. Yet his friend is one of the suspects-along with the dead woman's four other lovers, each unknown to the others. The basis for a public television Mystery! presentation. Translated by Eileen Ellenbogen. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book