Maigret à l’école - Georges Simenon

When a man turns up in his office, anticipating arrest for the murder of an old lady, Maigret travels to a little village in the provinces in a non-professional capacity. Shot through the eye by an air-pistol while looking out her window, the villagers aren’t exactly sorry that the old woman is dead – she’s been the terror of the village for years – but if someone has to pay for the crime, they reckon it might as well be the school teacher, since he’s considered an outsider.

Simenon’s in familiar territory here – Les Fiancailles de Monsieur Hire, L’Assassin –convincingly depicting the workings of small communities, watching each other through windows, gossiping, ostracising outsiders, creating a sense of community only through mutual fear, guilt and suspicion. Coming from a small country village himself, Maigret is only too familiar with this kind of behaviour, and slips quietly back into their way of thinking to uncover the underlying motivations of the killer.