Georges Simenon's Madman of Bergerac

Recently I finished The Madman of Bergerac, an Inspector Maigret murder mystery novel by the legendary Georges Simenon.

A few posts back, I praised the Maigret novels on the basis of two that I had read: Maigret at the Coroner's (which I have reviewed) and Maigret and the Loner (which I haven't.) Both of these books date from later in Simenon's career, the former from 1952 and the latter from 1972. Both are highly realistic in their details about police work and investigative techniques and yet at the same time, are impressive in their social and psychological observation.

However, this cannot be said of the Madman of Bergerac, a much earlier Maigret mystery dating from 1933. Presumably in his later years, Simenon was likely influenced by the murder mysteries of Raymond Chandler and the police procedurals of Hilary Waugh and Ed McBain, which are meticulously accurate and authentic. Also, between 1945 and 1955, Simenon lived in the US and Canada and would presumably have come into contact with noir pulp novels and stories and would have learned something of hardboiled suspense writing which would have informed his later work.

None of that is evident in the Madman of Bergerac. The novel begins with Maigret taking a train trip to the provincial town of Bergerac to visit an old friend from the Paris police department and to do a little salmon fishing. He shares his train compartment with an eccentric man who lies in the upper bunk. He mutters to himself and fidgets and seems to be upset about something. Abruptly, as the train slows in its approach to the Bergerac station, the man leaps from the bunk and flees the compartment. Alarmed by the man's odd behavior, Maigret gives chase. The man jumps from the train and Maigret impulsively jumps with him. The man sees Maigret pursuing him and he shoots Maigret in the shoulder.

Maigret later regains consciousness in the hospital. Leduc, his old friend from the Paris police, is called to the hospital to confirm Maigret's identity. Leduc explains to Maigret that the hospital authorities are suspicious of Maigret because of his jump from the train. They think that he is the Madman of Bergerac, a sociopath who has so far killed two local women by stabbing them through the heart with a needle. The townspeople are in a panic and wary of any strangers in their midst.

In spite of his injuries, and in spite of being completely outside of his Paris police jurisdiction, Maigret starts an investigation of the case first from his hospital bed and then later from a room in a local hotel where he has himself billeted once his condition improves. He is aided and abetted by Madame Maigret, who comes from Paris to join him. Much to his wife's dismay, Maigret makes a nuisance of himself with his constant invasive questioning of everyone around him from his doctor to hotel staff to the local prosecutor and police chief. He even puts up a reward to call in people to speak with him at the hotel about any information they have about the killings.

He learns that the man who jumped from the train was a human smuggler who supplied local brothels with women. He is a suspect until his dead body is found by police near the train tracks and soon after, a woman reports being accosted by a man who tried to strangle her. Obviously, the Madman of Bergerac is still on the loose.

He then looks into the history of a local man of business with a fondness for pornographic art books - "books for conoissieurs" who may also be a suspect.

Of course, Maigret ultimately cracks the case and along the way unravels a tangle of small town bourgeois intrigue and duplicity. I suppose the book is entertaining in its way, but the implausibility of its story - Maigret jumping from the train with the man when he could've flashed his police badge at the train operators and had them stop the train so he could go look for the man; an out of town and out of jurisdiction police detective running an investigation from a hospital room and then a hotel - really put me off.

I doubt that I will read another early (1930s) Maigret novel. However, I am still curious about the later novels from the 1950s on. These seem to be better constructed, more plausible and ultimately, more entertaining.