| Plot Summary of The Inn of the Drowned |
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"Maigret was in Nemours to take care of some business with Captain Pillement of the gendermerie, when a call came in that a car had gone into the Loing between Nemours and Montargis, near an inn, Auberge des Pêcheurs, called L'Auberge aux Noyés, the Drowned Men's Inn, because of the number of drownings there. A truck driver, Joseph Lecoin, said he'd run into a car parked on the roadside and pushed it into the river, after which he'd heard shouts for help. A barge man from the Belle-Thérèse said he'd heard shouts too. No bodies were found, but when the car was pulled out, the dead body of a woman was found in the trunk, killed three days earlier with a razor. They will never know who she was. At the inn, Maigret finds a young couple who registered themselves as Jean Vertbois and spouse. Germain La Pommeraye, a notary from Versailles came, and said the girl was his daughter, Viviane La Pommeraye, who'd run away with Vertbois.
Maigret has the driver reconstruct that evening's drive, and he's set up a car in the same place, which this time the driver avoids hitting. When he has Lecoin cry for help, the barge man says that was similar to the voice he'd heard. Maigret has Lecoin continue on to Montargis, as the night before, when he hadn't stopped to use the phone at the inn. They wind up at his friend Paul Benoît's gas station, where Maigret elicits the story. The couple had paid him to drive them away, with a story of an elopement. He'd taken them to Benoît's, but the girl had fled when she saw the newspaper report of the body in the trunk, as she now knew that Vertbois has killed the woman. Vertbois was still there, but overheard them talking and jumped from the window, breaking his leg, and was arrested."
Dana Samson, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Inn of the Drowned |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
How difficult to spot villain?
- Challenging
Time/era of story:
- 1960's-1970's
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- nearly 100%
Kind of investigator
- police procedural, Foreign
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- French
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Genius (really!)
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- unemployed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- France
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 1
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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