| Plot Summary of The Group at the Grand-Café |
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"Maigret, in retirement at Meung-sur-Loire, has taken to spending his days playing manille at the Grand Café, where he has become one of the regulars. The other players sometimes vary, including Hubert, the butcher, whose shop is across the way, Urbain, the veterinarian mayor, Citroën, the mechanic, the blacksmith, and sometimes the café owner played as well. One evening, after the game, the news came in that the butcher had been killed. He'd had a lot of cash with him and had told everyone he was driving it over to the notary's for safekeeping. Maigret shows no interest in the case at all, even though everyone comes to see him about it, including Angèle, the 20-year-old waitress at the café, whom the butcher was in love with, and Urbain was as well, the mayor himself, and Gabrielli, the superintendent. Maigret's refusal to participate puzzles and annoys everyone, but eventually the crime goes unsolved. A few years later, after several people involved have died, Maigret explains to his wife that he'd realized quickly that it had been a suicide made to look like a murder, so that his wife would collect the insurance. He had refused to participate since he didn't see why he should have a hand in denying the family the money. "
Dana Samson, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Group at the Grand-Café |
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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 - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
Time/era of story:
- 1960's-1970's
Kind of investigator
- police procedural, Foreign
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- theft/fraud investigation
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
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
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
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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