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"Maigret, in retirement in Meung, is awakened early one morning by his nephew, Philippe Lauer, Mrs. Maigrets's sister's son, from Alsace, whom he'd gotten into the Quai des Orfèvres. He'd been assigned by Inspector Amadieu, who'd taken Maigret's place when he retired, to watch Pepito Palestrino, proprietor of the Floria in the Rue Fontaine, who was to be arrested the next morning in connection with the knifing murder of Barnabé the week before. Philippe had hidden himself in the Floria, and heard shooting. He found Pepito dead, and realized the murderer was still there. Panicking, he picked up the gun, rushed around, and finally left, having placed the gun in Pepito's hand. As he was leaving he bumped into a man, Joseph Audiat, who later testified. Maigret returns to Paris with his nephew and checks into a hotel. After not too long Philippe is arrested.
Maigret goes to the Floria, reopened already with a new owner, and see's Germain Cageot , "the Lawyer", who he's convinced is behind the whole thing. Maigret enlists the aid of a bar-girl, Fernande, who goes to the Tabac Fontaine, and reports to Maigre about Eugène Berniard, a brothel owner. Maigret spends an entire day in the Tabac de Fontaine, and follows Audiat out after a card game. Berniard tries to run down Maigret with his car, but injures Audiat. Maigret convinces the Chief to interrogate all concerned, but they all deny knowing each other. Finally Maigret arranges a plan with Lucas. He goes to Cageot's house in Montmartre, where he fixes the phone so that Lucas can listen in at Headquarters and transcribe the conversation. He tricks Cageot into admitting that he was behind the murders, at which point Eugène dashes in. Cageot is arrested and gets a life sentence. But Eugène escaped, fleeing to Istanbul with Fernande, where he set up a night-club.
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Dana Samson, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Maigret Returns |
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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 - 60%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
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?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- 1960's-1970's
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- nearly 100%
Special suspect?
- relative
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
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:
- 40's-50'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:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- a lawyer creature
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- France
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 2
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--bullets
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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