| Plot Summary of Maigret and the Flemish Shop |
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"Maigret goes to Givet, on the Meuse, the Belgian border, at the request of Anna Peeters, who has come to Paris with a letter of reference from Mrs. Maigret's cousin in Nancy. The Peeters have a shop, the Épicerie Peeters, catering especially to the Belgian barges, and besides Anna there is a son, Joseph Peeters, a law student, and a daughter, Maria Peeters, a teacher in the Ursuline school. Joseph is said to have fathered a son, Jojo, with Germaine Piedboeuf, although he's always been expected to marry his cousin, Marguerite Van de Weert. Now Germaine has disappeared, last seen going to the Peeters to get her monthly allowance for the boy, and the Peeters are suspected of having done away with her. But there's no body. The inspector from Nancy, Machère, also believes the Peeters guilty.
Germaine has a brother, Gérard Piedboeuf, and he'd had a brief affair with Anna, Maigret learns. Then there's a barge man, Gustave Cassin, who first claims to have seen someone throwing a body into the Meuse, then seems to deny it. Maigret visits his barge, and finds Germaine's coat and a hammer. Then her body is found 50 miles downstream – she'd been killed by hammer blows to the head. Finally Cassin disappears, leaving a note of a false suicide, and he is considered by everybody the killer. But Maigret, with no official capacity in the case, confronts Anna. As he had figured out, she'd killed Germaine, in order to protect her brother's happiness - that is, so that he could marry Marguerite. She enlisted the aid of Joseph and hidden the body, finally throwing it in the river. Gérard had paid Cassin, who said he had evidence, but then Cassin went to Anna, got more money, and disappeared. Officially, Cassin was assumed guilty.
"
Dana Samson, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Maigret and the Flemish Shop |
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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 - 50%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
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%
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:
- Female
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- small businessman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
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?
- 1
Unusual forms of death
- crushed
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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