| Plot Summary of Maigret in Exile |
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"Maigret has been assigned to Luçon, in the Vendée, as a result of political problems in his department. He receives a call from Adine Hulot, reporting that she has seen a corpse on the floor of a bedroom at Judge Forlacroix's house in L'Aiguillon. Maigret goes there, a small village of mussel gatherers, and interrupts the Judge trying to drag the corpse out to dump in the sea. He says he has no idea who it is. The Judge's daughter, Lise Forlacroix, suffers from a mental disorder, and he keeps her locked in her room, next to the fruit loft in which the body was found. Her brother, Albert Forlacroix, had visited the house that night, while the Judge was playing cards downstairs. He suggests that Maigret investigate Marcel Airaud, said to be Lise's lover, but Maigret learns that the waitress at the hotel, Thérèse has a child by Marcel. Marcel disappears, and Maigret learns that the dead man was Émile Janin, a doctor from Nantes.
Judge Forlacroix eventually confesses to Maigret that years earlier, when he'd lived in Versailles, he'd killed his wife's lover and buried the body in a well in his garden. Maigret goes to the house in Versailles, finds the body, and arranges to have Forlacroix's wife, Valentine Forlacroix, come from Nice. With the help of Adine, he locates Marcel Airaud, at Albert Forlacroix's cabin, and has them both brought in. He solves the mystery, that Marcel had planned to marry Lise, three months pregnant, but had called in an old acquaintance, Dr. Janin, to verify that she was mentally fit. When the Dr. had told Albert that she wasn't, she killed him in a rage, then told Marcel she had done it. To protect her, Marcel fled, making it look like he was guilty.
"
Dana Samson, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Maigret in Exile |
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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 - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
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%
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- "All in the family" murder
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:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- wealthy
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
Motive of antagonist
- insanity
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Dumb
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- France
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 2
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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