Simenon

The legendary Georges Simenon was the most successful and influential writer of crime fiction in a language other than English; André Gide called him 'the greatest French novelist of our times'.



Celebrated crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw's informed and lively study draws together Simenon's extraordinary life and his work on both page and screen. By the time of Simenon's death in 1989, his French detective Maigret had become an institution, rivalled only by Sherlock Holmes. The pipe-smoking Inspector of Police is a quietly spoken observer of human nature who uses the techniques of psychology on those he encounters (both the guilty and the innocent) - with no rush to moral condemnation. Simenon's non-Maigret standalone books are among the most commanding in the genre, and, as a trenchant picture of French society, his concise novels collectively offer up a fascinating analysis. And his influence on an army of later crime writers is incalculable.

Alongside his own considerable insights, Barry Forshaw has interviewed people who worked either with Simenon or on his books: publishers, editors, translators, and other specialist writers. He has created a literary prism through which to appreciate one of the most distinctive achievements in the whole of crime fiction.



By Barry Forshaw



Bite-size briefings on everything you could possibly want to know about the French novelist, philanderer and armchair philosopher. The perfect companion to Pierre Assouline's magisterial 1997 biography, Simenon



Barry Forshaw's detailed study unravels clues to the Belgian writer's prolific output and controversial life... Where Forshaw's book comes into its own is in its detailed dissection of the books Simenon wrote and the many film and television adaptations that they spawned



Bite-size briefings on everything you could possibly want to know about the Belgian novelist, philanderer and armchair philosopher: not only the Maigret books and the many adaptations of them, but also other works, personal history, Parisian geography and, thankfully, precious little hagiography



An exemplary and insightful work of reference that I highly recommend