The Grand Banks Café (Inspector Maigret) - by Georges Simenon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A crew's captain turns up dead, but it's the evil eye that haunts them--Inspector Maigret must navigate stone-faced sailors to solve the fishy sequence of events.

A fishing boat docks at a port in Normandy--and hours later its captain is floating in the harbor, strangled to death. When Inspector Maigret arrives, at the behest of his old school friend, he finds the Océan's crew will say nary a word about what transpired; instead, they speak only of the evil eye, a curse on the vessel they believe began even before they sailed. Pierre Le Clinche, a young wireless operator on board the ship who had markedly strained relations with the captain, is arrested for foul play. And more complications: in the captain's possession, a photograph of a faceless buxom woman, scribbled all over in red ink; the captain's handwritten will, deposited at the police station letterbox well after his death; the acrimony and fear that permeate the entire affair. In The Grand Banks Café, a haunting, riveting tale from Georges Simenon, Maigret vows to find the answer to the mystery that has left every sailor silent.

About the Author

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liège, Belgium. An intrepid traveler with a profound interest in people, Simenon strove on and off the page to understand--and not to judge--the human condition in all its shades. His books include the Inspector Maigret series and a richly varied body of wider work united by its evocative power, its economy of means, and its penetrating psychological insight. He is among the most widely read writers in the global canon.

David Coward is a translator of French literature, including works by authors such as Alexandre Dumas, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, and the Marquis de Sade.