A bite size introduction to Maigret for the uninitiated that leaves you wanting more.

A quick read and a satisfactory one, thank you.  I think i need to read some more novels about the French detective, as I enjoyed the style of this one and short stories often disappoint.  This one didn't - except in the respect of it being too short, I need a proper one now!

<i>Full disclosure: I was given an ARC of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.</i>

(Yes I like the title too.)

Georges Simenon's pipe-smoking sleuth gets a cosey little mystery for Christmas - one he can solve almost without leaving the comfort of his own apartment.

For it is a time for friends and family, and this being Simenon there's a level of class and character that's above the norm for detective fiction. As well as a nice little mystery, we also get a sketch portrait of the home life of M and Mme Maigret; their obvious deep affection for each other, but also the largely unspoken sadness.

I rarely find Simenon's writing as compulsive in the moment ofreading as I might, say, Arthur Conan Doyle's or even Victor L Whitechurch's, but his imagery and his characters return to me far more often afterwards. It's a deeply problematic way of phrasing it and deeply unfair to so many other genre writers, but it's hard to escape the feeling that Simenon is a 'proper' writer. Your intellect gets something back from reading him.

A rich and sophisticated Christmas liqeur.

It was a short little mystery set on Christmas day when two strangers come to visit Maigret with an unusual story about a visit from Santa. Due to the length there is not a huge amount of detail in it and felt a bit rushed but the story itself was quite good. 

I like Maigret and will definitely be looking for more books in the series. An ideal short read for Christmas.

Only one story (A Maigret Christmas) was issued for review and this was set during Christmas Day in Paris. An enjoyable story and, as with all Georges Simenon Maigret stories, it is clearly told with an ease of reading that is this master story teller's trademark.

My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read that contained 'A Maigret Christmas', the Inspector receives two unexpected visitors to his apartment on Christmas Day, this leads him on the trail of a mysterious intruder dressed in red and white. It was a very quick enjoyable read. He solved the case in a day from his armchair, it was a shade contrived but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. If you like traditional 1950’s mysteries then you’ll enjoy this throw back to a simpler time

This was a brief  entertainment rather than a good read. The characters are well constructed, if exaggerated. The atmosphere of Paris in the post war period is appropriately sombre and down at heel. Maigret, as a well known character, is usually very insightful but this story was so contrived that even the narrative agrees that the level of coincidence and success in finding unlikely evidence and witnesses is exceptional.  The story does manage to create some suspense but it is not a read I would recommend,

The review copy of A Maigret Christmas and Other Stories by Georges Simenon I received contains just one of the three stories in this collection, A Maigret Christmas which was first published in 1950 as Un Noël de Maigret.

It’s set in Paris on Christmas Day. Inspector Maigret has the day off and Madame Maigret, hoping to bring him croissants for his breakfast in bed, as she usually does on Sundays and public holidays, is disappointed to find that he had got up before she returned from the corner shop. Both Maigret and his wife are feeling not exactly depressed but rather melancholy, with no family to visit at Christmas.

Their plan to spend a quiet morning cocooned in their apartment is disrupted by the arrival of two ladies, Madame Martin and Mademoiselle Doncoeur, who live in the apartment opposite in the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. Colette, a little girl staying with her aunt and uncle, Madame Martin and her husband, had woken in the night and seen Father Christmas in her room, making a hole in the floor. He gave her a present, a big doll and then held up his finger to his lips as he left. But who was he and why was he trying to take up the floorboards?

Maigret, concerned about Colette, decides to help and, phoning his colleagues at the Quai des Orfevres for information, he spends the rest of the day solving the mystery. As the mystery is unravelled it turns out to be anything but simple. I enjoyed this story for the mystery itself, but I also liked the light it throws on Maigret and his wife, their relationship and the sadness they feel at being childless, particularly so at Christmas.

I find classic detective fiction rather soothing. It's simple, by comparison to today's works, but when it's good it's still a terrific read. Maigret is exactly that. This is actually quite a complex, and at times sordid little tale, but told with authority, a lack of fuss and an elegance that makes it a tonic to read. Maigret is such a quiet, dark man, full of secrets and sadness, and with a melancholy that makes him very appealing. In amidst the grimness of the mystery there is are the charming details of a Parisian Christmas and a touching series of scenes with his wife that make this almost tender. It's excellent.

It has been many years since I last read an Inspector Maigret story and it was as delightful as I remember. Very sharp and to the point with an unexpected provincial ambience.

I received this from NetGalley and, Woe, the ‘other stories’ weren’t included. I was quite unreasonably disappointed by this because I’d enjoyed A Maigret Christmas so much. The events take place on one Christmas day and Maigret solves the whole case from his apartment, getting his research done by phone and nipping over the road to the opposite apartment block where a crime may possibly have been committed. I’ve never been a huge Simenon fan but I do love all the detail about French domestic life and manners, which a French readership would presumably take for granted.

I’m fascinated by Madame Maigret, the perfect wife who keeps a spotless flat and is forever shopping and cooking. Maigret even goes home for lunch when he can; very French or, perhaps, very French in the past. The odd (to us) formality of French bourgeois life is very evident. It’s interesting to find that the good Madame goes out early on Christmas morning to buy croissants for her husband’s breakfast and that local shops will be open even on a public holiday. It's this kind of detail which I found sadly lacking from the recent TV series starring Rowan Atkinson. But then, even though I only ever saw one episode at a friend’s house, Rupert Davies is my Maigret and Maigret is definitely black and white.

I was looking forward to reading the three short stories but was disappointed to find that I only received one !! However I did enjoy it very much a delightful seasonal short story but it left me wanting more .

I have never read any Maigret before and was not impressed by this short story. I just got one story from NetGalley, not the set of three. It was about a mystery solved entirely on Christmas day, mostly by making telephone calls from Maigret's apartment. Everyone was accessible to solve the crime easily. Don't they get the day off in Paris? People who are familiar with the character seem to have been delighted with this insight into Maigret's personal life but I found this dull and implausible.

I received with thanks a pdf for Kindle from NetGalley, which should contain three stories. For some inexplicable reason the file I opened contained only the first story - A Maigret Christmas - that I am happy to review as I enjoyed it so much. Just a pity that I did not get to read the other two.

”It wasn’t snowing. It was ridiculous for a man of more than fifty to go on being disappointed that there was no snow on Christmas morning…” Maigret and his wife are spending a quiet Christmas at their apartment in Paris, in Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. Christmas morning they exchange presents: “A pipe for him as usual. For her, the latest model of a brand of electric coffee-maker which she had wanted plus, to remain true to tradition, a dozen finely embroidered handkerchiefs.” A cosy start to Christmas day - what could possibly go wrong. Georges Simenon was a master at creating an intriguing plot from everyday occurrences. 

Maigret is rather taken aback when two women, who live in an apartment across the boulevard, come calling - on Christmas morning. Mademoiselle Doncoeur and Madame Martin are perplexed. Martin is looking after her niece, Colette (since Colette’s mother died). Colette told M Martin that she saw Father Christmas in her bedroom, in the early morning hours, looking in a hole in the floor. Put a finger over his mouth and “Sshhh” before leaving. The two women have no idea who he might have been but are nonetheless - concerned…

How do you take such a minor, albeit intriguing, event and create a tale of thrilling complexity? Simenon knew how. He did it with A Maigret Christmas. How the storyline unravels is mystery writing at its best - a delight to read.

I loved it.

When I had the opportunity to read this Maigret short story I jumped at the chance as it is some years since I last read one of Georges Simenon's classics. I must say that I was not disappointed at being immersed into the life of Maigret in his own home on Christmas day. There is a certain charm attached to being taken back in time to a Paris setting in the hands of this author. There were one or two occasions when even he seemed to apologise for the lucky sequence of events that brought the mystery to a conclusion. However, that can be forgiven of a master storyteller and after all it is Christmas.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of three newly translated stories set in Paris at Christmastime around the 1930s.  The first, A Maigret Christmas, is a delightful, seasonal short story, which makes for perfect reading material at this time of year.  Inspector Maigret is as astute as ever, but the plot aside, we are given a revealing glimpse into his personal life. He and Mme Maigret have a very warm and caring relationship, are thoroughly likeable characters and between them a cosy scene is set.

The story begins on a Christmas morning that is covered with a dusting of snow when Maigret expects to spend a quiet day cocooned in his apartment with Mme Maigret, but before long they receive two visitors who have a bit of a conundrum. Maigret, being the perfect gentleman, does not hesitate to come to their aid.  But this case takes place (unusually for Maigret) on his doorstep, not among the usual criminal classes, which briefly wrongfoots him.  However, no one can pull the wool over Maigret’s eyes and he wastes no time firing off orders to his subordinates, questioning the suspects and witnesses in his inimitable way and setting traps for the unsuspecting to fall into.

It’s a neat plot and easy to get into, but for me it’s charm lies in the French touches, the nostalgia and sentimentality of a bygone age and the feel good factor that the world is not such a bad place with people like Inspector and Madame Maigret in it.  The translation has retained its French essence (although I wouldn’t have been averse to a smattering of French phrases!), it’s a great cover photo too and a treat for fans of Maigret and mysteries.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK for an advance copy of the ebook in return for an honest review.

A really short detective story taking place at Christmas. Enjoyable read, although I would have liked it to be a longer mystery.  Only one story available to review.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”
Back in 1951 Georges Simenon released his last Maigret short story which is the longest and closest to the length of his novels. Many current TV shows have Christmas specials and Agatha Christie wrote about Hercule Poirot at Christmastime in 1938.
This short story is just five chapters long and begins on Christmas morning at their home in the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. Being a day off for the Inspector his wife wants him to have a lie in, but he hears every creak of the bed as she tries to get up without disturbing him. He then hears Madame Maigret pottering around, preparing coffee and nipping out of the apartment to get fresh  croissants from a local shop. She is disappointed to find him up with no desire to have breakfast in bed, but he does take his time over his coffee and filling his pipe. Maigret’s nod to the season is he remains still in his dressing gown, content to watch his wife and contemplate his neighbourhood from their window.

This scene of domestic bless threatens to be cut short when he sees two women who live on the other.side of street looking up at him as though hurrying to his door.making for the door. His wife is not averse to this interruption as no arguments are raised and she opens the door for them to enter their home.

This story is undoubtedly one of the most sentimental and enlightening of these Maigret stories for a number of reasons:

It opens a vista onto the private life of the their marriage, a intimacy that is clear but also strained due to the couple’s home being childless, not because they have left Home but since they have no immediate family other that Mrs Maigret’s sister.

It takes place at Christmas a special time for children to receive presents and for playing with their new toys out and about the neighbourhood.

It is a case that Maigret doesn’t know even if it can be classified as an investigation but involves a small child who has lost her Mum, killed in a car accident and Dad unable to face up to life as he was driving at the time. The child has been place with her Aunt who appears to love money and the idea of wealth more than a nurturing love for her Niece and her current parental responsibilities. But because it is literally so close to home, mirroring his own way of life can not immediately find the distance to observe clearly and see. In his breakthrough it is perhaps the promptings of his wife and their immediate concern for the child.

The story is about this young girl Colette whose sleep on Christmas Eve was disturbed by a visit from Father Christmas. A nosy neighbour appears the  driving force while the Aunt seems to play events down and appears embarrassed for disturbing the great detective at Christmas. When she later slips out to shop for items already in her cupboards Maigret sees she knows more than she is willing to disclose. Yet Madame Maigret and he are growingly more concerned over the safety of Colette and this becomes his motivation to solve this case.
Beautifully written, evoking the magic of Christmas but showing that hearts set on crime have little time for sentiment. The gift of luck seems to be bestowed on Maigret and his team who eventually gather at his home. Marvellous insights into their family life, the yearning for children and the need to Mother. A simple relationship but undoubtedly strong and the stable home with the constant that is his wife is clearly the main reason Maigret can be so devoted and driven
A lovely story devoid of glitter and show but capturing a real sense of time and place and short enough to read every year at Christmas as meaningful as a glass of sherry, sloe gin in Maigret’s chosen Tipple and a mince pie.
Enjoy and have a great Christmas!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for the ARC which contained only the first of the three stories which make up this book.

The short story “Un Noël de Maigret” was first published  in 1950, the last of 28 written by Georges Simenon. It is translated here by David Coward. It takes place on Christmas Day.

The story tells us a lot, very subtly, about Jules Maigret’s relationship with his wife, Louise and is full of interesting detail of life in contemporary Paris.

With the help of his colleagues, Lucas and Torrence, and through some interviews and telephone calls, the Inspector investigates the mysterious appearance by Santa Claus in the bedroom of the adopted daughter of one of his neighbours.

it is a beautifully-crafted tale of greed and deception, of crimes which Maigret slowly untangles over the course of the day. It has a slightly melancholy flavour, although there are glimmers of happiness for many in the ending.

Most enjoyable and highly recommended.

I was a fan of Simenon's work so many years ago it almost (!) embarrasses me to admit it. Maigret was certainly one of the early crime fiction characters that really worked for me. There is a relaxed ease in his handling of his cases that I still find endearing. This one is no exception.

It's Christmas Day and Madame Maigret is out shopping for croissants for breakfast. Two people from a neighbouring building cross the road wanting to talk to their legendary detective neighbour. The niece of one of the woman says she saw Santa during the night taking up a floorboard and he left her a gift. Is this really a case of Monsieur Maigret?

Of course it is. It has all the usual characters in including Lucas and Torrence. It has an interesting tale and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Sadly my review copy only contained the one story so I'll not give a rating for the book. However I'd be surprised if fans would not want to read this.

This is the first of the three stories of this collection and I really enjoyed it. It was so intriguing and kept me reading. The plot is perfectly worked into a brilliant short story set on Christmas Day. I’m just disappointed I didn’t get to read the other two stories in the collection.