this is a compelling entry in the Inspector Maigret series, filled with atmospheric tension and quiet intrigue. set in a small French town, the novel skillfully builds suspense through Maigret’s methodical, unhurried approach to solving a series of unsettling events. the author’s writing is especially crisp and evocative, capturing both setting and character with precision. while the mystery itself isn’t overly complex, the psychological depth and immersive mood more than compensate for it! some pacing lags in the middle, but overall, it’s a satisfying, classic detective story. would read more books from this author!

#TheYellowDogInspectorMaigret #NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Yellow Dog is, I believe, the sixth installment in the Inspector Maigret collection written by Georges Simenon and originally published in 1931. I have been wanting to read the books in this collection for some time now, and this novel seemed like the perfect entry point into the series.

This mystery is set in the small port town of Concarneau and opens with the unusual, unprovoked shooting of a wine merchant. The plot quickly spirals into a strange series of events, including poisoning, murder, and another shooting. The storyline is intriguing, though the pacing is slow at times and some of the characters lack depth. Despite these minor drawbacks, the book delivers a satisfying and wholesome story that is also a quick read.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading the other books under this collection.

This was first time hearing of or reading Georges Simenon, who I learned published over 400 novels in his lifetime. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The translation from French to English was easy to understand, and except for some of the names, it was easy to read. This novel is a wonderful reminder that you don’t need 500 pages to tell a good story. I was truly impressed with his ability to build characters, provide backstory and tell a story that spanned continents in so few pages. An excellent novel by a writer who should not be forgotten.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so glad I read this book! I’d never read a Simenon novel before and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The Yellow Dog was the perfect balance of mystery and suspense.

I have been a fan of the Maigret television series but until The Yellow Dog I had never read any of the Simenon books.

This book provided an absolutely fascinating look into the mind of Maigret. He is not in Paris but has trekked outside the city to Concarneau, which is a seaside village. There has been a shooting and in an incredibly twisting tale... I settled in to work along to figure it all out.

Silly me for thinking I would solve it before the beloved Maigret! I was guessing right up until the end!

This might have been my first Maigret book but it absolutely won't be my last! I highly recommend.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Picador for the digital copy of the book. It was republished on June 3, 2025.

2.5 stars
A good mystery for a stormy day. Nothing about it stands out as exceptional but it does fit nicely in the category of detective mysteries like those of Holmes and Poirot. The reveal is satisfying.
I didn’t love the characters or how they were described, but this is the first of this detective that I read and you definitely can jump right in and understand his character without needing to read others.

Small town suspicions abound in this tiny seaside village where a man is shot, sending the town into panic, rumors abound and an appearance of a scruffy yellow dog adds to the mystery.

1930s France and the Inspector is pulled from Rennes to solve this murder. Seemingly being at the wrong place at the wrong time or mistaken identity seems to be the general way of thinking. But the strange combo of characters, seemingly very different but very familiar with each other strikes Inspector Maigret as odd and he tries to find the reasoning behind this.

The story moves at a slow pace but the elements of revenge and love and murder are hard to resist.

I enjoyed this story a lot! Maigret was a character! I thoroughly enjoyed following this detective for this investigation.

Reading this reminded me of reading some of Agatha Christies shorter Poirot stories. I enjoyed that it was short and still descriptive enough to give all the characters depth.

It's a well written story and the translation is great. I would definitely recommend this for a nice summer afternoon, which is when I read it. If you like detective stories I believe you will enjoy this one a lot as well.

This book is a recent reprint of one originally published in 1931. The strength of this novella is the setting. One really gets a feeling of the small community and the way the people there relate to one another. The mystery plot is complex and it takes some time for Maigret to explain it all in the end. Maigret is a methodical investigator, often appearing to do nothing but all the while his brain is working. There is not much suspenseful action. Simenon's writing style reminds me a little of Agatha Christie but this work is translated so I do not know how much that affects the reading experience. I enjoyed it but not enough to seek out other novels about Maigret.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

I'm arriving late at the Inspector Maigret party - this is the first of the books I've read - but it's easy to see what all of the fuss is about. The tone is noir moodiness: a French fishing town complete with dark nights, fog, mysterious strangers (human and canine), and townfolk with secrets and schemes. Maigret walks those dark streets, asking his questions, making his observations, sending off his telegrams to Paris for crucial information, and delivering his, mostly legal, justice in the end. The prose is tight and crisp, the plot is complicated without being Baroque, and the characters are well-drawn. Well worth a read.

Simenon's Maigret mysteries are elegantly simple. The Yellow Dog takes us to the depths of regional France, and immerses us in the life of the village. There are the standard characters, the doctor, the mayor, the petit bourgouisie. All of them are fully fleshed and interesting. In a single twist, Simenon's detective exposes the evil-doers and their motives.

I look forward to enjoying more of these translations of the Maigret series from Picador.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was the first Inspector Maigret book that I've read. I thought that the characters were well developed and the crimes were solved in an ingenious way. I liked Maigret's manner - reminding his new associate not to draw conclusions but to observe.
The story began when a well know wine merchant in the little seaside town of Concameau, France, stood in a doorway to light a cigar, and was shot in the stomach through the letterbox. A strange yellow dog was walking in the area, but the townsfolk did not know who owned the dog.
When a second crime occurred, where a man died from strychnine poisoning, after having drinks with his friends at a club, and and the mysterious dog again appeared, the residents became fearful The following day, a reporter disappears and his car is found not far from his home with a smashed window and bloodstains - well, the town was in panic. Add to this mix, the strange dog and a large man with muddy footprints, and people are looking for a culprit. However, level headed, practical Maigret, takes each case individually, not jumping to conclusions, but throoughly investigates all possible angles and suspects.. In spite of the red herrings and multiple redirections, Maigret solves the cases cleverly and the town goes back to being a peaceful seaside town.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and am leaving my opinions voluntarily. It was a quick 144 page read, and a good introduction to Inspector Maigret.

When Monsieur Mostaguen is shot trying to light a cigarette, French police Detective Inspector Maigret is dispatched to Concarneau to solve the crime. Maigret is enigmatic, keeping everything close to the vest. He’s a brilliant detective. Just a wee bit crusty. He’s got his work cut out for him in this case with multiple suspects and one mysterious yellow dog that no one seems to recognize. The Yellow Dog is just one of the seventy-five novels featuring Maigret written over a forty year span by Georges Simenon. First published in 1931, I think it stands the test of time. I thoroughly enjoyed it; the atmosphere, the characters, the mystery, but most of all Maigret himself. For fans of classic crime fiction. 5 stars

The Yellow Dog is the sixth Maigret mystery by prodigiously prolific golden age author Georges Simenon. Originally published in 1931, selected books in the series are being reformatted and re-released by Macmillan on their Picador imprint. It's 144 pages and is available in this edition in paperback and ebook formats. (Other editions are available in other formats). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This series, and indeed Simenon's oeuvre are classic and deeply readable. It's certainly redolent of its time period (1930s, the golden age of detective fiction) and there are some dated references here, for example the inflexibly rigid class and social structures of the time period, deeply rooted sexism, racism, and class.

That being said, the central mysteries still work and are subtly written and plotted, and the characterizations and settings are still as nuanced as when they were written. This is a classic series and it's nice to see it being reformatted in a new edition for collectors and a new audience.

The translation work by Linda Asher is precise, nuanced, and more or less seamless. The book, whilst redolent of the French coast and seaside of the time, nevertheless doesn't read like literature in translation and happily doesn't joggle the reader out of their suspension of disbelief.

The books in general are melancholy and sometimes tragic, and this one is no exception. The clues, denouement, and resolution are fair play and satisfying (although quite sad).

Four stars. Wears its age quite well. Recommended for public library acquisition, home library, or a long binge/buddy read or book club selection.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This 1931 novel has a new paperback released and I was surprised how contemporary the story felt. It easily could have taken place now. A quick read that had story moving forward quickly. Thanks to #NetGalley and #TheYellowDog for advanced digital copy.

This is a good example of Georges Simenon’s Maigret stories.
Maigret tends to sympathize with the underdog and shows how he feels about nobility and the upper crust of society.
Here we are dealing with three of the village’s most respected citizens. An unknown vagabond and a woman that works at the bar serving the drinks downstairs and taken advantage of by guest upstairs. And to who does the yellow dog belong to that keeps on showing up all over the place. A remarkable story that you must read till the end to have all the pieces fall into place.

I was hooked from the beginning!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

First published in 1931, this French mystery novel has been republished dozens of times and translated into many languages. The Inspector Maigret series is comprised of 75 novels, plus a book of Christmas short stories (which I will totally be looking for this holiday season). I wonder if this is one of the longest-running series, which began in 1930, and the last book was published in 1972. Georges Simenon, a Belgian writer, died in 1989. He is considered one of the most prolific writers of the 19th century with over 400 novels plus memoirs and short story collections.

I was introduced to Georges Simenon and his Inspector Maigret series two years ago when my book club selected the series for one of our meetings. Due to the age of the series it was difficult to find enough copies of any one book in our library system so we each chose to read a different novel in the series and discuss Simenon's body of work as a whole. I read Maigret Get Angry (book 26). When I saw that a reprint edition was coming out of one of the earlier books in the series, I knew I had to read it.

The Yellow Dog is book 6 in the series, but it can be read out of order.

All of the books in the series are on the short side, and this one is no exception. Yet, it doesn't feel like a novella. In many ways, it seems very simplistic - Maigret spends most of his time in the hotel's cafe or walking at night through the town. At the same time, there are wonderful descriptions that make you feel like you are there. The novel is very atmospheric.

I'm not sure this is exactly the kind of detective novel where you can solve it on your own. There isn't a lot of police work going on - it is mostly Maigret making observations, but at the same time, I did get a feeling that there was something off about one of the characters - so much so that I suspect that he at least knew more than he was letting on.

It is a fun, quick read. Interestingly, it doesn't really feel "old". Sure, there is no technology; fingerprinting is a new police method, but I didn't really notice the lack of technology (except perhaps for cell phones since the journalists had to use the hotel telephone to file their stories). Only in one interaction did I feel like there was outdated social norms and that was a scene between Maigret and the waitress Emma. But even that was mild compared to what I imagine how it could have truly been in the 1930s.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Friday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2025/06/the-yellow-dog-by-georges-simenon-review.html

The Yellow Dog by George Simenon is a quick, thrilling mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. This is my first time reading an Inspector Maigret book. It was really well translated. I like that this was more of a straightforward, adventurous whodunnit story without a lot of violence, and not too many crazy twist to follow. A big thank you FSG Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the digital copy of the book.

In a small, quiet seaside town a man is having drinks at the Admiral hotel bar, a long with a few of the regulars, late night. He’s had maybe one too many drinks by the time he decides to set off for home. He stops in a doorway to light a cigar, then all of a sudden he collapses - he’s been hit by a gunshot. It turns out that the victim is the town’s successful wine merchant. This incident leads to other odd things happening in this seaside town: poisonous drinks, a man goes missing, and a strange, dirty yellow dog is haunting the neighborhood, followed by large unfamiliar boot prints. That’s when Detective Chief Inspector Maigret, who is currently working nearby gets called in to investigate the shooting, and the other peculiar occurrences taking place in this town. But the inspector runs into a wall of silence, because the townsfolk are pretty tight-lipped, and unwilling to talk about the shooting or anything else that’s happening in their town. Can Detective Chief Inspector Maigret solve this mystery?

The Yellow Dog is a gripping, psychological tale filled with lots of suspicion and revenge. If you like reading quintessential, classic whodunnit detective mystery, then you should definitely read The Yellow Dog (Inspector Maigret) book.

This book is part of a series written by Georges Simenon. It is a quick chilling murder mystery. In a seaside town there is panic in the air. There is a killer on the loose. A local affluent wine merchant is shot in the dark streets of this seaside town. There is whispers of more targeted murders swirl through the town. As more unsettling events unfold—poisoned drinks, a missing man, strange footprints, and a ragged yellow dog stalking the night—the tension thickens. Fear grips the entire town, and no one knows who to trust. Enter Detective Chief Inspector Maigret. With his sharp eye and unshakable calm, Maigret must navigate a web of secrets, where the key to the mystery may rest with a weary waitress named Emma... and a dog that seems to know more than it lets on. The Yellow Dog is a chilling thriller from Georges Simenon that will keep you turning pages late into the night. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.