This sounded great to me - love Agatha Christie and the like - but found this one sort of lackluster and flat. It’s not awful or anything, just sort of average? Also found some descriptions of female characters off putting. Made it halfway through and decided not to finish… just was not invested in any of it. The cover is great though!

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

How do you review a Maigret novel -- or a Simenon novel for that matter? 94 years later, this early entry into the series feels not only fresh, but as if he's already deconstructing the procedural novel he came close to inventing. Compact, compelling, and thrilling.

In The Yellow Dog, Georges Simenon transports readers to the rain-swept streets of Concarneau, a small seaside town in Brittany, where a curious crime unfolds against a backdrop of 1930s French provincial life. Published in 1931 as an early entry in the Inspector Maigret series, this short, sharp mystery begins with a local wine dealer staggering home drunk from a hotel bar, only to be felled by a gunshot. Summoned by the mayor to lead a mobile squad from Paris, Maigret arrives to find a cast of secretive townsfolk—big frogs in a small pond—each hiding their own motives. As the case escalates with a poisoned gathering, a missing journalist, and a vagrant’s arrest, a mysterious yellow dog lurks at every turn, amplifying the tension.

Simenon’s strength lies less in the whodunit—though the resolution, held tight until the final pages, satisfies—and more in his mastery of atmosphere and psychology. The stormy, damp setting seeps into every scene, making you feel the chill of coastal France, while the petty rivalries and cutthroat politics of the petits bourgeois (a group Simenon famously despised) crackle with authenticity. Maigret himself is a delight: a laid-back, classy gentleman detective who seems more intrigued by a barmaid and that ubiquitous yellow mutt than by the panic gripping the town. His cool-headed approach, paired with old-fashioned sleuthing, unravels the mystery at a leisurely pace, culminating in a neat epilogue that assures justice prevails.

At under 200 pages, The Yellow Dog is a fast-paced, unpredictable read that offers a flavorful taste of 1930s Brittany—gritty, real, and wholly immersive. It’s less about the puzzle and more about the people and place, a formula that foreshadows Simenon’s prolific Maigret legacy. For fans of atmospheric detective tales or those new to this French icon, it’s a perfect curl-up-with-coffee escape. Just don’t expect a translation for every Maigret gem—grab this one in English and savor a master at work.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with advanced digital copy in exchange for a review.

I wanted to like this, from a classic mystery author, but I just couldn't connect with it. Sometimes a translation is difficult to translate. I did like the cover, though.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

I’m a fan of murder mysteries but this was the first Maigret novel I’ve read. The plot was reasonably interesting, but I found the characters a little flat and difficult to distinguish between. I love the humour and social interaction you get in a Christie novel, but ‘The Yellow Dog’ offered nothing comparable. Even the mysterious appearance of a yellow dog at the scenes of crime was underdeveloped and dropped off the radar midway through the novel. I enjoyed how Maigret resolved the crimes, but wasn’t impressed with the journey getting there.

I just finished a new mystery. The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon was a good read. Pick this one up on publication day.

Shortly after leaving the local cafe, a man is shot outside a nearby house, with a mysterious yellow dog appearing at the scene. Though Inspector Maigret shows up to investigate the next day, soon, more incidents occur, involving a small group of prominent men in the village, with that same yellow dog appearing. Poisonings, shootings, a giant vagrant and more will have to be puzzled out by Maigret to solve the case.
This was my first Maigret book, and not sure there will be others. On the plus side, the story is fairly short. The motive behind the crimes is actually quite complex, and a lot happens without a lot of fluff. However, Mairgret's ability to figure everything out simply by being there and somehow knowing what all the secrets are would put just about any other detective to shame. The plot was certainly sophisticated, the detective's ability to solve everything without much effort just baffling. If you don't want to have to think, just have the mystery presented and then explained for you, this would the book for you. 2 stars for "it was OK."

A classic Inspector Maigret novel, that combines a gripping mystery, with minute detail of life in the French countryside. The atmosphere is fully realized, as is the mystery. It's dark and gritty at times, but short enough to make for an enjoyable read.