I enjoyed The Yellow Dog (Inspector Maigret). Old fashioned mystery as it should be as it was originally published in the thirties. It's a nice mix of characters.

The unnamed protagonist, who sees himself as an emerging author in a writing rut, is suddenly lucky. As his lover puts it, “You recognise a noted recluse, whom no-one has heard boo from in fifty years. You ambush her at her place of residence, and she invites you in for tea and bickies, decides to spill the full, unabridged beans. The great mystery of Australian letters falls right into your lap.” Except, it’s under false pretences.

He's writing something that’s not a straight-out biography but includes himself as the writer. He admits “what I was concocting was not literature, but the story of a parasite and his perfect host.” He’d confessed his desire to be the next great Australian writer, but will strike many as lazy, lacking integrity, with occasional feelings of guilt that are quickly dismissed for the sake of getting his name on the cover. Watching him desperately trying to cover his lies is entertaining, but by the time he’s doing a deep self-analysis, it’s hard to muster any sympathy for him.

Some great characters, many of whom might not be quite who they claim, a clever plot with some delicious twists, and dialogue laced with plenty of black humour. An impressive debut.

This is my first Maigret and it didn’t disappoint. I can see echoes of Fred Vargas’ Adamsberg in his demeanor and methods. He is passive. Doesn’t jump to conclusions and he doesn’t believe in deductions, not even when they’re elementary. This is a very short novel, full of quirky characters and with a strong plot. It is just atmospheric enough to make the Breton village come to life without slowing down the pace. This is clearly a classic, so it’s pointless for a lowly reader like me to review it. This story has survived the test of time and, if we’re getting a new edition it must be good. And it is. It was written in a different time and, even if it doesn’t seem outdated, <spoiler>the treatment of the titular dog is not kind,</spoiler> so that was not my favorite part. The rest is just great.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Picador.

With the title of The Yellow Dog, I thought a yellow dog would be have a more central role in the story. To get to the point it doesn't.

As this is my first George's Simenon novel, maybe that's just how his titles vs the actual novels go with a very loosely linked title. He did do a lovely job of making it easily to envision the setting of a quiet seaside town that can easily be shaken by the smallest of disturbances to their daily routines.

Throwing together the discovering of many characters in the first chapter was a bit jarring as I had trouble keeping up with who was who. There didn't seem much forward character development nor much background on characters to better assess any motives.
This may be to my lack of reading mysteries but over all the plot twists were there and then nearly all summarized neatly by chapter 10.
I definitely didn't guess the eventual ending culprit or the reason for their actions so I failed miserably at my sleuthing abilities. However, if you are intrigued by fast paced novel with a multitude of characters in a small town that seems to know about each other's business this novel may be for you.

In The Yellow Dog, Inspector Manifest is faced with a number of crimes to solve: the shooting of a wine merchant, an attempted poisoning, A mysterious vagrant, and a stray yellow dog that seems to appear out of nowhere at each crime scene. The prose is brisk and the novel can easily be read in one sitting. My major complaint is that major information is withheld from the reader making it impossible for the reader to solve the crime. Overall, it's an enjoyable book and I am glad to see these mysteries reprinted.

Originally written and published in 1931, this interesting tale makes it clear that the more things change the more they stay the same. Detective Inspector Maigret is the main constant other that the need to solve mysteries and the gossipy nature of some bystanders. He is always at the center of the story, just as he is a major influence on all the fictional detectives that have come since. A very interesting read.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital copy from Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Picador via NetGalley. Pub Date Jun 03, 2025
#TheYellowDog by Georges Simenon and translated from the original French by Linda Asher @picador @fsgbooks #detectionclassic #Brittany #whodunit #smalltown #poison #shooting #gossip #detectivefiction #mystery #maigret #simenon

My spouse was as professor of French back in the day. So, to keep up her language skills, she still reads a lot of things written in French. Some of them are regular popular fiction, like murder mysteries, albeit ones written in French. The most famous of such French mysteries are the books by Georges Simenon telling of the adventures of Insp. Maigret. My spouse also gets her regular dose of Agatha Christie by reading French translations of her stories. My French isn't so hot, so I read Christie in the original English.

I've tried finding translations of Simenon in the local library, but haven't been particularly successful. So, I was thrilled to find this pre-publication edition of a Simenon available to me. Perhaps now I'll be better able to understand my spouse. "Oh yeah," she said, when I told her I'd snagged the book, "<cite>Le Chien Jaune</cite>."

Anyway, we're in a small sea-side village, Concarneau, where four local luminaries gather regularly at the Admiral Café to drink and chat. One of them reels out one evening, and stops briefly in the shelter of a doorway to light up a cigarette. But he is shot in the stomach by a bullet fired through the mail flap. There seems to be no one around, other than the local watchman and a yellow dog.

Others of the group appear to be threatened, although one of them faked his own attack and disappearance. Generally, when something happens, the yellow seems to be hanging around. No one knows who owns the yellow dog, nor where it goes after the events, until one day, the yellow dog itself is found to have been murdered.

Anyway, the job is more than the local gendarmerie can handle, so they get Insp. Maigret from Paris, along with his new side kick, Leroy. Leroy spends lots of time looking into things, interviewing people, and so forth. Maigret appears to spend most of his time sitting around, smoking his pipe. But, he has amazing powers of observation, even when others think little is going on. Then too, he develops amazing insights from his deep contemplation of events and people. Whatever, Maigret gets is all figured out in the end.

This was a fun read, and I have a better appreciation of my spouse's reading tastes. My guess is that even if Raymond Chandler were translated into French, my spouse wouldn't read it. So, perhaps I'll have to go back to Agatha Christie one of these days.

#TheYellowDog #NetGalley

The Yellow Dog is an Inspector Maigret mystery. Such a treat to read! An old fashioned whodunit written with wonderful prose - so descriptive.
A man is shot in a doorway after leaving the local cafe. Inspector Maigret is called. His friends from the bar are wary - one disappears and the other is poisoned. It is quite the puzzle.
Georges Simenon is a master storyteller.

This book was not what I was expecting and I did not finish it. It seemed flat to me and I didn’t find the characters to be that likable or well developed.

I'm a Christie and Sayers fan, but hadn't tried the Simenon novels yet, so was very excited when I saw this one appear. Unfortunately, I struggled with it and can't say I really enjoyed it on the whole. It was fine - just lacked the sparkle that I find in so many other Golden Age mystery writers. There was no witty banter or sly social commentary snuck in among the descriptions of village life. The characters were not terribly three-dimensional for me, and the pacing felt slow and plodding, with the revelations plopped down rather than teased out. This one wasn't for me.

Reading this book was like visiting a bygone era. It was originally published in 1931, so the war that is referenced in the book may be WWI. This book takes place in Concarneau, a small seaside town in the province of Brittany in France.

Inspector Maigret was sent to Concarneau after a prominent man was shot and killed on his way home. Shortly after that, three men at the Admiral Hotel discovered that their wine had been dosed with poison. The death and the attempted poisoning put the whole town in an uproar.

A yellow dog - the dog in the title - was also seen walking on the streets but no one knew where he'd come from or who he belonged to. He was shot by a local but survived and was cared for by Emma, who worked at the Admiral Hotel. At the heart of this book is a love story and a story of redemption.

I received an e-arc from the publisher Farrar, Straus and Garoux, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

I have never read any Inspector Maigret novels. It was okay. It was a bit different and somewhat slow and dull at times. I am not sure I want to read any others.

A good story for those who are fans of Agatha Christie. The story perhaps doesn’t develop as fast as Christie’s , but still satisfying in the end.

3.75

A few years ago, I had picked up a book later in the series because it took place in a small French town I had lived in for a while, which has led me to slowly pick my way through the rest of the series. One of the things I love about this series is it's glimpse into bygone eras of French life. Originally published in 1931, The Yellow Dog features small town drama, an attempted murder, and a mysterious yellow dog that happens to keep popping up at the scene of the crime. While ultimately I don't find many of these stories all that memorable, but they are enjoyable ways to pass an afternoon. Those more familiar with the series might be a bit miffed about the passivity of Maigret in this book, but it didn't necessarily bother me here because I liked the atmosphere built here and some of the twists in the plot.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. The translation was seamless and the writing was smooth. Inspector Maigret is a 'character'. I probably will keep an eye out for other translations of Simenon's books. The plot was carefully crafted, held my attention, and wrapped up neatly.

The synopsis tells us that this is the fifth book in the new Penguin Maigret Series. And I went to find all of them as soon as I finished The Yellow Dog.

I watch a lot of British, UK and French mystery shows and this reminded me of those.and I loved it.

A small village rife with suspicion after a man is seemingly murdered after a drunken night out. Maigret arrives and confounds everyone.

The writing is so descriptive and almost poetic in some parts.

Excellent book and I look forward to reading more.

NetGalley/ Farrar,Straus, and Giroux June 03, 2025

Reading Georges Simenon’s The Yellow Dog reminded me that Simenon was a master of plot, character, and atmospherics. The Yellow Dog is brief, about 150 pages, first published in 1931; Linda Asher’s translation reads flawlessly. Simenon packs a lot into those few pages: action, atmosphere, personalities, romance, and mystery..

Simenon sets The Yellow Dog in Concarneau, a port town in Brittany. Simeon suffuses his Concarneau with claustrophobia and a web of overlapping social connections—the salt air and mist create a sense of shadiness and doom over the town and its people. Simenon’s initial paragraphs tell us all we need to know: "Concarneau is empty. The lighted clock in the Old Town glows above the ramparts; it is five minutes to eleven. / The tide is in, and a south-westerly gale is slamming the boats together. The wind surges through the streets. Here and there a scrap of paper scuttles swiftly along the ground. / There is not a single light on the Quai de l’Aiguillon. Everything is closed. Everyone is asleep.”

Maigret, gloomy, crusty, and ill-tempered, is dispatched from Rennes, 200km away, with a young, inexperienced assistant, to solve the shooting of Concarneau’s leading wine merchant. The eponymous dog, <i>”a big, snarling yellow animal”</i>, was apparently the sole witness to the shooting. Maigret inserts himself among Concarneau’s elite—the doctor, the mayor, the vice-counsel for Denmark—trying to learn more. As more attempted murders occur, both the mayor and Maigret’s superiors pressure him to avoid bringing disrepute onto the Concarnois and to wrap up his investigation rapidly. Maigret being Maigret, he shrugs off the pressures and proceeds deliberately. When Maigret finally solves the mystery, it’s a solution that indeed involve leading Concarnois.

Recognizing Simenon’s greatness and enjoying The Yellow Dog aren’t the same. The Yellow Dog is a tightly wound novel, demanding full attention from the reader. In reading <i>The Yellow Dog</i>, I sometimes wondered if Simenon had the same distain for his readers as Maigret had for Concarneau’s elite. If you allow your attention to wander for a page or two, the reader may find herself returning to earlier pages in order to better understand what happens. <i>The Yellow Dog</i> provides the reader with wonderful atmospherics, a great central character, an interesting plot, and dissection of small town France, but despite its brevity it can be difficult to follow.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

I would like to thank NetGalley and Picador for providing me with access to this advanced reader’s copy.

Thanks to Net Galley, who gifted me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an unexpected delight-- a 1930s old school detective novel, brilliantly translated from French, appears on Net Galley in advance of a 2025 reissue. I might not have heard of it otherwise, but this unassuming novel has drawn me to investigate a whole new series, of which there are at least 30.

This was a short but memorable read, filled with moody depictions of a small, seaside town where a string of seemingly random crimes surround a group of well-to-do men who frequent a local bar. Around the time when events begin to occur, a strange yellow dog is seen in the neighborhood.

The attention to setting and atmosphere is so strong it brings to mind the Japanese concept of "ma," the space between moments of action many folks see in films by Miyazaki or Kurosawa. Simenon isn't afraid to give the story time to breathe, and much of the drama happens off screen. Instead we focus on the building tension of the characters and the growing anxiety of the town, all in contrast to the detective's cool and reserved demeanor.

Although we don't learn much about the detective Maigret--he encourages his junior not to make deductions and keeps it pretty close to the chest--we know that he sees and observes much more than what's presented to him. He also seems to keep his own sense of what is just, with subtle commentary on the ethics of the criminal justice system. In this way he's able to be a detective, not a cop, which makes his adventures so much more interesting.

Recommended for mystery fans who like a slow burn. A perfect companion for a rainy day.

Review also posted on Goodreads.

Loved this story? Sat down and read in one sitting! Very compelling story. Had to find out who did it! Please read, you will enjoy!

Inspector Maigret is an old friend, always good for an evenings entertainment. Simenon writes great mysteries but in some ways that is not the point. The characters are what make his books worth reading and even more so re-reading. In this case, the setting is a fishing village in which a killing has occurred with more to come. Maigret, as usual, makes his grumpy phlegmatic way through the small town characters who populate the village. Each one is realized as much as the plot allows. Each one has a surprise for us and and concludes the case as the characters are all gathered together. As always a very enjoyable read.