It’s been years since I read my previous Maigret, so I happily killed two birds with one stone and read a good crime as well as shrank my all too long Netgalley list by at least one title, making me feel a bit less like an evil person.

It was a good old type crime, where policemen order Pernod to be brought to their office and before they visit the potential crime scene they go to have lunch. The book takes place in August in Paris, the city is deserted with everyone on vacation. A woman comes to Maigret’s office claiming that her thief husband has seen a dead body in the house he broke into. The husband is in hiding and the body is gone, if it ever existed in the first place. Between his meals and his drinks Maigret works on the investigation, the plot moves in line with the hot August weather in Paris.

There is not much more to say about the book than that it is a well written good entertainment. Something to enjoy during vacation, not earth shattering, but bringing this nice lull of hot summer in the city and the reminder of times when we could live slower and remember to focus on life’s many pleasures.

I received this book for free from the publisher, Penguin Classics, in exchange for an honest review

This is book #14 of my 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy at 746books.
See my list as it grows here.

Photo by Violetta Kaszubowska @ vkphotospace