Maigret, like Jack Reacher in the Lee Child books, doesn’t seem to be able to go anywhere or do anything without falling into a murder mystery.  In this case, he is returning from a police conference in Bordeaux when he decides to visit his college friend (we are reminded that Jules studied Medicine for 2 years before turning to police work!) Julian Chabot in Fontenay-le-Comte, a small town in the Vendee.  While on the milk train late at night on his way there, Maigret encounters Vernoux de Corson, the town’s elder, rich man who inquires if Maigret has been summoned to solve the two, soon to be three murders in the small town. And so it begins….While Chabot, the townspeople, and the local police are all eager to pin the murders on Alain Vernoux, the older man’s son, Maigret realizes that he is an innocent party and finally solves the murder before quietly returning to Paris.  Rain, small town small minds, and the ruin of innocent poor people are the usual themes in Simenon and appear beautifully in this tale.