Maigret’s Little Joke, Georges Simenon, 1956

A very unusual Maigret in that the Chief-Inspector and his wife are on vacation, not in Brittany but in Paris where they walk to various parts of the city, eating lunch or dinner with or without  the Pardon’s, and generally having a grand old time in keeping with the Dr’s orders that Maigret take a break.  In the meantime, a sensational murder occurs which occupies Maigret’s thoughts and actions (secret phone calls and anonymous notes to Janvier). The wife of a prominent society doctor is found naked stuffed into a cupboard in his surgery.  The doctor and his mistress as well as another doctor, a locum tenens and the lover of the victim, are all tangled up.  Maigret keeps his word about being on vacation but also makes some key observations that help Inspector Janvier crack this case.  More about Maigret and his wife than usual and more about how he manages to solve crimes by understanding the human elements in the characters involved.