The Maigret Project (10) The dancer at the Gai-Moulin

Penguin Books is currently publishing the entire series of Georges Simenon’s novels starring Inspector Maigret, chronologically and at a rhythm of one per month. 

In "The Maigret Project" I share some observations about each novel.

For most of The dancer at the Gai-Moulin [La danseuse du Gai-Moulin, 1931], Maigret is absent. Of course the reader knows who the characters are referring to, when they speak of a ‘broad-shouldered’ stranger. Nevertheless, it’s quite a relief when Maigret finally reveals himself, on page 86 of this 153 page novel. 

Did Simenon just want to shake up the detective story formula? He certainly enjoyed playing with his readers’ expectations: for a long time, a police inspector following the main characters around seems to be Maigret, but it turns out to be a Belgian police inspector instead. 

Or should we look further? Maybe Simenon was already preparing for his move towards more serious literature. According to Simenon, Maigret was nothing more than a device to focus the reader’s attention, a guide through the story – and very soon, he wouldn’t need him anymore. The first wave of Maigret novels was published in 1931 through 1933. Simenon didn’t expect to write any more about the character, producing more highbrow work in the meantime (such as the marvellous Les fiançailles de M. Hire in 1933; a new English translation of this novel will get published by Penguin in november, entitled Mr Hire’s engagement). However, financial needs pushed Maigret back into the limelight. 

Returning to 1931 and The dancer at the Gai-Moulin. A corpse is found in a park in Liège, Belgium, stuffed in a laundry basket. Odd, because hours before, two teenage boys planning on emptying the cash register of a night club, have seen that very same body there, in club Gai-Moulin. Nothing is what it seems in this novel – my apologies for the cliché. 

Stray observations: 

• Once more, the ending is somewhat difficult to stomach, but the way to get there is outstanding, with a surprise appearance by Maigret, a hilarious scene in the nightclub (with the proper people of Liège waiting eagerly for further mischief or crimes) and Maigret voluntarily spending a night in prison.
• ‘Chief Inspector Delvigne looked at his colleague [i.e. Maigret] with the involuntary respect that is accorded, whether in the French provinces, or even more in Belgium, to anything Parisian.’ Funny. I don’t know about the French provinces, but at least in Belgium, some things have changed since the 1930s. 

Translated by Siân Reynolds. 

Next episode: The two-penny bar

A longer article I wrote about Mr Hire's engagement can be read here, in Dutch.