Pietr the Latvian

Pietr the Latvian

Inspector Maigret #1

Summary

The first novel which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.

Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands.

But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man. His firm muscles filled out his jacket and quickly pulled all his trousers out of shape.

He had a way of imposing himself just by standing there. His assertive presence had often irked many of his own colleagues.

In Simenon's first novel featuring Maigret, the laconic detective is taken from grimy bars to luxury hotels as he traces the true identity of Pietr the Latvian.

This novel has been published in previous translations as The Case of Peter the Lett and Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett.

'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray

'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian

Reviews

  • Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor
    Boyd Tonkin, Times

About the author

Georges Simenon

Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.
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