Maigret is a brusque, pipe-smoking, Parisian Inspector, who works long hours at his office on the Quai des Orfèvres. He lives in an apartment on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir where Madame Maigret always has one of his favourite home-cooked dishes waiting for him and a pot of hot coffee on the stove.

Maigret is an unorthodox detective who relies on intuition more than factual evidence. He seeks to understand rather than judge the criminal, following a suspect not to find clues but to feel with the man. His approach to the investigation consist of long walks spent thinking about the crime, or hours in local cafés, smoking his pipe and drinking and immersing himself in the life of those he hunts.

Maigret has an immense physical presence with large ‘clubs’ for hands. He wears a heavy overcoat and usually has his trademark pipe clenched firmly in his jaw. A gruff, grumpy character who doesn’t suffer fools, he is a strong, reassuring presence to both victims and criminals.

“His build was plebeian. He was enormous and bony. Hard muscles stood out beneath his jacket… Above all, he had his very own way of planting himself in a spot… He was a solid block and everything had to break against it.” Georges Simenon

The Maigret cases are not puzzles for the reader to solve; they are studies of human nature and its basest instincts. Maigret is interested in why a crime has been committed, not how. The Maigret books are about people, centering on characters and their motivations, not plots and clues.

Maigret has had numerous screen incarnations. In France he was played initially by Pierre Renoir, Michel Simon, Jean Gabin and many others, and then for many years by Jean Richard on TV and currently by Bruno Cremer. In the US he was first interpreted by Harry Baur and Ely Wallach, then immortalized on UK TV by Rupert Davies and then re-interpreted by Michael Gambon. In Germany he was played by Heinz Ruhmann, in Italy by Gino Cervi and in the Netherlands by Jan Teuling.