The Maigret novels hold an important place in the history of crime fiction. Here Simenon's biographer, Patrick Marnham, and the respected French writer, Francis Lacassin, give their insights into the Maigret novels.

A Man’s Head was one of the most successful of the early titles. It was among the first Maigrets to be filmed, it has an effective and unexpected opening scene, and with the character of Radek it provides the casting director with a co-starring male part. For the first time Simenon used a device which he was to use again in The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By; that of a man on the run who spends his time baiting his pursuers...

"Maigret's eyes met those of the boy. It was only for a second. But it was enough for them to understand that they were friends." (The Saint Fiacre Affair). Maigret remembered that at his age, he too would have liked to possess a beautiful golden missal, with the large red letters at the beginning of every verse and this memory put on the commissioner's face an expression of sweetness and complicity that didn't escape the child – behind the policeman he found a friend...