Perhaps it was a mistake to read the very first Maigret book in the series. I’m sure Simenon got better. Judged as a mystery, it’s rather silly and improbable. There’s also ridiculous physicality — Maigret is shot in the chest early in the book. He just keeps going, without sleep for days, and doing athletic things, and gets surgery at the end. It is STUNNINGLY antisemitic.