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"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." -The Guardian

In Arizona on a study tour of America, Inspector Maigret observes a day in the life of a local coroner and becomes absorbed in a young girl´s murder

On his travels through the U.S., Maigret stops in Tucson, Arizona at the guidance of his FBI friend Harry Cole, who leaves him one day to observe a coroner´s inquest. The body being examined is that of Bessie Mitchell, a young girl who died under suspicious circumstances-she spent a night drinking and driving with five young Air Force men and was found the next morning on the tracks, run over by a train. Maigret quickly becomes engrossed in the hearing and the men´s conflicting stories, leaving questions of who bears the guilt for this death and who can be trusted at all.

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Praise for Georges Simenon:

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." -The Guardian

"These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself." -The Washington Post

"Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals." -People

"I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov." -William Faulkner

"The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature." -André Gide

"A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness." -The Independent (London)

"Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales." -The Observer (London)

"Compelling, remorseless, brilliant." -John Gray

"A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable-lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates." -Muriel Spark

"A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it." -Peter Ackroyd

"Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century." -John Banville

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Simenon, Georges
Georges Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1903. He is best know 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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