Maigret and the Apparition

New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Company: Harvest Books. Near Fine. 1980. Paperback. Near Fine in Wraps: shows a single page dog-eared in the text; an extremely fine crease near the bottom of the rear panel; else flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing minor, unobtrusive imperfections only. Bright and clean. Very close to "As New". NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 12mo. (7 x 4.25 x 0.45 inches) . Translated by Eileen Ellenbogen. Language: English. Weight: 3.6 ounces. Mass Market Paperback. Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Commissaire Jules Maigret, who appears in 75 novels and 28 short stories. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, was serialized in 1930 and appeared in book form in 1931; the last one, Maigret and Monsieur Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Three films were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s, starring Jean Gabin: Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case; Maigret Sets A Trap; and Margret Sees Red. "Maigret and the Apparition" (Maigret et la fantome) is one of Georges Simenon's late-career police procedurals featuring Commissaire Jules Maigret, head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Paris Police. With the action playing out in the capital and engaging other than nightclub habitues, it was, for me, a winner from the start. What makes it most unusual and charming are the major roles played by a lowly inspector from one of the city's arrondissements and by Madame Maigret, who comes to aid of the inspector's hypochondriacal wife. The case begins when Lognon, known to his colleagues as "Inspector Hapless," is seriously wounded while conducting surveillance unauthorized by his superiors. In these circumstances, the Commissaire will be challenged to establish first why Lognon was shot and then pin down how this relates to the upper reaches of the Paris art scene. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; 159 pages .