Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret): A Novel

by Georges Simenon, David Bellos (Translator)

Overview

In this first installment in Georges Simenon’s legendary Inspector Maigret series, M. Maigret hunts down an elusive and notorious confidence man, but finds that identifying him is a game of doubles, intrigue, and hidden crimes.

When Detective Chief Inspector Maigret receives notice from Interpol that Pietr the Latvian, an infamous con man, is on his way to Paris, he rushes to intercept him at the train station. But when he arrives he is confounded to find two men who fit the description of the wanted man. One is alive, the other dead.

So who is Pietr? A businessman or a bootlegger? Is he Latvian, American, or Russian? In order to find out, Maigret must use his keen understanding of human nature, his gift for observation, and his famous instincts to track down the true suspect in Pietr the Latvian, the first mystery in Georges Simenon’s iconic series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250390943
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Series:	Maigret Series , #1
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Georges Simenon (1903–1989) was born on February 12, 1903, in Liege, Belgium. At the age of nineteen, Simenon embarked to Paris to begin a career as a writer. In 1923 he began publishing under various pseudonyms, and in 1929 he began the Inspector Maigret series, which helped elevate him to a household name in Continental Europe. His prolific output of more than four hundred novels and the gripping, dark realism of his prose has cemented him as an indelible fixture of twentieth-century literature. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

David Bellos is the director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University, where he is also a professor of French and comparative literature. He has won many awards for his translations of Georges Perec, Ismail Kadare, and others, including the Man Booker International Translator’s Award.