Crime fiction fans can forget the hubbub about Penguin’s planned publication of Morrissey’s autobiography under the Classics imprint. In a much wiser move, the company has announced that it will be reprinting all 75 of Belgian crime author George Simenon’s novels featuring his detective character Maigret. Each of the books is being freshly translated, and they’ll be appearing on a monthly basis.
The first release in the Simenon series will be Pietr the Latvian on 7 November, followed by by The Late Monsieur Gallet on 5 December. And as you recover from the holidays on 2 January 2014, at least you’ll be able to get your hands on The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien. Simenon’s books dominated European crime fiction through most of the 20th century and have appeared in more than 50 languages, inspiring over 500 hours of television adaptation, and 90 feature films.
To promote the books, Penguin has sent out a 24-page, pocket-sized brochure. If you read in from one cover it details the life of the author, and if you read in from the other you’ll get biographical notes about the character he created, Inspector Maigret. Period photography is included. We asked Penguin to send us the booklet as a PDF so that we could share it with you – click here to view it. (Adobe Reader or Preview recommended.)
