Inspector Cadaver (Inspector Maigret)

“Open any of his novels—from the outset, the magic operates: from the first paragraph you are caught in the jaws of a trap that will not release you until the full-stop at the end of the last page, and even then with the book closed, you remain dizzy and panting as you try to regain your footing in your little familiar world of which, during a reading, you suddenly glimpsed the vertiginous reverse.” —Simon Leys

It’s a rainy January, and Maigret has left Paris for the country on unofficial bu...