Mr. Hire's Engagement (Romans Durs)

“I always have a Simenon close at hand. In my youth I adored his Maigret books; nowadays I prefer his ‘hard novels,’ as he called them, in which his mastery of human psychology is laid plain.” —Julian Barnes

Georges Simenon’s chilling portrayal of tragic love, persecution, and betrayal.

One sensed in him neither flesh nor bone, nothing but soft, flaccid matter, so soft and so flaccid that his movements were hard to make out. Very red lips stood out from his orb-like face, as did the thin mous...