Conflict rather than harmony probably reigned in eight out of ten of the still magnificent houses that surrounded the park.
But he had rarely had the opportunity to breath such a strained atmosphere as the one between these walls.
Everything seemed fake, grating, starting with the lodge of the concierge-cum-manservant, who was neither a concierge nor a manservant, despite his striped waistcoat, but a former poacher, a murderer turned guard dog.
'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.
Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian.
Penguin Books Ltd Maigret's failure | georges simenon
