Maigret and the Lazy Burglar 1961 detective book

Name: Maigret and the Lazy Burglar
Rating: 4.6 (65 reviews)

Maigret and the Lazy Burglar 1961 detective story

Maigret and the Lazy Burglar (1961, Belgium)

Original title: Maigret et le voleur paresseux

Inspector Maigret is called to the Boulogne woodland early in the morning, where a body of a burglar was found. The French justice system has changed recently, and he cannot just take over the case, that privilege belongs to the prosecutors, who give police the assignments. Maigret knows the victim, he arrested him years earlier, but now, tied to the case of a robbers gang that hits the jewellery shops in Paris, he cannot take part in the investigation. At least officially. Unofficially, he visits the mother of the victim and tries to work out who the victim really was. He was using an unusual method of robbing the houses - he was watching the buildings, sometimes for weeks, before entering the premises, but always when the residents were inside, usually asleep. This gives Maigret an idea how to find the first clue - he sends his men to check on the cheap hotels in certain parts of the city, to find if the victim was renting a room in any of them, thus finding the place that might have been his next target.

An unusual novel from the Inspector Maigret series, instead of running an investigation, Maigret tries not to look like he is getting involved, but tries to work from the back seat and remember everything he knows about the victim and the methods he used in his criminal career. On one hand, it is uncharacteristic narration for the Maigret book, but on the other, this novelty does not really work well in this case. The plot moves very slowly, the second case that takes place in the background is not that involving, and overall it was an experiment that was not a success.

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