The Two-Penny Bar - Georges Simenon

''The father of contemporary European detective fiction'' Ann Cleeves ''A radiant late afternoon. The sunshine almost as thick as syrup in the quiet streets of the Left Bank . . .there are days like this, when ordinary life seems heightened, when the people walking down the street, thetrams and cars all seem to exist in a fairy tale.''A story told by a condemned man leads Maigret to a bar by the Seine and into the sleazy underside of respectable Parisian life. In the oppressive heat of summer, a forgotten crime comes to light.Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel is a revised translation, previously published as The Bar on the Seine.''Compelling, remorseless, brilliant'' John Gray''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 ''A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness'' Independent