Georges Simenon

Inspector Maigret is standing in the pouring rain by a canal. A well-dressed woman, Mary Lampson, has been found strangled in a stable nearby. Why did her glamorous, hedonistic life come to such a brutal end here? Surely her taciturn husband Sir Walter knows - or maybe the answers lie with the crew of the barge La Providence...

In the street a stranger thrusts a child into Madame Maigret's arms and doesn't return for some time. Maigret is investigating the case of a Flemish bookseller accused of burning a body in his furnace. Glad of a distraction, he investigates his wife's incident, but the answers may help with his own case.

It is Christmas in Paris, but beneath the sparkling lights and glittering decorations lie sinister deeds and dark secrets... This collection brings together three of Simenon's most enjoyable Christmas tales featuring Inspector Maigret and other characters from the Maigret novels.

In Simenon's first novel featuring Maigret, the laconic detective is taken from grimy bars to luxury hotels as he traces the true identity of criminal mastermind, Pietr the Latvian.