'Acute psychological insight and a distinctive, spare, atmospheric style ... Simenon ought to be spoken of in the same breath as Camus, Beckett and Kafka' Independent on SundayThe death of a beloved former ambassador unearths disturbing truths in this classic novel featuring Simenon's literary legend 'He had seldom been so perplexed by human beings. Would a psychiatrist, a teacher or a novelist ... have been better placed to understand characters who had suddenly materialized from another century?'The violent death of a distinguished former ambassador, the Comte de Saint-Hilaire - an old man without political secrets or enemies - confounds Inspector Maigret, until a bundle of letters promises to uncover the tragic truth.'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian'Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend' Boyd Tonkin, The Times