The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon Book Review

About the Book:

An eerie mystery in which a local wine dealer is shot and a strange yellow dog starts to circle the town—Inspector Maigret must navigate small-town dynamics to find the elusive culprit.

Late at night in a small seaside town, not a single light is on, and everyone is asleep. Or almost everyone: a man, drunk, departs for home after another evening at a hotel bar, where he and a few others regularly gather. Suddenly, he collapses—struck by a gunshot. The victim turns out to be the town’s most successful wine dealer, and the event soon leads to a series of other curiosities: poisoned drinks at the bar, another man found missing, and a dirty yellow dog haunting the neighborhood, accompanied by large, unfamiliar boot tracks. Detective Chief Inspector Maigret, who happens to be nearby heading up a mobile unit, arrives swiftly to resolve the growing confusion. Though a chill sets over town, with townspeople remaining tight-lipped, Maigret’s pursuit of the truth in Georges Simenon’s The Yellow Dog makes for a thrilling, breathless adventure.

My Review:

This book is a recent reprint of one originally published in 1931. The strength of this novella is the setting. One really gets a feeling of the small community and the way the people there relate to one another. The mystery plot is complex and it takes some time for Maigret to explain it all in the end. Maigret is a methodical investigator, often appearing to do nothing but all the while his brain is working. There is not much suspenseful action. Simenon's writing style reminds me a little of Agatha Christie but this work is translated so I do not know how much that affects the reading experience. I enjoyed it but not enough to seek out other novels about Maigret.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

About the Author:

Georges Simenon (1903–1989) was born in Liège, Belgium. An intrepid traveler with a profound interest in people, Simenon strove on and off the page to understand—and not to judge—the human condition in all its shades. His books include the Inspector Maigret series and a richly varied body of wider work united by its evocative power, its economy of means, and its penetrating psychological insight. He is among the most widely read writers in the global canon. Photo credit: Victor Diniz ©SIMENON.TM

Picador, 144 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)