Maigret's pipe

Prewar Paris - where buses still sported outside platforms and every neighborhood its own bistro, policemen took time for human problems, and car fumes hadn't yet smothered the smell of chesnut blossoms - serves as the setting for these seventeen stories, featuring Simenon's legendary Jules Maigret. Here the Chief Inspector goes about his business in a variety of settings and circumstances, revealing much about his life and his career not found elsewear; we are even given the chance to see Maigret on his retirement from the Quai des Orfevres and to see him indulge in some freelance sleuthing. This volume, along with Maigret's Christmas, completes the collection of Simenon's short detective fiction and adds many fascinating titles to the Maigret mosaic.