Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper


Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper is a detective novel by the Belgian crime writer Georges Simenon published in 1950, featuring the author's most celebrated character Inspector Maigret. Its alternate English-language titles include Maigret in Montmartre and Maigret at Picratt's.

Synopsis

The plot of the novel revolves around the murder of a stripper called Arlette, and the novel is noted for its depiction of the seedy nightlife of the Montmartre district in Paris.

Plot

A stripper at Picratt's in Montmartre reports to the police she's overheard two men plotting to kill a "countess". Soon thereafter both she and Countess von Farnhem, a fallen aristocrat and drug user, are found dead. The stripper, Arlette, turns out to be romantically involved with Maigret's inspector Lapointe. A man named Oscar becomes the lead suspect when Maigret find out he used to be the butler to the countess. Maigret uses another drug user, Mortemart, to lead him to the killer, who is shot dead by Lapointe.

English-language Editions

The story has been published in English under three different names.
It was first published under the name Maigret in Montmartre together with Maigret's Mistake in a book called Maigret Right and Wrong, published by Hamish Hamilton in 1954 with translation by Daphne Woodward. Also in 1954 the story was published under the name Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper, published by Doubleday, translation by Cornelia Schaeffer. Both these translations have been republished many times. In 2016, Penguin issued a new translation under the name Maigret at Picratt's.

Adaptations

The novel has been rated one of the ten best Maigret stories and has been adapted several times for TV and film. It has been adapted three times in English: In 1960, as Murder in Montmartre, it was the first episode of the BBC's Maigret series, starring Rupert Davies in the title role; In 1993, as Maigret and the Night-club Dancer, it was an episode of the ITV Maigret series starring Michael Gambon; and in 2017, as Maigret in Montmartre, in the later ITV series, starring Rowan Atkinson.