Maigret's Pickpocket Read online

  ‘So complicated, in fact, that it almost succeeded.

  ‘He goes back to the Vieux-Pressoir. Asks if Carus is there. He needs two thousand francs immediately, and he knows Bob can’t possibly lend him that kind of money.

  ‘He throws the gun into the Seine to remove the fingerprints.

  ‘He turns up several times at Club Zéro. “Oh, hasn’t Carus arrived yet?” He drinks, walks endlessly, adding finishing touches to his plan.

  ‘It’s true he doesn’t have enough money to escape abroad, but even if he did, that would be no use, he’d be extradited sooner or later. What he has to do is go back to Rue Saint-Charles, pretend to discover the body, and tell the police.

  ‘And that’s when he thinks of me.

  ‘He decides to devise a special scenario for me, something that wouldn’t occur to most normal people. The details add up. His wanderings about all night will help him.

  ‘He lies in wait for me, from early morning, outside where I live. If I don’t take the bus, he’ll have some other plan up his sleeve.

  ‘He steals my wallet. He then telephones me, and sets in motion a whole rigmarole designed to remove suspicion from him.

  ‘And he goes too far, in fact. He gives me an entirely fictitious menu of what Sophie is supposed to have eaten at the Vieux-Pressoir. He’s unbalanced, he lacks simple common sense. He can invent an extravagant story and make it sound quite plausible, but he doesn’t think about the simplest, most everyday details.’

  ‘Do you think he’ll go on trial, chief?’ Lapointe asked.

  ‘Depends on the psychiatrists.’

  ‘What would you decide?’

  ‘Trial by jury.’

  And as his two colleagues were surprised at such a categorical reply, very unlike what they knew of their chief, Maigret followed it up with:

  ‘It would make him too unhappy to be considered of unsound mind, or even only partly responsible. When he’s standing in the dock, on the other hand, he’ll make sure to act out the part of an exceptional being, a kind of hero.’

  He shrugged his shoulders, smiled sadly and went towards the window to watch the rain fall.

  Read more

  OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES

  * * *

  MAIGRET AND THE NAHOUR CASE

  GEORGES SIMENON

  ‘Maigret had often been called on to deal with individuals of this sort, who were equally at home in London, New York and Rome, who took planes the way other people took the Metro, who stayed in grand hotels … he had trouble suppressing feelings of irritation that might have been taken for jealousy.’

  A professional gambler has been shot dead in his elegant Parisian home, and his enigmatic wife seems the most likely culprit – but Inspector Maigret suspects this notorious case is far more complicated than it appears.

  Translated by Will Hobson

  * * *

  www.penguin.com

  Read more

  OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES

  * * *

  Pietr the Latvian

  The Late Monsieur Gallet

  The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien

  The Carter of La Providence

  The Yellow Dog

  Night at the Crossroads

  A Crime in Holland

  The Grand Banks Café

  A Man’s Head

  The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin

  The Two-Penny Bar

  The Shadow Puppet

  The Saint-Fiacre Affair

  The Flemish House

  The Madman of Bergerac

  The Misty Harbour

  Liberty Bar

  Lock No. I

  Maigret

  Cécile is Dead

  The Cellars of the Majestic

  The Judge’s House

  Signed, Picpus

  Inspector Cadaver

  Félicie

  Maigret Gets Angry

  Maigret in New York

  Maigret’s Holiday

  Maigret’s Dead Man

  Maigret’s First Case

  My Friend Maigret

  Maigret at the Coroner’s

  Maigret and the Old Lady

  Madame Maigret’s Friend

  Maigret’s Memoirs

  Maigret at Picratt’s

  Maigret Takes a Room

  Maigret and the Tall Woman

  Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters

  Maigret’s Revolver

  Maigret and the Man on the Bench

  Maigret is Afraid

  Maigret’s Mistake

  Maigret Goes to School

  Maigret and the Dead Girl

  Maigret and the Minister

  Maigret and the Headless Corpse

  Maigret Sets a Trap

  Maigret’s Failure

  Maigret Enjoys Himself

  Maigret Travels

  Maigret’s Doubts

  Maigret and the Reluctant Witness

  Maigret’s Secret

  Maigret in Court

  Maigret and the Old People

  Maigret and the Lazy Burglar

  Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse

  Maigret and the Saturday Caller

  Maigret and the Tramp

  Maigret’s Anger

  Maigret and the Ghost

  Maigret Defends Himself

  Maigret’s Patience

  Maigret and the Nahour Case

  Maigret’s Pickpocket

  Maigret Hesitates

  Maigret in Vichy

  Maigret’s Childhood Friend

  Maigret and the Killer

  Maigret and the Wine Merchant

  Maigret’s Madwoman

  Maigret and the Loner

  Maigret and the Informer

  Maigret and Monsieur Charles

  * * *

  www.penguin.com

  THE BEGINNING

  Let the conversation begin …

  Follow the Penguin twitter.com/penguinukbooks

  Keep up-to-date with all our stories youtube.com/penguinbooks

  Pin ‘Penguin Books’ to your pinterest.com/penguinukbooks

  Like ‘Penguin Books’ on facebook.com/penguinbooks

  Listen to Penguin at soundcloud.com/penguin-books

  Find out more about the author and

  discover more stories like this at penguin.co.uk

  PENGUIN CLASSICS

  UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

  India | New Zealand | South Africa

  Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  First published in French as Le Voleur de Maigret by Presses de la Cité 1967

  This translation first published 2019

  Copyright © Georges Simenon Limited, 1967

  Translation copyright © Siân Reynolds, 2019

  GEORGES SIMENON ® Simenon.tm

  MAIGRET ® Georges Simenon Limited

  All rights reserved

  The moral rights of the author and translator have been asserted

  Cover photograph (detail)

  © Harry Gruyaert /Magnum Photos

  ISBN: 978-0-241-30418-1