A new translation of Simenon's tense novel, book sixteen in the Maigret series. He recalled his travelling companion's agitated sleep--was it really sleep?--his sighs and his sobbing. Then the two dangling legs, the patent-leather shoes and hand-knitted socks. An insipid face. Glazed eyes. And Maigret was not surprised to see a grey beard eating into his cheeks. A distressed passenger leaps off a night train and vanishes into the woods. Maigret, on his way to a well-earned break in the Dordogne, is soon plunged into the pursuit of a madman hiding amongst the seemingly respectable citizens of Bergerac.

Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. Best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret books, his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.