When Maigret's prized gun goes missing, he must travel to London on the trail of a troubled young man on the run. Maigret's Revolver is a wonderful picture of both London and Paris and one of Simenon's most ingenious and satisfying stories. 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent

'The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect' Daily Telegraph A baffling case. A mysterious inheritance. It starts when a man's arm is fished out of Paris's Canal Saint-Martin. Then the rest of the body is retrieved - apart from the head. Inspector Maigret is determined to unearth the truth behind this disturbing murder. When he meets the strangely taciturn owner of a shabby local bistro, Madame Calas, who says her husband is away, the pieces start to fall into place. But, as the dogged, laconic detective discovers, nothing in this tangled case is as it seems.

'Quite simply a masterpiece' John Banville 'I've just found a stranger in my house. In a bed on the second floor. He was dying when I got there. You're going to have to deal with it' Hector Loursat has been a drunken recluse since his wife left him eighteen years ago. Shut away in his dilapidated mansion in the small town of Moulins, he barely speaks to his daughter. But when the sound of a gunshot penetrates the padded walls of his study one night, and he discovers a body, Loursat is forced to act. No longer able to ignore the world, he determines to get to the truth of what happened, and save an innocent life.

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Georges Simenon's brilliant pipe-smoking detective, Jules Maigret, is one of the most beloved literary creations of the twentieth century. In this adventure, an officer from Scotland Yard is studying Maigret's methods when a call from an island off the Cote d'Azure sends the two men off to an isolated community to investigate its eccentric inhabitants.

'A brilliant portrait of betrayal, hypocrisy, love and loss' Chicago Tribune 'She tried to laugh, but was sobbing at the same time. She attempted to stand up and fell over, but she didn't shatter like the glass' Alone and adrift after losing everything in a divorce, Betty finds her life sliding dangerously out of control. When an older woman, Laure, discovers her drunk in a Paris restaurant and nurses her back to health, she is given another chance. But Betty is damaged, consumed by darkness. As the truth about her past, and her nature, emerges, it threatens to consume Laure too. Originally published in 1961, this gripping psychological thriller caused a sensation and inspired a film adaptation by Claude Chabrol. 'Dark, disturbing ... Simenon discovered something fundamental about the soul' Guardian

The first annual omnibus edition in the new Penguin Inspector Maigret series, comprising four titles from the series so far: Pietr the Latvian, The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, The Carter of La Providence and The Grand Banks Cafe. Additional material includes the original French first edition covers, art directed by Georges Simenon himself. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century ...Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian 'A supreme writer ...unforgettable vividness' Independent

'A unique teller of tales ... What interested Simenon was the average man losing control of his own fate' Observer 'She was beautiful, full of vitality, and he was sixteen years older, a dusty, lonely bookseller whose only passion in life was collecting stamps.' Jonas is used to his young wife disappearing. Everyone in the town knows that she goes off with other men. This time, however, he tells a small lie to protect her, saying she is visiting a school friend. It is a lie, however, that eats into him like an illness, provoking hostility and resentment of this timid little Russian-Jewish bookseller, who always thought he had been accepted. As suspicion mounts, his true, terrifying isolation is revealed.

A gripping new translation of the iconic short story collection featuring Simenon's celebrated literary detective 'The truth was, Maigret knew nothing! Maigret felt. Maigret was sure he was right, would have bet his life on it. But in vain he'd turned the problem over a hundred times in his head, in vain he'd had every taxi driver in Paris questioned' Written and published in journals during the Second World War, these seventeen short stories distil the atmosphere, themes and psychological intensity that make Simenon's famous detective series so compelling. Translated by Howard Curtis and Ros Schwartz 'Not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor' Boyd Tonkin, Times

The first novel which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man. His firm muscles filled out his jacket and quickly pulled all his trousers out of shape. He had a way of imposing himself just by standing there. His assertive presence had often irked many of his own colleagues. In Simenon's first novel featuring Maigret, the laconic detective is taken from grimy bars to luxury hotels as he traces the true identity of Pietr the Latvian. This novel has been published in previous translations as The Case of Peter the Lett and Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves 'You see, I mainly work at night. I've ended up getting to know everybody. They're used to me in Pigalle, I exchange a few words with this person or that person. I go into the bars and cabarets where they give me a quarter bottle of Vichy without waiting for me to order anything.' An anonymous tip-off regarding the death of a restaurant owner sends Maigret into the world of Parisian nightlife, a notorious criminal gang and a man known as 'the Flea'. This novel has been pubished in a previous translation as Maigret and the Flea. 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian

'One of his most erotic and emotionally charged stories' The Times Two people who didn't know each other and who had come together by a miracle in the great city, and who now clung desperately to each other, as if already they felt a chilly solitude settling in. A divorced actor and a lonely woman, both adrift in New York, meet by chance in an all-night diner. It is the start of something, though neither is sure what. As they move through neon-lit streets, bars, rented rooms and cheap motels, these two lost souls struggle to understand what it is that has brought them, in spite of themselves, inexorably together. 'Simenon casts his characteristic spell from the opening lines. There is an evanescent, hallucinatory, almost dreamlike quality throughout' Daily Telegraph 'Three Bedrooms in Manhattan is about how we resist love, how we get dragged into it, spat out, dragged back in against our will' Los Angeles Times

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves 'He hadn't seen her arrive. She had stopped on the pavement a few steps away from him and was peering into the courtyard of the Police Judiciaire, where the small staff cars were parked. She ventured as far as the entrance, looked the officer up and down, then turned round and walked away towards the Pont-Neuf' When an old lady tells Maigret someone has been moving things in her apartment, she is dismissed as a fantasist - until a schocking event proves otherwise. 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian

'There were some weeks that were painful, nerve-racking. At the office or at home, in the middle of a meal, he would suddenly find his forehead bathed in sweat, a tightness in his chest, and at those times, feeling everyone's eyes on him was unbearable.' During a chance meeting on the train from Venice to Paris, a stranger asks Justin Calmar to deliver a briefcase for him to an address in Switzerland. Soon this ordinary family man will become hopelessly, fatally, ensnared in a world of guilt, lies and paranoia. Originally published in 1965, shortly after Simenon moved into the new home he had built in Epalinges, Switzerland, this chilling novel is a powerful exploration of the fragility of the human psyche.

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves A man picked up for wandering in obvious distress among the cars and buses on the Grands Boulevards. Questioned in French, he remains mute . . . A madman? In Maigret's office, he is searched. His suit is new, his underwear is new, his shoes are new. All identifying labels have been removed. No identification papers. No wallet. Five crisp thousand-franc bills have been slipped into one of his pockets. A distressed man is found wandering the streets of Paris, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The answers lead Maigret to a small harbour town, whose quiet citizens conceal a poisonous malice. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Death of a Harbour Master. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves 'Maigret would have found it difficult to formulate an opinion of him. Intelligent, yes, certainly, and highly so, as far as one could tell from what lay beneath some of his utterances. Yet alongside that, there was a naive, rather childish side to him.' Maigret is savouring a beautiful spring morning in Paris when an aspiring film-maker draws his attention to a much less inspiring scene, one where ever-changing loyalties can have tragic consequences. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian

'The father of contemporary European detective fiction' Ann Cleeves 'A radiant late afternoon. The sunshine almost as thick as syrup in the quiet streets of the Left Bank . . . there are days like this, when ordinary life seems heightened, when the people walking down the street, the trams and cars all seem to exist in a fairy tale.' A story told by a condemned man leads Maigret to a bar by the Seine and into the sleazy underside of respectable Parisian life. In the oppressive heat of summer, a forgotten crime comes to light. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel is a revised translation, previously published as The Bar on the Seine. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent

Connecticut, 1969. On their way back from a party, two couples struggle home through the snow. Not everyone arrives safely. The great detective writer Georges Simenon escaped France at the end of World War Two, and arrived in the USA to start again. With his American wife, he settled at Shadow Rock Farm in Lakeville. Years later, he wrote La Main, a psychological thriller set in a New England farmhouse. David Hare has taken this novel, and forged from it a startling new play. The Red Barn premiered at the National Theatre, London, in October 2016.

'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray What was it about him that had struck Maigret so forcefully? . . . Little John had cold eyes! . . . Four or five times in his life, he had met people with cold eyes, those eyes that can stare at you without establishing any human contact. Persuaded to sail to New York by a fearful young law student, Maigret finds himself drawn into the city's underworld, and a wealthy businessman's closely guarded past. 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian

'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray All that was still unclear, for sure. Ernest Malik had been right when he had looked at Maigret with a smile that was a mixture of sarcasm and contempt. This wasn't a case for him. He was out of his depth. This world was unfamiliar to him, and he had difficulty piecing it all together. Peacefully tending his garden in the countryside, Maigret is called upon to investigate a rich family with skeletons in their cupboard - and finds himself confronted by lies, snobbery and malice. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret in Retirement. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian

The city of Simenon's youth comes to life in this new translation of this disturbing novel set in Liege, book ten in the new Penguin Maigret series. In the darkness, the main room is as vast as a cathedral. A great empty space. Some warmth is still seeps from the radiators. Delfosse strikes a match. They stop a moment to catch their breath, and work out how far they have still to go. And suddenly the match falls to the ground, as Delfosse gives a sharp cry and rushes back towards the washroom door. In the dark, he loses his way, returns and bumps into Chabot. Maigret observes from a distance as two boys are accused of killing a rich foreigner in Liege. Their loyalty, which binds them together through their adventures, is put to the test, and seemingly irrelevant social differences threaten their friendship and their freedom. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret at the "Gai-Moulin". 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century' Guardian 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent

'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray Maigret is called to the home of professional gambler, Felix Nahour, who has been found shot dead by his chambermaid. Maigret is shocked to recognise a photo of the man's wife who becomes the main suspect. All signs point to her guilt but Maigret suspects there might be more to this complicated affair. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret on the Defensive. 'His artistry is supreme' John Banville 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian