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A review by cleheny
The Carter of La Providence by Georges Simenon
3.0
This is the fourth Maigret mystery I've read, and Simenon follows a definite pattern. Maigret is confronted with a death but very little definite evidence. Suspects are identified but information is often inconclusive; at certain points, we get to hear Maigret's internal thoughts, but they frequently reflect how little can be concluded from the facts that can be confirmed. I like Simenon's writing, and he continues to impress with stories that focus on the marginalized or desperate. Maigret's murderers all have poignant or tragic stories. But it's a little frustrating as a reader to have so little to go on.
This mystery is particularly challenging to visualize because it takes place at a lock along France's canal system. If you are unfamiliar with how the canal system worked, as I was (particularly how the system worked in 1931, when horses were used to drag barges along canals), it can be difficult to follow some of the action and make sense of the available clues. Maigret is also unfamiliar with the system and the culture, but Simenon doesn't use his protagonist as an information dump. Maigret doesn't ask a lot of questions about how the system works, so much as he absorbs the milieu and customs. Information dumps are annoying, but I would have liked a better window into a world that I know little about and have trouble visualizing.
This mystery is particularly challenging to visualize because it takes place at a lock along France's canal system. If you are unfamiliar with how the canal system worked, as I was (particularly how the system worked in 1931, when horses were used to drag barges along canals), it can be difficult to follow some of the action and make sense of the available clues. Maigret is also unfamiliar with the system and the culture, but Simenon doesn't use his protagonist as an information dump. Maigret doesn't ask a lot of questions about how the system works, so much as he absorbs the milieu and customs. Information dumps are annoying, but I would have liked a better window into a world that I know little about and have trouble visualizing.