-
Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $12.01
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
- By: Georges Simenon, Sian Renyolds - Translator
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant new translation of one of Simenon's best loved masterpieces. 'A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion...disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers.' Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man. Then he discovers that his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for - and something snaps.
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
Maigret: Collected Cases
- Classic Radio Crime
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Maurice Denham, Michael Gough
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maurice Denham is the famous French detective Maigret, and Michael Gough is his creator, Georges Simenon, in five classic radio dramatisations. First broadcast in 1976, the episodes are 'Maigret Goes Home', 'Maigret in Montmartre', 'Maigret Has Scruples', 'Maigret in Society' and 'Maigret Sets a Trap'. Maigret is an enduringly popular character, first appearing in print in 1931 and most recently filmed for television starring Rowan Atkinson.
-
-
Excellent short plays
- By SM on 02-22-23
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Snow Was Dirty
- By: Georges Simenon, Howard Curtis - Translator
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'A brilliant new translation of Simenon's critically acclaimed masterpiece.' And always the dirty snow, the heaps of snow that look rotten, with black patches and embedded garbage...unable to cover the filth. Nineteen-year-old Frank - thug, thief, son of a brothel owner - gets by surprisingly well despite living in a city under military occupation, but a warm house and a full stomach are not enough to make him feel truly alive in such a climate of deceit and betrayal.
-
-
An unnecessary story poorly narrated.
- By J-me on 12-30-19
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
Murder in E Minor
- A Nero Wolfe Mystery
- By: Robert Goldsborough
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since disgraced associate Orrie Cather’s suicide, armchair detective Nero Wolfe has relished retirement in his Manhattan brownstone on West 35th Street. Two years after Cather’s death, only a visit from Maria Radovich - and the urging of Wolfe’s prize assistant, Archie Goodwin - could draw the eccentric and reclusive genius back into business. Maria’s uncle, New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Milan Stevens, formerly known as Milos Stefanovic, spent his youth alongside Wolfe as a fellow freedom fighter in the mountains of Montenegro.
-
-
Murder in E Minor
- By Danny Harr on 08-31-22
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Bruno, Chief of Police
- By: Martin Walker
- Narrated by: Robert Ian MacKenzie
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruno is a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country life - living in his restored shepherd's cottage; patronizing the weekly market; sparring with, and basically ignoring, the European Union bureaucrats from Brussels. He has a gun but never wears it; he has the power to arrest but never uses it. But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes everything and galvanizes Bruno's attention.
-
-
Amazing!
- By J. Lindsey on 06-11-16
By: Martin Walker
-
The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
- By: Georges Simenon, Sian Renyolds - Translator
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant new translation of one of Simenon's best loved masterpieces. 'A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion...disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers.' Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man. Then he discovers that his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for - and something snaps.
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
Maigret: Collected Cases
- Classic Radio Crime
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Maurice Denham, Michael Gough
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maurice Denham is the famous French detective Maigret, and Michael Gough is his creator, Georges Simenon, in five classic radio dramatisations. First broadcast in 1976, the episodes are 'Maigret Goes Home', 'Maigret in Montmartre', 'Maigret Has Scruples', 'Maigret in Society' and 'Maigret Sets a Trap'. Maigret is an enduringly popular character, first appearing in print in 1931 and most recently filmed for television starring Rowan Atkinson.
-
-
Excellent short plays
- By SM on 02-22-23
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Snow Was Dirty
- By: Georges Simenon, Howard Curtis - Translator
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'A brilliant new translation of Simenon's critically acclaimed masterpiece.' And always the dirty snow, the heaps of snow that look rotten, with black patches and embedded garbage...unable to cover the filth. Nineteen-year-old Frank - thug, thief, son of a brothel owner - gets by surprisingly well despite living in a city under military occupation, but a warm house and a full stomach are not enough to make him feel truly alive in such a climate of deceit and betrayal.
-
-
An unnecessary story poorly narrated.
- By J-me on 12-30-19
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
Murder in E Minor
- A Nero Wolfe Mystery
- By: Robert Goldsborough
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since disgraced associate Orrie Cather’s suicide, armchair detective Nero Wolfe has relished retirement in his Manhattan brownstone on West 35th Street. Two years after Cather’s death, only a visit from Maria Radovich - and the urging of Wolfe’s prize assistant, Archie Goodwin - could draw the eccentric and reclusive genius back into business. Maria’s uncle, New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Milan Stevens, formerly known as Milos Stefanovic, spent his youth alongside Wolfe as a fellow freedom fighter in the mountains of Montenegro.
-
-
Murder in E Minor
- By Danny Harr on 08-31-22
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Bruno, Chief of Police
- By: Martin Walker
- Narrated by: Robert Ian MacKenzie
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruno is a former soldier who has embraced the pleasures and slow rhythms of country life - living in his restored shepherd's cottage; patronizing the weekly market; sparring with, and basically ignoring, the European Union bureaucrats from Brussels. He has a gun but never wears it; he has the power to arrest but never uses it. But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes everything and galvanizes Bruno's attention.
-
-
Amazing!
- By J. Lindsey on 06-11-16
By: Martin Walker
-
Murder at Little Minton
- By: Karen Baugh Menuhin, Zoe Markham
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miss Busby helped Major Heathcliff Lennox solve a series of murders at Bloxford in the Cotswolds. Now, she finds herself drawn into a new murder, but this time, it's just her, and she must rely on her sharp mind and sharper wits to catch a Cotswolds killer, along with a handsome police inspector and a reporter who's keen to make her mark.
-
-
I Really Tried
- By Stephanie Lannan on 09-21-23
By: Karen Baugh Menuhin, and others
-
Inspector Alan Grant: The Full Collection
- 6 Novels
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 44 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Josephine Tey Collection includes unabridged recordings of all 6 of the novels in the Inspector Alan Grant series.
-
-
Pompous and unsatisfying
- By Kathleen Healey on 02-18-24
By: Josephine Tey
-
The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 70 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here in one recording is every Sherlock Holmes story ever written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally appearing in serial form, these famous stories are here presented in the order in which they were first published beginning in 1887. Included in this definitive, award-winning collection are four novels and 56 short stories, a total of 60 titles. The 56 short stories are aggregated into five named collections, just as they were originally published in book form.
-
-
More collections like this, please!
- By Myusollo on 07-22-14
-
Berlin Game
- A Bernard Samson Novel
- By: Len Deighton
- Narrated by: James Lailey
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin Game begins with a plea from “Brahms Four,” one of Britain’s most valuable agents stationed in East Germany: He wants to cross the Iron Curtain and come to the West. Bernard Samson, the former field agent now stationed in London, is tasked with the rescue. But before he even sets out on the mission, suspicions arise that there is a traitor in the MI6, likely one of his closest colleagues.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Eve on 08-13-23
By: Len Deighton
-
An Accidental Death
- A DC Smith Investigation Series, Book 1
- By: Peter Grainger
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex-DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so.
-
-
Excellent British Mystery
- By Customer on 09-07-16
By: Peter Grainger
-
Fer-de-Lance
- By: Rex Stout
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When someone makes a present of a fer-de-lance - the dreaded snake - to Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin knows he's close to solving two apparently unrelated murders. As for Wolfe, he's playing snake charmer in a case more deadly than a cobra and whistling a seductive tune he hopes will catch a killer with poison in his heart.
-
-
One of the best crime series of all time.
- By ShySusan on 03-27-13
By: Rex Stout
-
The Josephine Tey Collection: 6 Alan Grant Novels; Brat Farrar; & Miss Pym Disposes
- The Man in the Queue; A Shilling for Candles; The Franchise Affair; To Love and Be Wise; The Daughter of Time; The Singing Sands; Miss Pym Disposes; Brat Farrar
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 61 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Josephine Tey Collection includes unabridged recordings of Tey's 8 major novels in one audiobook, including all 6 of the novels in the Inspector Alan Grant series.
-
-
Thank you Audible - best spent credit ever
- By Lynn on 05-14-23
By: Josephine Tey
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
-
-
Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- By Tracey on 05-26-13
By: Robert Galbraith
-
The Art of Lying
- Tea? Coffee? Murder! 1
- By: Ellen Barksdale
- Narrated by: Jessica Whittaker
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are only two possibilities: either lovely old Miss Beresford from Earlsraven is suffering from dementia or there's something fishy going on at her house! But what has Nathalie got to do with it? The young woman has just moved from Liverpool to tranquil Earlsraven to take up her aunt's legacy: the Black Feather pub. But when Miss Beresford discovers a dead body in her garden, Nathalie and her cook Louise begin to investigate. About the series: There was nothing in the will about this... Cottages, English roses and rolling hills: that's Earlsraven.
-
-
Boring
- By Suzanne Kellman on 08-09-23
By: Ellen Barksdale
-
The Black Echo: Harry Bosch Series, Book 1
- By: Michael Connelly
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For maverick LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal...because the murdered man was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war. Now Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam.
-
-
What a Terrific Book
- By Daniel McAfee on 08-01-08
By: Michael Connelly
-
Murder on Brittany Shores
- By: Jean-Luc Bannalec
- Narrated by: Jean Brassard
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten miles off the coast of Brittany lie the fabled Glénan Islands. Boasting sparkling white sands and crystal-clear waters, they seem perfectly idyllic, until one day in May three bodies wash up on the shore. At first glance the deaths appear accidental, but as the identities of the victims come to light, cantankerous Commissaire Dupin is pulled back into action for a case of what seems to be cold-blooded murder.
-
-
Most enjoyable. Great narrator.
- By Sue MB on 12-28-20
-
The Alienist
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.
-
-
Outstanding on several levels.
- By lyl on 12-30-12
By: Caleb Carr
Publisher's summary
The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.
Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. 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. Georges Simenon was born in Liège, 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.
David Bellos is Director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University and has won many awards for his translations including the Man Booker International Translator's Award (2005).
Critic reviews
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Babylon Berlin
- Gereon Rath, Book 1
- By: Volker Kutscher
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1929. Detective Inspector Rath was a successful career officer in the Cologne Homicide Division before a shooting incident in which he inadvertently killed a man. He has been transferred to the vice squad in Berlin, a job he detests even though he finds a new friend in his boss, Chief Inspector Wolter. There is seething unrest in the city, and the Commissioner of Police has ordered the vice squad to ruthlessly enforce the ban on May Day demonstrations.
-
-
It's no Bernie Gunther Mystery ...
- By Brian English on 01-28-18
By: Volker Kutscher
-
Dying in the Wool
- A Kate Shackleton Mystery, Book 1
- By: Frances Brody
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bridgestead is a peaceful spot: a babbling brook, rolling hills, and a working mill at its heart. Pretty and remote, nothing exceptional happens...until the day that Master of the Mill Joshua Braithwaite goes missing under dramatic circumstances, never to be heard of again. Now Joshua's daughter is getting married and wants to make one last attempt at finding her father. Kate Shackleton has always loved solving puzzles. So who better to get to the bottom of Joshua's mysterious disappearance?
-
-
Fluff & Nonsense
- By Sara on 01-03-15
By: Frances Brody
-
Single & Single
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A lawyer from the London finance house of Single & Single is shot dead on a Turkish hillside by people with whom he thought he was in business. A children's magician is asked by his bank to explain the unsolicited arrival of more than five million pounds sterling in his young daughter's modest trust. A freighter bound for Liverpool is boarded by Russian coast guards in the Black Sea. The celebrated London merchant venturer "Tiger" Single disappears into thin air.
-
-
The spy who came back to the bank
- By Darwin8u on 03-12-14
By: John le Carré
-
Meet the Tiger
- A Simon “The Saint” Templar Novel
- By: Leslie Charteris
- Narrated by: John Rayburn
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fiction world of today needs a “Saint” more than it ever did. For years now that scene has been dominated by the “anti-heroes"—those grim gray operators in a sunless sub-culture where global issues are worked out with totally unemotional pragmatism, those hapless uninspired puppets manipulated and expended by ruthlessly dedicated little brothers of Big Brother. It made morbidly fascinating narrative, but it never gave anyone a lift until it climaxed in the hyper-gadgeted parodies of 007 extravaganzas.
By: Leslie Charteris
-
King, Queen, Knave
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel is the story of Dreyer, a wealthy and boisterous proprietor of a men’s clothing emporium. Ruddy, self-satisfied, and thoroughly masculine, he is perfectly repugnant to his exquisite but cold middle-class wife, Martha. Attracted to his money but repelled by his oblivious passion, she longs for their nephew instead, the thin, awkward, myopic Franz. Newly arrived in Berlin, Franz soon repays his uncle’s condescension in his aunt’s bed.
-
-
A non-Euclidean German love triangle.
- By Darwin8u on 04-01-13
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
Except the Dying
- A Murdoch Mystery, Book 1
- By: Maureen Jennings
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the cold Toronto winter of 1895, the naked body of a servant girl is found frozen in a deserted laneway. The young victim was pregnant when she died. Detective William Murdoch soon discovers that many of those connected with the girl's life have secrets to hide. Was her death on attempt to cover up a scandal in one of the city's influential families?
-
-
If you like the show - don't buy
- By Sarah on 06-09-16
By: Maureen Jennings
-
Babylon Berlin
- Gereon Rath, Book 1
- By: Volker Kutscher
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1929. Detective Inspector Rath was a successful career officer in the Cologne Homicide Division before a shooting incident in which he inadvertently killed a man. He has been transferred to the vice squad in Berlin, a job he detests even though he finds a new friend in his boss, Chief Inspector Wolter. There is seething unrest in the city, and the Commissioner of Police has ordered the vice squad to ruthlessly enforce the ban on May Day demonstrations.
-
-
It's no Bernie Gunther Mystery ...
- By Brian English on 01-28-18
By: Volker Kutscher
-
Dying in the Wool
- A Kate Shackleton Mystery, Book 1
- By: Frances Brody
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bridgestead is a peaceful spot: a babbling brook, rolling hills, and a working mill at its heart. Pretty and remote, nothing exceptional happens...until the day that Master of the Mill Joshua Braithwaite goes missing under dramatic circumstances, never to be heard of again. Now Joshua's daughter is getting married and wants to make one last attempt at finding her father. Kate Shackleton has always loved solving puzzles. So who better to get to the bottom of Joshua's mysterious disappearance?
-
-
Fluff & Nonsense
- By Sara on 01-03-15
By: Frances Brody
-
Single & Single
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A lawyer from the London finance house of Single & Single is shot dead on a Turkish hillside by people with whom he thought he was in business. A children's magician is asked by his bank to explain the unsolicited arrival of more than five million pounds sterling in his young daughter's modest trust. A freighter bound for Liverpool is boarded by Russian coast guards in the Black Sea. The celebrated London merchant venturer "Tiger" Single disappears into thin air.
-
-
The spy who came back to the bank
- By Darwin8u on 03-12-14
By: John le Carré
-
Meet the Tiger
- A Simon “The Saint” Templar Novel
- By: Leslie Charteris
- Narrated by: John Rayburn
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fiction world of today needs a “Saint” more than it ever did. For years now that scene has been dominated by the “anti-heroes"—those grim gray operators in a sunless sub-culture where global issues are worked out with totally unemotional pragmatism, those hapless uninspired puppets manipulated and expended by ruthlessly dedicated little brothers of Big Brother. It made morbidly fascinating narrative, but it never gave anyone a lift until it climaxed in the hyper-gadgeted parodies of 007 extravaganzas.
By: Leslie Charteris
-
King, Queen, Knave
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel is the story of Dreyer, a wealthy and boisterous proprietor of a men’s clothing emporium. Ruddy, self-satisfied, and thoroughly masculine, he is perfectly repugnant to his exquisite but cold middle-class wife, Martha. Attracted to his money but repelled by his oblivious passion, she longs for their nephew instead, the thin, awkward, myopic Franz. Newly arrived in Berlin, Franz soon repays his uncle’s condescension in his aunt’s bed.
-
-
A non-Euclidean German love triangle.
- By Darwin8u on 04-01-13
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
Except the Dying
- A Murdoch Mystery, Book 1
- By: Maureen Jennings
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the cold Toronto winter of 1895, the naked body of a servant girl is found frozen in a deserted laneway. The young victim was pregnant when she died. Detective William Murdoch soon discovers that many of those connected with the girl's life have secrets to hide. Was her death on attempt to cover up a scandal in one of the city's influential families?
-
-
If you like the show - don't buy
- By Sarah on 06-09-16
By: Maureen Jennings
-
Puppet on a Chain
- By: Alistair MacLean
- Narrated by: Jonathan Oliver
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed master of action and suspense. The all-time classic. Paul Sherman of Interpol's Narcotics Bureau flies to Amsterdam on the trail of a dope king. With enormous skill the atmosphere is built up: Amsterdam with its canals and high houses; stolid police; psychopaths; women in distress; and above all, murder.
-
-
great story, great plot, lots of action. Could no
- By Kindle Customer on 03-28-19
By: Alistair MacLean
-
Knots and Crosses
- Inspector Rebus, Book 1
- By: Ian Rankin
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Detective John Rebus' city is being terrorized by a baffling series of murders…and he's tied to a maniac by an invisible knot of blood. As the ghoulish killings mount and the tabloid headlines scream, Rebus cannot stop the feverish shrieks from within his own mind. Because he isn't just one cop trying to catch a killer - he's the man who's got all the pieces to the puzzle…
-
-
I've Read Mixed Reviews and Can Marry Them
- By Steve Mac on 02-13-16
By: Ian Rankin
-
Three Comrades
- By: Erich Maria Remarque, Arthur Wesley Wheen - translator
- Narrated by: Michael Braun
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can have never imagined.
-
-
Love and friendship in a dying world.
- By Tarquin on 03-18-19
By: Erich Maria Remarque, and others
-
Night Soldiers
- By: Alan Furst
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 18 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times bestselling author Alan Furst is widely recognized as master of the historical spy novel. Furst’s works are vivid evocations of long-forgotten heroes and feature plots that unfold to the inexorable cadence of history. Night Soldiers is a simultaneously thrilling and illuminating tale of espionage set in 1934.
-
-
Best Alan Furst novel!
- By Placeholder on 04-27-11
By: Alan Furst
-
The Firemaker
- By: Peter May
- Narrated by: Peter Forbes
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A grotesquely burned corpse found in a city park is a troubling mystery for Beijing detective Li Yan. Yan, devoted to his career as a means of restoring the respect his family lost during the Cultural Revolution, needs outside help if he is to break the case. The unidentified cadaver in turn provides a welcome distraction for forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell. Campbell, married to her work and having left America and her broken past behind, throws herself into the investigation and before long uncovers a bizarre anomaly.
-
-
worst book I've listened to this year
- By I Wonder on 08-03-19
By: Peter May
-
The Cleaner
- By: Elisabeth Herrmann
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pools of blood, scenes of carnage, signs of agonising death - who deals with the aftermath of violence once the bodies have been taken away? Judith Kepler has seen it all. She is a crime-scene specialist. She turns crime scenes back into habitable spaces. She is a cleaner. It is at the home of a woman who has been brutally murdered that she is suddenly confronted with her own past. The murder victim knew Judith's secret: as a child Judith was sent to an orphanage under mysterious circumstances - parentage unknown.
-
-
Reader was very distracting
- By Merry Unbirthday on 10-16-17
-
No Comebacks
- By: Frederick Forsyth
- Narrated by: Nigel Davenport
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deception, blackmail, murder, revenge - these are themes of stories that move from London to the coast of Spain, from Mauritius to Dublin. Whether his subject is assassination by stealth, gun-smuggling or the cruel confidence trick Forsyth is never less than compulsive.Here are eight stories with the Forsyth touch - a brilliant and original collection by an incomparable craftsman of suspense.
-
-
Some excellent stories
- By Christopher on 08-05-12
-
A Perfect Spy
- A Novel
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of his seemingly irreproachable life, Magnus Pym has been all things to all people: a devoted family man, a trusted colleague, a loyal friend - and the perfect spy. But in the wake of his estranged father's death, Magnus vanishes, and the British Secret Service is up in arms. Is it grief, or is the reason for his disappearance more sinister? And who is the mysterious man with the sad moustache who also seems to be looking for Magnus? In A Perfect Spy, John le Carré has crafted one of his crowning masterpieces.
-
-
Remembrances of loyalties past
- By Darwin8u on 04-13-13
By: John le Carré
-
Field of Blood
- By: Denise Mina
- Narrated by: Heather O'Neill
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Little Brian Wilcox's murder is the hottest story in Scotland. Every major newspaper crowds its pages with stories examining the crime from every angle. If only Paddy Meehan could get a scoop on the case. A nationally syndicated story would surely launch her fledgling journalism career out of the free local rag she's been working at.
-
-
Wrong Accent
- By Amazon Customer on 04-01-14
By: Denise Mina
-
The Spy Wore Red
- By: Aline, Countess of Romanones
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Aline Griffith was born in Pearl River, New York, in 1923, one might have guessed from her exceptional beauty that a career as an actress or model might be in her future. Few would have imagined that twenty-one years later, she would find herself in Spain as a deep-cover OSS agent, infiltrating the highest levels of Spanish society, or that five years later still, she would marry a Spanish grandee and become one of the most watched, most admired, most fascinating women of international society. This is the story of Aline, Countess of Romanones, a story of courage, beauty and success that is far more exciting than any fictionalized thriller.
-
-
A must read!!
- By KaY.2012 on 12-29-14
By: Aline, and others
-
Murphy's Law
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Murphy always knew she'd end up in trouble, just as her mother predicted. So, when she commits murder in self-defense, she flees her cherished Ireland, under cover of a false identity, for the anonymous shores of late 19th-century America. When she arrives in New York and sees the welcoming promise of freedom in the Statue of Liberty, Molly begins to breathe easier. But when a man is murdered on Ellis Island, a man Molly was seen arguing with, she becomes a prime suspect in the crime.
-
-
Cream Puff Read
- By Jan on 12-19-13
By: Rhys Bowen
-
Koko
- Blue Rose Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 22 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
KOKO. Only four men knew what it meant. Now they must stop it. They are Vietnam vets — a doctor, a lawyer, a working stiff, and a writer. Very different from each other, they are nonetheless linked by a shared history and a single shattering secret. Now, they have been reunited and are about to embark on a quest that will take them from Washington, D.C., to the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York.
-
-
7 hours in and I am done
- By bionichands on 01-26-12
By: Peter Straub
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Maigret: Collected Cases
- Classic Radio Crime
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Maurice Denham, Michael Gough
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maurice Denham is the famous French detective Maigret, and Michael Gough is his creator, Georges Simenon, in five classic radio dramatisations. First broadcast in 1976, the episodes are 'Maigret Goes Home', 'Maigret in Montmartre', 'Maigret Has Scruples', 'Maigret in Society' and 'Maigret Sets a Trap'. Maigret is an enduringly popular character, first appearing in print in 1931 and most recently filmed for television starring Rowan Atkinson.
-
-
Excellent short plays
- By SM on 02-22-23
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Snow Was Dirty
- By: Georges Simenon, Howard Curtis - Translator
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'A brilliant new translation of Simenon's critically acclaimed masterpiece.' And always the dirty snow, the heaps of snow that look rotten, with black patches and embedded garbage...unable to cover the filth. Nineteen-year-old Frank - thug, thief, son of a brothel owner - gets by surprisingly well despite living in a city under military occupation, but a warm house and a full stomach are not enough to make him feel truly alive in such a climate of deceit and betrayal.
-
-
An unnecessary story poorly narrated.
- By J-me on 12-30-19
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
- By: Georges Simenon, Sian Renyolds - Translator
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant new translation of one of Simenon's best loved masterpieces. 'A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion...disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers.' Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man. Then he discovers that his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for - and something snaps.
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
The Hand
- By: Georges Simenon, Linda Coverdale - Translator
- Narrated by: Peter Brooke
- Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'I had begun, God knows why, tearing a corner off of everyday truth, begun seeing myself in another kind of mirror, and now the whole of the old, more or less comfortable truth was falling to pieces.' Confident and successful, New York advertising executive Ray Sanders takes what he wants from life. When he goes missing in a snowstorm in Connecticut one evening, his closest friend begins to reassess his loyalties, gambling with Ray's fate and his own future.
-
-
predecessor of Gone Girl
- By knvmxi on 11-24-16
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
When I Was Old
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Georges Simenon's autobiographical notebooks, in which he recorded his observations, experiences, anxieties and 'all the silly ideas that pass through my head', are one of the most candid self-portraits of a writer ever put to paper. Here, as the celebrated author ruthlessly examines his tortuous writing methods, his past, his fame, his intimate relationships and his fears of ageing, the result is an unsparing, often painfully revealing insight into a man trying both to find and to escape himself.
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Blue Room
- By: Georges Simenon, Linda Coverdale - Translator
- Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new translation of Simenon's gripping novel about lives transformed by deceit and the destructive power of lust. It was all real: himself, the room, Andrée still lying on the ravaged bed. For Tony and Andrée, there are no rules when they meet in the blue room at the Hôtel des Voyageurs. Their adulterous affair is intoxicating, passionate - and dangerous. Soon it turns into a nightmare from which there can be no escape.
-
-
Simenon, a genius. The blue room is psychological space.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-06-17
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
Maigret: Collected Cases
- Classic Radio Crime
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Maurice Denham, Michael Gough
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maurice Denham is the famous French detective Maigret, and Michael Gough is his creator, Georges Simenon, in five classic radio dramatisations. First broadcast in 1976, the episodes are 'Maigret Goes Home', 'Maigret in Montmartre', 'Maigret Has Scruples', 'Maigret in Society' and 'Maigret Sets a Trap'. Maigret is an enduringly popular character, first appearing in print in 1931 and most recently filmed for television starring Rowan Atkinson.
-
-
Excellent short plays
- By SM on 02-22-23
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Snow Was Dirty
- By: Georges Simenon, Howard Curtis - Translator
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'A brilliant new translation of Simenon's critically acclaimed masterpiece.' And always the dirty snow, the heaps of snow that look rotten, with black patches and embedded garbage...unable to cover the filth. Nineteen-year-old Frank - thug, thief, son of a brothel owner - gets by surprisingly well despite living in a city under military occupation, but a warm house and a full stomach are not enough to make him feel truly alive in such a climate of deceit and betrayal.
-
-
An unnecessary story poorly narrated.
- By J-me on 12-30-19
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
- By: Georges Simenon, Sian Renyolds - Translator
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant new translation of one of Simenon's best loved masterpieces. 'A certain furtive, almost shameful emotion...disturbed him whenever he saw a train go by, a night train especially, its blinds drawn down on the mystery of its passengers.' Kees Popinga is a respectable Dutch citizen and family man. Then he discovers that his boss has bankrupted the shipping firm he works for - and something snaps.
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
The Hand
- By: Georges Simenon, Linda Coverdale - Translator
- Narrated by: Peter Brooke
- Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'I had begun, God knows why, tearing a corner off of everyday truth, begun seeing myself in another kind of mirror, and now the whole of the old, more or less comfortable truth was falling to pieces.' Confident and successful, New York advertising executive Ray Sanders takes what he wants from life. When he goes missing in a snowstorm in Connecticut one evening, his closest friend begins to reassess his loyalties, gambling with Ray's fate and his own future.
-
-
predecessor of Gone Girl
- By knvmxi on 11-24-16
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
When I Was Old
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Georges Simenon's autobiographical notebooks, in which he recorded his observations, experiences, anxieties and 'all the silly ideas that pass through my head', are one of the most candid self-portraits of a writer ever put to paper. Here, as the celebrated author ruthlessly examines his tortuous writing methods, his past, his fame, his intimate relationships and his fears of ageing, the result is an unsparing, often painfully revealing insight into a man trying both to find and to escape himself.
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Blue Room
- By: Georges Simenon, Linda Coverdale - Translator
- Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new translation of Simenon's gripping novel about lives transformed by deceit and the destructive power of lust. It was all real: himself, the room, Andrée still lying on the ravaged bed. For Tony and Andrée, there are no rules when they meet in the blue room at the Hôtel des Voyageurs. Their adulterous affair is intoxicating, passionate - and dangerous. Soon it turns into a nightmare from which there can be no escape.
-
-
Simenon, a genius. The blue room is psychological space.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-06-17
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
Le chien jaune
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Bruno Solo
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Des notables peu recommandables... À Concarneau, des faits troublants mettent la ville en émoi. On tente d'assassiner M. Mostaguen, au sortir de sa partie de cartes quotidienne à l'Hôtel de l'Amiral. Le sort s'acharne sur ses partenaires, car, deux jours après l'arrivée de Maigret, Jean Servières, rédacteur au Phare de Brest, disparaît ; le siège avant de sa voiture est maculé de sang. M. Le Pommeret meurt chez lui, empoisonné. Le docteur Michoux pense être le suivant.
-
-
Classic Maigret
- By David Frank on 04-20-23
By: Georges Simenon
-
La première enquête de Maigret
- Commissaire Maigret
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Marcel Mouloudji, Vanina Michel
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Qui a tiré un coup de revolver, en pleine nuit, dans l'hôtel particulier de la puissante famille Gendreau-Balthazar, rue Chaptal ? Tout jeune secrétaire du commissariat du quartier Saint-Georges, Jules Maigret se voit confier une enquête officieuse - car on n'attaque pas de front ces gens de la haute société aux relations influentes. Maigret va habilement débrouiller l'écheveau des secrets de la famille Gendreau.
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Moving Target
- A Lew Archer Novel
- By: Ross Macdonald
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As private eye Lew Archer follows the clues from the canyon sanctuaries of the megarich to jazz joints where you can get beaten up between sets, The Moving Target blends sex, greed, misdirected love, and family hatred into an explosive crime novel.
-
-
Unbearable
- By Bodiccea on 07-07-18
By: Ross Macdonald
-
Pietr-le-letton
- By: Georges Simenon
- Narrated by: Antoine Duléry
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jumeaux et escroquerie... La police internationale signale l'arrivée à Paris du célèbre escroc "Pietr-le-letton". Maigret le file dès sa descente du rapide L'Étoile-du-Nord. Mais alors que le suspect se rend à l'hôtel Majestic, on découvre dans le train un cadavre qui est son sosie. Tandis que Pietr prend de mystérieux contacts avec un milliardaire américain, M. Mortimer-Levingston, l'enquête sur le meurtre conduit Maigret à Fécamp, où il l'aperçoit, sortant de la villa d'une certaine Mme Swaan.
By: Georges Simenon
-
The Mahé Circle
- By: Georges Simenon, Sian Reynolds - Translator
- Narrated by: Philip Bird
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first English publication of Georges Simenon's compelling novel about summer escape and elusive obsessions. 'The island itself. Its throbbing heat as if in a bell jar under the sun, the scorpion in his son's bed, the deafening sound of cicadas.' During his first holiday on the island of Porquerolles, Dr Mahé caught a glimpse of something irresistible. As the memory continues to haunt him, he falls prey to a delusion that may offer an escape from his conventional existence - or may destroy him.
By: Georges Simenon, and others
-
The Man in the Queue
- Inspector Alan Grant Series, Book 1
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first of Josephine Tey's Inspector Grant mysteries concerns the murder of a man, standing in a ticket queue for a London musical comedy. With his customary tenacity, Grant pursues his suspects through the length of Britain and the labyrinth of the city.
-
-
Unerringly dull...
- By Marianna on 04-27-18
By: Josephine Tey
What listeners say about Pietr the Latvian
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adeliese Baumann
- 11-19-14
Long live Maigret
I've been disappointed with so many new, highly acclaimed books lately that I find myself turning back to the classics once again. (As usual, curmudgeon that I am). Now I'm working my way back through the Simenon canon and enjoying every minute. I'd almost forgotten how much I loved Maigret! A big, strong, man of few words who can take a bullet and keep on working, never complaining or blaming. For me, that's old school sexy and I'd like to see it come back into style!
The stories are edgy, sometimes raw, and always realistic. Paris is not idealised as it is so often, but shown with all its flaws and very much anchored in that particular postwar time. Simenon knows how to choose just the right detail in his description, saying volumes in a simple but compelling observation. Such simplicity is a great gift, and much appreciated.
In short, you can't go far wrong. The translation is good, the story fast-paced and interesting, and Gareth Armstrong has fantastic pacing, a beautiful voice, and gives us an excellent narration. May you enjoy taking a trip into the old days with the unforgettable, highly original character that is Maigret.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
69 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kathi
- 03-03-14
First of the Maigret books--well narrated
Georges Simenon, a Belgian writer in early 20th century, wrote many novels--perhaps most notably the Commissaire Jules Maigret series. Maigret is a detective in the French police, and he seems to find his criminal without using the customary procedural methods, but just following his own instincts.
In this book, the first in the series, Maigret is seeking a criminal who eludes him most cleverly. He seems to appear everywhere, only to be elsewhere instead. It begins with Maigret examining a body in the lavatory of a train, who looks like the man he is chasing, but he finds that Pietr has escaped, which begins his pursuit of him in many cities.
The writing is plain, lacking some of the exciting twists and turns of later detective stories, but fun because Simenon has created a character with a distinct personality (his pipe, his hat, his individualized way of pursuing his adversary). He tends to seek "the crack in the wall," meaning he uses a bit of psychology--waiting until he can observe his criminal in a way that shows the parts the man would not have liked to reveal about himself.
This is a very good translation of this book. And the narration is excellent. Recommend to those who enjoy books from the early era of detective fiction.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
47 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Neal
- 10-04-15
Real crime here is the English accent narration
Has Pietr the Latvian turned you off from other books in this genre?
No this genre, but certainly this Audible series as they are all narrated in an English accent
What didn’t you like about Gareth Armstrong’s performance?
Mr Armstrong is a wonderful narrator. But Audible should have chosen someone with a French accent to narrate this French story. This was like listening to Sherlock Holmes with a Spanish accent.
Any additional comments?
Why in the world would Audible take a classic French detective series and have it narrated with an English accent? So much of the atmosphere and locality is completely missed when the characters of a French detective novel speak with English accents (except, oddly enough, the Latvian).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
40 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marco Antonio Lara
- 10-16-15
How Georges wrote his stories
Georges had a very structured approach in writing his stories, adhering to a formula in writing much of his work. Living on a houseboat, he might research his story over a long, if fragmented duration. When ready to start the story, he might type the tale sitting outside (presumably weather allowing) on his boat. The writing of the novel would occur over a roughly two week period, typing each morning three hours from 7 to 10 o'clock. Each day, the work would thus advance maybe a chapter a day, with the conclusion and plot structure not determined until actual composition.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
21 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- analyzethis
- 12-08-16
I know this is a classic, but I just don't get it
Millions love Inspector Maigret, so when I was browsing for something to listen to, I thought: this must be a sure bet. Instead, I ended up with possibly the most boring book I have encountered in years. The plot was completely uninteresting, involving characters I could not care about. Most of the book involved descriptions of Maigret getting wet: by being out in the rain, or walking in shallow water on a beach - uncomfortable for him no doubt, but not really that interesting for me. I did listen to the end but only because: I was on a trip and downloading a new book was difficult, and the narrator was terrific. Perfect voice for the genre and he really worked hard, though ultimately in vain, to make the story interesting.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 07-27-20
Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow. Wow.
I am grateful that I never watched any of the myriad film or TV versions of Maigret, thereby avoiding preconceived notions, actors’ interpretations, or secondhand imagery. This is a stunning book, compact and forceful, from the tightly condensed plot to the prose that drives that plot forward. And Gareth Armstrong’s performance does both full justice. The best news? Audible has 63 more, all with Mr. Armstrong at the mic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lori
- 10-12-16
Lost in the translation
What did you like best about Pietr the Latvian? What did you like least?
I listened to the whole book. Nice performance. But the plot was hard to follow and I never understood or really cared about any of the characters. There was a nice twist at the end that tied up a lot of loose ends but it wasn’t enough for me to want to read another of his books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elizabeth Kushigian
- 11-14-20
Very Offensive
If you like a macho detective, hysterical women, and Jews portrayed as stinky and smelly, this author is for you. And no, I don't consider the bygone era a valid excuse.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joe Kraus
- 10-24-16
Middle Brow Procedural Shows Its Age
Any additional comments?
Reading this novella is like watching a Hitchcock film. You can see a lot of the skill it took to make it, but you can also see – a little sadly in my case – how dated its narrative technology is.
In many respects, this is the dawn of the police procedural. We get to see Inspector Maigret as he sets out, not to solve a crime, but to prove the title character is guilty. We know the formula today, and it’s often done well in television and film, but it’s new here. There’s some historical interest in seeing Simenon unfold (presumably for the first time anywhere) the possibilities of the procedural. For instance, we get the occasional scene from the antagonist’s perspective. And there are striking moments when discarded aspects of life come into significant play: such as when Maigret relies of a call to a hotel switchboard of the sort that no longer exists.
But, truth be told, this feels a lot longer than it is. Just as Hitchcock “builds suspense” by showing us certain shots longer than we expect, the method feels unsuited for a 21st century reader. My take on Hitchcock has long been that his mastery in the 1950s consisted of waiting just a beat too long, of making his viewers hold their breaths for an instant before giving them what they expected or shocking them with what they feared. Hitchcock doesn’t work for most of today’s viewers because, with our shortened attention spans, we’re waiting what feels like a half dozen beats too long. The rhythm is off, so out of sync with our expectations that there’s less suspense than what-are-you-waiting-for irritation.
Simenon is not about suspense, but a good part of this one is about watch-me-show-you-how-it’s-done. We get, for instance, a quick refresher about the fact of “hit men,” professional killers hired by organized crime. That may have felt like esoteric information when this came out; now it feels condescending.
I suspect (on the basis of his reputation) that Simenon got better the farther he went with these. As this one unfolds, however, the plot gets more and more contrived. Our title character is two people, then he’s one person playing his identical twin brother. For a time he’s a heartless killer and international thief, and then he’s a weary ex-patriate who no longer wants to hurt anyone. I confess I got lost in the final unraveling, but I confess as well that I had stopped caring.
There are elements here worth paying real attention to (probably more attention than I paid), and I may give a later Maigret another shot. Still, this feels as “middle-brow” as Hitchcock has come to feel for me: a kind of art that, however impressive it was in its day, looks more and more like a sullied compromise between what the cutting edge was doing and what the uncritical market wanted.
This is probably a three-star book given its historical significance and the fact that it is, all these years later, a model of efficient story-telling. Still, I have to ding it another star for its casual, unembarrassed anti-Semitism. That may add to the historical quality, but it’s a downer to read all the same.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ann
- 10-07-16
Great Mystery!
Great mystery! Truly inspired narration plus a great story makes this a fantastic listen! Can't wait to download the next in series!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful