Welcome to Litsy!

Starting this tonight. #libraryfind #serieslove2024
#AwesomeAprilReadathon

Maigret is close to retirement, though the authorities have just raised retirement age for police inspectors by five years, so he's got some way to go yet. Simenon deftly paints an impression of a man ready to lay down the burden of long responsibility, and who will likely be lost without that lifetime purpose.
Following what the papers report as a frenzied knife attack by a lunatic, Maigret is pressured by the Examining Magistrate to bring in ⬇️

"A man who kills cuts himself off in a sense from the human community. In the blink of an eye, he stops being an individual like the rest...Even real killers, professionals. Their manner is aggressive, sarcastic; it's because they need to show off, to make themselves believe they can still exist as men."

"She poured some rum into a glass, added some sugar, left in the spoon so that the glass didn't shatter and added boiling water.
- A slice of lemon?
- No."

Well I haven't earned my hot rum by attending a murder scene in the pouring rain, but it seemed rude not to join Maigret in a bracing drink. Cheers ?
#BooksAndBooze

"For the first time since they had been going for dinner with the Pardons once a month, Maigret had a memory of the evening at Boulevard Voltaire that was almost painful."

This one is near the end of the Maigret series (70/75), so it will be interesting to see if Simenon shows any signs of him ageing.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl