Le pendu de Saint-Pholien vs Maigret et le clochard: Which Should You Read?

Le pendu de Saint-Pholien Georges Simenon · 1931 ★★★★☆ 3.8 161 pages · ≈ 2 h 59 m · Challenging

First published as Le Pendu de St Pholien, this early Simenon records how Maigret unwittingly drove a little man to suicide. You'd have said that Louis Jeunet was a down-at-heel layabout, but he was packeting up over…

Maigret et le clochard Georges Simenon · 1963 ★★★★☆ 3.7 160 pages · ≈ 2 h 58 m · Moderate

“For a moment, somewhere between the Quai des Orfevres and the Pont Marie, Maigret halted, so briefly that Lapointe, who was walking beside him, did not notice.”

A vagrant living under a bridge is assaulted at night, knocked hard enough to fracture his skull, and thrown into the River Seine. Two bargemen from barges moored nearby fish him out of the cold water before he drowns…