<b>Praise for Georges Simenon:</b><br /><br />“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —<i>The Guardian</i><br /><br /> “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —<i>The Washington Post<br /></i><br /> “The matchless French crime novelist.” —Adam Gopnik, <i>The New Yorker</i><br /><br /> “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —<i>People</i><br /><br /> “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner<br /><br /> “An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style.” —Amor Towles<br /><br />“I never read contemporary fiction–with one exception: the works of Simenon.” —T.S. Eliot<br /><br /> “A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré<br /><br /> “One of the most important writers of our century.” —Gabriel García Márquez<br /><br /> “A favorite writer of mine.” —Sigrid Nunez<br /><br />“A great writer of detail, of atmosphere.” —Leïla Slimani<br /><br />“Feels incredibly modern…A great writer.” —Ian Rankin<br /><br /> “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide<br /><br /> “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —<i>The Independent</i> (London)<br /><br /> “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —<i>The Observer</i> (London)<br /><br /> “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray<br /><br /> “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark<br /><br /> “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.” —Peter Ackroyd<br /><br /> “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville<br /><br />"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . 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" ―<i>Times</i> (London)<br /><br />"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ―Margaret Atwood<br /><br />"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ―<i>Financial Times</i><br /><br />"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." ―Stig Abell, <i>The Sunday Times</i> (London)