Maigret notices an odd note being ignored by other police indicating that a crime will be committed in his native village. He investigates to find that his father's former employer is dead, his widow is believed to take younger men as lovers, his son is a wastrel. When the widow drops dead at morning mass it appears to be a natural death. But other evidence emerges and the culprit is revealed. What is not revealed is who sent the note to the police, and for what reason.

Voilà bien un Maigret atypique, appelé pour un meurtre qui aura lieu dans l’église de son enfance, le jour des morts.

Un retour au château dans lequel son père était régisseur, un voyage tout en déceptions devant cette noblesse déchue, la fortune évaporée et les rapaces convoitant les maigres miettes de la comtesse qui, comme prévu, sera assassinée devant les yeux du commissaire.

Un déroutant commissaire nostalgique et impuissant se contentant de rester spectateur d'un drame qui semble inéluctable ( )

El comisario Maigret vuelve a la ciudad en la que nació y en la que pasó su infancia. En su melancólico peregrinar por las calles, en el humilde cementerio donde yace su padre y en la tozuda mirada del monaguillo se reconoce. Pero nada es como antes. El hermoso castillo de los Saint-Fiacre está hipotecado. Y tropieza con la decadencia de los dueños, a la hora de investigar el asesinato de la condesa cometido en la primera misa del Día de Difuntos.

Early Maigret. Very much enjoyed the early part of the book- descriptions of Maigret's childhood home and father's profession. The powerful evocation of memory of taste and location- fantastic. However, the story itself is rather so-so, building to a climax of "Walter Scott" proportions with 7 lead characters in a room with the dead mother upstairs and the master of the house describing the many defects of the people there (plus Maigret who is an accidental presence). Dramatic ending and sentimental. Maigret does not solve and no one is arrested although the guilty party is revealed. Just a bit too blown up for me ... ( )

One of his best ( )