This is the sixth Inspector Maigret novel Georges Simenon wrote in 1931.
Maigret is posed with a baffling problem until the halfway point, when seemingly impossible events suddenly open up into a simple answer.
Carl Anderson had been interrogated for seventeen hours about the event, still claiming he knows nothing. Tall and slim, the Danish aristocrat had retired to what is known as the Three Widows Crossroads outside of Paris three years ago with his sister Else.
At the junction where transport trucks speed past at all hours sit three buildings about 100 yards apart - a repair garage and rundown owner's house; a fenced villa owned by Monsieur Michonnet; and the Anderson's estate house, over 100 years old. Early Sunday morning, Monsieur Michonnet found in his garage Mr. Anderson's old rattletrap car instead of his new burgundy six-cylinder. Police soon found Michonnet's car across the street in the Anderson garage - inside, the body of a dead man, an Antwerp diamond merchant, shot point blank in the chest. Monsieur Michonnet demands of the police a brand new six-cylinder vehicle, burgundy.
Detective Chief Inspector Maigret is on the case, finding nobody heard or saw a thing, and no one has an alibi.
The diamond merchant's wife, Madame Goldberg, arrives from Paris and is promptly shot. This time no one was around, and everyone has a solid alibi.
Three neighbours without connection: the garage owner continually offering Maigret a drink; the Danish aristocrats still dreaming of their homeland castle, the sister Else so afraid of the world she lives in her bedroom locked from the outside; Michonnet irate about his soiled car - how can this car switch have happened, let alone the murder - and why?
This quickly changes tone when the culprit is revealed, dropping all pretence and openly giving the full crime story. This was indeed the most baffling Maigret case so far, but as always, with a pleasing result.
Night At The Crossroads was filmed a year after its publication in 1932 by Jean Renoir, and again in 2017 as part of the Maigret TV series starring Rowan Atkinson.
As always, Georges Simenon is recommended for an entertaining puzzle.
My other reviews for George Simenon:
1931 / Tradeback / 151 pages
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