The Dancer At The Gai-Moulin by Georges Simenon

The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin is the tenth Inspector Maigret mystery Simenon wrote in 1931 alone. This was more of a puzzle, with the cards held close to the chest, difficult for the armchair detective to solve. Not to worry, Maigret has been involved from the start, and will explain it all.

Graphopoulos, a large Greek man with jet-black hair, entered the Gai-Moulin; the dancer Adele did her duty and joined his table, casually patting down a lock of hair. The thick-set manager himself opened the champagne with a flourish. Watching on, young Chabot (sixteen and a half) and his friend Delfosse (no more than eighteen) nursed their drinks and asked to pay next time; their tab was growing but they had a plan to pay it off. They knew the owner never emptied the cash drawer overnight, available to them if they hid in the cellar until after closing. The only other guest was a large, broad-shouldered Frenchman nursing a beer. After the owner and waiter locked up, the boys emerged from the cellar into the darkened club, lighting a match to find the Greek dead on the floor, one eye open and one closed! Panicked, they ran into the night.

The next day everything is as usual, except the body of a large black-haired man is discovered in a nearby botanical garden - locked inside a hotel laundry basket.

Chabot and Delfosse are mystified; the broad-shouldered man with the imposing figure begins to follow the young men.

Chief Inspector Delvigne of the Liege Police keeps one step ahead of the newspaper headlines - "Mystery of Corpse in Laundry Basket!" - by interviewing Adele, who has the Greek's cigarette case but says she did not go to his hotel. She left with the Frenchman.

The young reprobates know nothing, but admit they were in the cellar that night. The Greek had a wallet full of thousand-franc notes and the boys can't explain how they now have money to stay out drinking all night. The Gai-Moulin, once a seedy bar of doubtful repute, becomes overrun with curiosity seekers, everyone wondering who the broad-shouldered Frenchman could be, obviously the true murderer.

Chief Inspector Delvigne is surprised when Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the Police Judiciaire in Paris arrives on the scene - demanding to be arrested and sent to prison!

There is a much larger police case going on we readers are only just hearing about, indeed we are on the wrong track entirely as no one was killed in the Gai-Moulin that night!

This tight mystery is very atmospheric involving the lives of at least 10 characters, a portrait of two young men caught up in the wake of international spies. Yes, it has a lot of story in its 153 pages.

Again, the Maigret novels are timeless; as puzzling and engrossing as when they were written. This has been published as Maigret in the Gai Moulin, and Battle Of Nerves At The 'Gai-Moulin'.

Recommended and widely available in book, eBook and audio.

1931 / Tradeback / 153 pages