The Shadow Puppet

Praise for Georges Simenon: 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. The Guardian These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself. The Washington Post The matchless French crime novelist. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals. People I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov. William Faulkner An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style. Amor Towles I never read contemporary fictionwith one exception: the works of Simenon. T.S. Eliot A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason. John Le Carr One of the most important writers of our century. Gabriel Garca Mrquez A favorite writer of mine. Sigrid Nunez A great writer of detail, of atmosphere. Lela Slimani Feels incredibly modernA great writer. Ian Rankin The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature. Andr Gide A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness. The Independent (London) Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales. The Observer (London) Compelling, remorseless, brilliant. John Gray A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readablelucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates. Muriel Spark A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it. Peter Ackroyd Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century. John Banville "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" Times (London) "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 "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." Financial Times "Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." Stig Abell, The Sunday Times (London)

Georges Simenon was born in Lige, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life. Ros Schwartz is an award-winning translator from French. Acclaimed for her new version of Antoine de Saint-Exupry's The Little Prince, published in 2010, she has over 100 fiction and non-fiction titles to her name. The French government made Ros a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009, and in 2017 she was awarded the Institute of Translation and Interpreting's John Sykes Memorial Prize for Excellence.