Georges Simenon Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Maigret Books

Publication Order of Inspector Maigret Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Georges Simenon, better known as the creator of the famous detective, Jules Malgret, was a Belgian writer who has published over 200 novels and many other short works making him one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century.

Simenon was born on 13 February, 1903 at the provincial town of Liege in Belgium. Born to Desire Simenon and Henriette Simenon, George’s birth date was changed to 12 February owing to the superstition of number 13 being an unlucky number. George had a sibling, Christian Simenon who was born in September, 1906. Christian was his mother’s favorite child which despised him in his growing days. he began reading at the age of three at the Saint Julienne nursery school. He started his studies in the College Saint-Louis in 1914 but dropped out in 1918 without even taking the end year exams, citing his father’s ailment. A 15 year old George took a number of short term jobs of various kinds.

In 1919, he started work in a newspaper called ‘Gazette De Liege’. It was here that George Simenon first encountered the wide world of politics, crime and people in general as a writer of the common human interests section. He was notably exposed to police investigations and criminal psychology. His job taught him the art of quick editing which enabled him to publish his first novel in 1921, ‘Au Pont Des Arches’ under the pen name, ‘G Sim’ . In this period, he became familiar with a wide diaspora of people who appeared in many of his future novels.

His father’s death in 1922 made him move to Paris with his future wife, Regine Renchon whom he met while working in Liege. He married her in 1923. His creative works started paying him financial dividends in France. It was in 1930 that his most famous character, Commissaire Maigret made his first appearance. It was as a short piece written in the ‘Detective’which he wrote on special request. It was written while boating around the Dutch town of Delfzijl. A statue of Malgret in Delfzijl is a sweet reminder of the story. Later, the beloved character featured in many crime novels written by George.

Beginning in 1932, George traveled extensively going from Africa to Turkey to the Soviet Union. It was followed by a reporting tour around the world in 1934 and 1935. During the second world war, George Simenon was accused of collaborating with the Germans. Though he was an apolitical man, this accusation arose as a result of his deal with the German film studio for the adaptation of one of his works. He was sentenced for five years during which he wasn’t allowed to publish any new work. This sentence was kept as a secret from the public.

Simenon escaped from France in 1945 and arrived in the North America along with his wife. He first lived in a modern style house in Quebec, Canada where he published three novels. He later moved to the United States. In the US, he lived in Florida for a brief period before moving to Arizona. He wrote a novel, ‘The bottom of the bottle’ , which is inspired by his days in Arizona. Following a short stay in California, he finally moved to a large house in Lakeville, Connecticut which formed the background of another of his novel, ‘The death of Belle’. In the United States, he and his son, Marc learned to speak English fluently.

In 1945, Simenon began a romantic relationship with a girl who was seventeen years younger than him, Denyse Ouimet. She was to be hired as a secretary but ended up marrying Simenon after he divorced his first wife in 1949 after a legal tussle. George and Denyse married in Nevada in 1950 and subsequently had three children together. His first wife continued to remain in close proximity to George and her son, Marc as part of the settlement. In 1952, Simenon visited his homeland Belgium where he was made a member of the Royal Belgian Academy. Simenon though never lived in Belgium after 1922.
In 1955, he moved with his family back to France but later settled in Switzerland. In 1963, he got himself an enormous house constructed according to his own design in Epilanges near Lausanne. Simenon and Denyse separated in 1964 sicne he had become romantically involved with his housekeeper, Teresa who was hired in 1961. Teresa remained with George for the rest of his life. His daughter with Denyse committed suicide in 1978 at the age of 25 which darkened Simenon’s later years.

Simenon underwent a brain tumor surgery in 1981 but his health weakened considerably. On the night of 3-4 September in 1989, George Simenon died in his sleep of natural causes in his house in Lausanne. He was honored by a Silver commemorative coin minted in 2003 in Belgian celebrating the centenary of George Simenon’s birth.

Books:

Widely known as the creator of the detective, Commissaire Maigret, he was allegedly capable of writing 60-70 pages a day making him one of the most prolific writers of the modern times. He has written under about a dozen pseudonyms and a total of 550 million copies of his works have been sold. He published a series of novels and short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. Altogether, 75 novels and 28 short stories have featured Maigret.

‘The Strange Case of Peter the Lett’was the first novel featuring inspector Jules Maigret. Published in 1931, it introduced the suave French detective who later became a household name in the world of crime novels. Later that year, another novel in the series was published, called the ‘The Crime at Lock 14’. Maigret is termed as the Sherlock Holmes of France. The character is an eccentric detective who has an exceptional eyesight. He is shown to be a bit claustrophobic and a bit short of stamina. Supported by three assistants, he goes about his cases smoking a pipe. Maigret doesn’t use reasoning and instead relies on his intuition and his unique perception abilities which make him different form the other detectives. There is a mysterious yet awe inspiring element in his identification of criminals. His attributes are shown to be patience and compassion and his single minded pursuit of justice.

Adaptations:

George Simenon’s works have regularly been adapted as television shows or movies. The character, Maigret has been portrayed by French, British, Irish, Austrian, Belgian, Russian, German and Japanese actors. One of the first was a 1932 french film called ‘Night at the Crossroads’. Since then a number of French and English films have been released adapting one or he other of his books featuring inspector Jules Maigret. It was also the inspiration behind a British crime drama series called, ‘Maigret’ in 1991 which received both critical and audience acclaim.

George Simenon is one of the greatest writers of the modern times and he will forever live on in the form of his books and characters.

One Response to “Georges Simenon”

1. john crawford: 2 years ago

   i wanted to see if i had missed any for my collection. many thanks john

   Reply