The Saint-Fiacre Affair

The father of contemporary European detective fiction, Ann Cleeves, describes Maigret savoring the sensations of his youth again: the cold, stinging eyes, frozen fingertips, and an aftertaste of coffee. Then, stepping inside the church, he experiences a blast of heat, soft light, and the smell of candles and incense.

The last time Maigret went home to the village of his birth was for his father's funeral. Now, an anonymous note predicting a crime during All Souls' Day mass draws him back there, where troubling memories resurface and hidden vices are revealed.

Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret Goes Home.

"Compelling, remorseless, brilliant," says John Gray.

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century... Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories," states The Guardian.