Belgian-born French novelist, one of the most skilled and literate writers of detective fiction. Georges Simenon is best known as the creator of Paris police detective Inspector Maigret. He turned out 84 Maigret mysteries and 136 other novels, but he never wrote the "big" novel that many critics demanded of him. Over 500 million copies of Simenon's books have been printed and translated into 50 languages.

'Truth never seems true. I don't mean only in literature or in painting. I won't remind you either of those Doric columns whose lines seem to us strictly perpendicular and which only give that impression because they are slightly curved. If they were straight, they'd look as if they were swelling, don't you see?' (Maigret's Memoirs by Georges Simenon, translated from the French by Jean Stewart, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1966, p. 30; Les Mémoìres de Maigret, first published in France in 1951)

Georges Simenon was born in Liège on 13 February 1903, the first son of Désiré Simenon and Henriette (née Brüll), whose father had gone bankrupt and died on alcoholism. At the time when they met, Henriette worked as a salesgirl at a department store. Because Simenon's birthday was Friday the 13th, his superstitious aunt changed the date to February 12. Désiré was an accountant for an insurance company. "He had a mania about clocks, and would wind up the office clock immediately upon arrival, before taking off his overcoat. (Georges Simenon: A Critical Biography by Stanley G. Eskin, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 11-12)

Simenon attended a Jesuit school. As an altar boy, he assisted at 6 o'clock Mass. At the age of sixteen Simenon was forced by his father's ill health (he died in 1921 in his office) to abandon his studies. He worked as a baker and a bookseller and then found a job as a junior journalist at a local newspaper, Gazette de Liège. This experience provided the young Simenon with the perfect apprenticeship for a literary career. Moreover, he became accustomed to typing all his texts.

At the age of seventeen Simenon published his first novel, Au Pont des Arches (1920). He joined a group of painters, writers, and dilettantes who called themselves La Caque (The Cask) and spent time drinking, trying drugs, frequenting prostitutes (sometimes two or three at a time), and discussing philosophy and art. Later he returned to the group and several of its members in the novel Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien (1931). In 1923 he married Règine Renchon, a young artist, whom he had met in Liège. The marriage ended in divorce.

In 1922 Simenon went to Paris, publishing short stories and popular novels under almost two dozen different pen names. He worked as an office clerk for Henri Binet-Valmer, a right-wing writer, and was a secretary to a wealthy aristocrat, the Marquis de Tracy. Simenon lived in France from 1923 to 1939. His writing developed into an industry of psychological analyses of modern man. In his office he kept medical journals, including Medicine and Hygiene – Simenon's life-long interest in medicine left traces in his fiction.

According to a story, "the film director Alfred Hitchcock once telephoned Simenon, but was told that he could not come to the phone as he was busy writing a novel. "That's alright," Hitchcock replied, "I'll wait." ('QWERTYUIOP: How the Typrwriter Influenced Writing Practices' by Martyn Lyons, in Approaches to the History of Written Culture: A World Inscribed, edited by Martyn Lyons and Rita Marquilhas, Cham, Switzerland: Springer-Palgrave, 2017, p. 210) Between 1923 and 1933 Simenon poured out more than 200 books of pulp fiction under several pseudonyms. He knew the Maigret formula so well that he typed the text directly onto the page.

The social life of Paris provided for the successful author innumerable sources of delight. In 1925 Simenon saw the legendary Josephine Baker dance in the famous show, La revue Nègre, and they became close friends. In 1928 and 1929 he sailed the rivers and canals of France, Holland, and Northern Europe, writing all the while. These journeys supplied material for several of his novels, among them Le Charretier de "la Providence" (1931). Throughout the 1930s Simenon lived in many houses, he cruised the Mediterranean, and traveled in Lapland, Africa, and eastern Europe.  During a stop in Istanbul, he interviewed Leon Trotsky; the report was published in Paris-Soir.

With the appearance of Le coup de lune (1933), about corruption and colonial rule in Gabon, Simenon was banned from entering the French Equatorial Africa. While in Odessa Simenon saw starving people and was followed by the secret police. Les gens d'en face (1933), an anti-communist novel, was considered by André Gide an accurate description of the Russian atmosphere. Between the years 1934 and 1935 Simenon made an around-the-world cruise with a notebook in hand, jotting down impressions.

The first novel, which Simenon published under his own name, was Pietr-le-Letton (1930, The Strange Case of Peter the Lett), where he introduced Inspector Jules Maigret to the public. The character was apparently modelled on the author's great-grandfather. In this and the following books Simenon combined his moral objectivity and psychological insight to create characters that are wholly credible. Another series character, Jean Dollent, "the Little Doctor," appeared in short stories, which have been collected in The Little Doctor (1943).

Upon producing in the early 1930s eighteen or nineteen Maigret books, Simenon abandoned the character for years. Maigret returned again in 1942 with three new stories. By the end of the 1930s, Simenon was the favorite of writers such as Gide, Robert Graves, and Ford Madox Ford, who mentions him in one of his novels: "He was sitting reading in this book—Simenon's "La Tête d'Un Homme"—on a bright June Morning and was feeling slight irritation. Having read all the cut pages, he had got interested in the thrilling story and could not, in the nature of the case, go any further, so that he never did get to know the end." (Vive Le Roy: A Novel, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1936, p. 18)

In 1939 Simenon was appointed commissioner for Belgian refugees at La Rochelle. When the German army invaded France, Simenon settled in Fontenay. He continued writing and enjoyed success in the film business – nine films based on his texts were made under the surveillance of Nazi bureaucracy. Simenon had little to do with the resistance, except occasionally delivering provisions of wine and food, and once lending his car to British parachutists.

After the war Simenon found himself in the lists of collaborators. He moved in 1945 to Canada and from there to Tucson, Arizona. Simenon's younger brother Christian was charged with war crimes; he was killed in Vietnam in 1947 while fighting with the French Foreign Legion. The late 1940s and early 1950s Simeon spent in the United States. In New York Simenon met the bilingual young French-Canadian woman, Denyse Ouimet, with whom he had one of the great love affairs of his life. Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946) was inspired by the relationship. In 1949 Simenon married Denise and moved with his new family to Connecticut, where he lived for the next five years.

During this period Simenon wrote several novels with an American background. Belle (1954) was a story of murder in a small Connecticut community. The Hitchhiker (1955) explored a battle of wills between husband and wife, and The Brothers Rico (1954) was a Mafia story. Simenon's unusually hard-boiled style echoes the work of Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain: "Gino was in a class by himself. He had never tried to bluff or put on airs, never bothered about women's opinion of him. He had a vocation for killing, cold-bloodedly, as if he were out for revenge or, rather, as if pulling the trigger of a gun aimed at a live target procured some secret voluptuous pleasure." (The Brothers Rico, translated by Ernst Pawel, in American Omnibus, Harcourt, New York: Brace & World, 1967, p. 160)

Compared to most of Simenon's novels, the semi-autobiographic Pedigree (1948) was exceptionally long, over five hundred pages. Originally meant to be a memoir, it was turned into a novel after the suggestion of André Gide. Simenon began writing because a doctor misread an x-ray and told him that he had less than two years to live. He planned to give the book to his young son so that he would be able to know about his father when he grew up. However, Simenon still had 41 years ahead.

In 1955 Simenon returned to Europe and settled eventually in Lausanne, Switzerland. Beneath the illusion of a happy household, Simenon's marriage was deteriorating and his family disintegrating. He had started a sexual relationship with Teresa Sburelin, a new servant, who became his devoted companion. In 1964 Denise entered a psychiatric clinic, never returning to Epalinges, their home. Her bitter memoir of the marriage, Un Oiseau pour le chat, was published in 1978. Simenon's daughter Marie-Jo began the first of several psychiatric treatments in 1966, but ultimately in 1978 she committed suicide. "On your bed, a note for me, in which you ask to be cremated with your wedding ring on—I must make sure—and to scatter your ashes in our little garden so you will forever be with me. . . ." (Intimate Memoirs: Including Marie-Jo's Book by Georges Simenon, translated by Harold J. Salemson, San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984, pp. 648-649)

The critic and awarded mystery writer H.R.F. Keating selected My Friend Maigret (1949) and Maigret in Court (1960) in 1987 for his list of the one hundred best crime novels. "I see Simenon as the inventor of the story in which the detective is seen as writer. Almost always he arranges a book so that his Maigret comes to a hitherto unknown area of life and discovers, bit by bit, its essence. At which point the identity of a murderer, or an unlikely killer's reason, becomes plain." (Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books by H.R.F. Keating, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc, 1996, p. 91) Maigret's method of investigation doesn't rely on vast amounts of police work. He operates more on the basis of intuition. His method also has many similarities with hermeneutics – the theory of interpretation, of understanding the significance of human actions, utterances, products, and institutions.

"If a single story had to be chosen to represent the finest qualities of the Maigret novels without any of their defects, it might be My Friend Maigret (1949)." (Bloody Murder: From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History Julian Symons, New York: Viking, 1985, p. 135) A small-time crook has been murdered on the island of Porquerolles off the Mediterranean coast. Maigret is sent to investigate, accompanied by a Scotland Yard detective, who studies his methods. While enjoying the local food and drink, Maigret tries to see behind the facts that the local inspector offers him. Thoughts start to rise up from his subconscious. "He sensed something. He sensed a lot of things, as he always did at the start of an investigation, but he couldn't have said how that fog of ideas would sooner or later end up clearing." (My Friend Maigret, translated by Shaun Whiteside, London: Penguin Books, 2016, p. 79)

A number of actors have impersonated Maigret in screen adaptations and television series. (Maigret is heavyset, about five foot eleven, and in the books, he don't have a moustache.) Simenon's favorite was Jean Renoir's brother Pierre, who appeared in La Nuit du carrefour (1932). The director had happy memories of the film. His nephew Claude made his debut as a cameraman, Jacques Becker was producer, and the famous film critic and historian Jean Mitry was part of the crew. The film has been praised for its poetic atmosphere full of fog, rain, and car-lights. Jean Gabin was the inspector in Maigret tend un piège (1958), Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre (1959), and Maigret voit rouge (1963), carrying off the role with appropriate melancholy and sobriety. Gérard Depardieu played the role in Patrice Leconte's film Maigret, based on Maigret and the Dead Girl (1954). "Depardieu's Maigret isn't, in fact, quite how I imagined Maigret. He's bulkier than the one in my head, moves more cumbersomely, like a sad circus bear. And I never saw him with that nose – but then who would?" ('Depardieu's Maigret is the best yet: Maigret reviewed' Deborah Ross, The Spectator, 30 August 2023)

Simenon's stories have also inspired a number of other than Maigret films. L'ainé des Ferchaux (1963), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Charles Vanel, Stéfania Sandrelli, and Jean-Paul Belmondo, was remade in 2000 as a television series, directed by Bernard Stora. Belmondo played the old millionaire, Dieudonné Ferchaux. Les faantômes du chapelier (1982, The Hatter's Ghost), directed by Claude Chabrol, was based  on the short story 'Le Petit Tailleur et le Chapelier,' written in 1947 and collected in Les Petits Cochons sans queue (1950).

L'horloger d'Everton (1954, The Clockmaker) was adapted to screen by Bernard Tavernier in 1973. In the story a father, Dave Galloway, begins to review his own life, when he hears that his son Ben has murdered a man and eloped with an underage girl. Dave realizes that he, his father, and Ben "were of the same breed, all three of them. . . . It seemed to him that, in the whole world, there were only two sorts of men, those who bow their heads and the others. As a child, he had already thought it in more literal terms: the whipped and those who whip." (The Clockmaker, translated by Norman Denny, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977, p. 119)

The Bibliothèque Simenon opened in Liège in 1961, and in 1966 a statue of Commissaire Maigret was unveiled in Delfzijl, Holland. The last Maigret, Maigret et Monsieur Charles, came out in 1972, and the next year Simenon announced his retirement. He published only non-fiction of an autobiographical sort. Simenon claimed in Quand j'étais vieux (1970, When I Was Old) to have had sex with more than twenty thousand different women. "During my first days in Paris, for example, I remember that I would leave the arms of one woman at eleven o'clock in the morning to go back to another only a few minutes later and be obliged to accost a professional or to go to a house of assignation to begin all over again twice the same afternoon." (When I Was Old, translated by Helen Eustis, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973, p. 182) In Lettre à ma mère (1974) Simenon examined his relationship to his mother. 

For some reason, Simenon felt a strong antipathy towards Brigitte Bardot. If we were the last people on Earth, mankind would come to an end, he said in a letter to Robert Sherrill, the associate editor of Esquire.

Georges Simenon died in Lausanne, on September 4, 1989. He left instructions at his death that his body be cremated without any ceremony, and that his ashes, mingled with his beloved daughter's, be scattered beneath a huge tree in the back garden of his last house in Lausanne.

The Maigret books focus on the circumstances and stresses that compel one person to murder another. They are written in a spare, undecorated style. Simenon described them as sketches, comparable to the sort of things a painter does for his pleasure or for preliminary studies. The production of 115 "Simenons," started with Le relais d'Alsace (1931, The Man from Everywhere). Among these works is Simenon's most Dostoyevskyan tale L'Homme qui regardait passer les trains (1938, The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By), which centers on the theme of the sense of guilt – as do many of his stories.

"I have spent my life struggling between reason and the unconscious be cause my work is done by unconscious," Simenon said in an interview. "If I knew myself too well I don't believe I could write. The day when I became rational I would lose the precision of my subconscious." (Inspecting Psychology: How the Rise of Psychological Ideas Influenced the Development of Detective Fiction by David Cohen, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2022, p. 114) The author's more or less optimistic side and joy in life is seen in such novels as Le petit saint (1965, The Little Saint) and Le Président (1958, The Premier).

Maigret is the son of a farmer of the countryside near Moulins. He came to Paris as a young man originally to study medicine. Instead he joined the police, and rose from uniformed bicycle patrolman to superintendent. His wife Louise is a fine cook, who often prepares heavy, hearty peasant fare – cassoulet, calves' liver, and his favorite, choucroute. She could spend her whole day in the kirchen or linen room, with only her thoughts. They live in an apartment on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. Maigret is occasionally attracted to other women. In 1974, Simenon revealed that he no longer believes in marriage. "In fact, I've never believed in it. . . . I'm in favor, I repeat, of the independence of women, but I still have a nostalgic longing for the true couple." (Investigating Simenon: Patriarchy, Sex and Politics in the Fiction by Russell Campbell, Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company, 2022, pp. 140-141)

Superficially the Maigrets resemble police procedural novels, but differing from modern day detectives, Maigret is not concerned about forensic evidence, he don't believe in clues and chain of evidence. His method is highly personal. Maigretis immensely patient, an aura of melancholy surrounds him. He wanders the streets, asks seemingly irrelevant questions, sits at cafés, smokes his pipe, and all the time absorbs impressions about people and the place where the crime has occurred. Maigret's overheated office is at the Quai des Orfévres. Sandwiches and beer are delivered during the interrogations, and in addition, Maigret consumes quantities of wine and Calvados. – Other police detectives in Maigret novels: Lucas, Janvier, Lapointe, Torrence.

Best Maigret film: Maigret tend un piége (1958, Maigret Sets a Trap), about a killer of several young women in Paris, directed by Jean Delannoy, with Jean Gabin, Annie Girandot, and Jean Desailly. "Maybe it would be more appropriate to speak of M. Gabin first, since the role of Maigret is traditional in French films, like that of Sherlock Holmes. And this, we are told, is the first time that M. Gabin has played the role. Well, he does it to perfection." ('Tale by Simenon; Inspector Maigret' Has Premiere at Plaza by Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, October 9, 1958) – Television Maigrets: Rupert Davies (TV series 1960-1963), Richard Harris (TV film in 1988), Michael Gambon (TV series 1992-1993), and Rowan Atkinson (TV series 2016-2017); Heinz Rühmann in Germany, Jan Teuling in Holland, Gino Cervi in Italy, Boris Tenin in Russia, Kinya Aikawa in Japan, Jean Richard and Bruno Cremer in France. – See also: Lawrence Treat and modern police procedural novel.

For further reading: The Art of Simenon by Thomas Narjerac (1952); Simenon in Court by John Raymond (1963); Simenon by Bernard de Fallois (1971, rev. ed.); Simenon by Francis Lacassin and Gilbert Sigaux (1973); Georges Simenon: A Checklist of his 'Maigret' and Other Mystery Novels and Short Stories in French and English Translations by Trudee Young (1976); Georges Simenon Revisited by Lucille F. Becker (1977); Simenon's Paris by Georges Simenon and Frederick Frank (1983); Georges Simenon: A Critical Biography by Stanley G. Eskin (1987); The Man Who Wasn't Maigret: A Portrait of Georges Simenon by Patrick Marnham (1992); Simenon: A Biography by Pierre Assouline (1997); 'Georges Simenon' by George Grella, in Mystery and Suspense Writers, Vol. 2, edited by Robin W. Winks (1998); Maigret, Simenon, and France: Social Dimensions of the Novels and Stories by Bill Alder (2013); Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective by Murielle Wenger and Stephen Trussel (2017); Georges Simenon, une sensibilité anarchiste by Jean-Paul Ferrand (2019); The Missing Years of Georges Simenon as Man, Author and Protagonist(s) by Hazel Martha Paton (thesis, 2021); Inspecting Psychology: How the Rise of Psychological Ideas Influenced the Development of Detective Fiction by David Cohen (2022); Investigating Simenon: Patriarchy, Sex and Politics in the Fiction by Russell Campbell (2022); Georges Simenon: Photographs of a World in Crisis by Benoît Denis (2023) - Suom.: Suomeksi Simenonin teoksia on käännetty hyllymetrillinen ellei toinenkin. Kaikki Maigret -teokset on suomennettu.

Selected bibliography:

• Au Pont des Arches, 1920 (first published book)
• Pietr-le-Letton, 1930 (first Maigret) - The Strange Case of Peter the Lett (translated by Anthony Abbott) / Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett (translated by Daphne Woodward) - Maigret ja Latvialainen (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas, 1931 - The Sailors Rendezvous / Maigret Keeps a Rendezvous (translated by Margaret Ludwig) - Maigret ja turskanpyytäjät (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• Le Charretier de "la Providence", 1931 - The Crime at Lock 14 (translated by Anthony Abbot) / Maigret Meets a Milord (translated by Robert Baldick) / The Carter of 'La Providence' (translated by David Coward) - Maigret ja kaitselmuksen hevosmies (suom. Reino Hakamies)
• Le Chien jaune, 1931 - A Face for a Clue (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / Maigret and the Yellow Dog (translated by Linda Asher) - Keltainen koira (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Un crime en Hollande, 1931 - A Crime in Holland (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / Maigret Abroad (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / Maigret in Holland (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Maigret Hollannissa (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin, 1931 - At the "Gai-Moulin" (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / Maigret at the Gai-Moulin (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Maigret murhaajana (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• M. Gallet décédé, 1931 - The Death of M. Gallet (translated by Anthony Abbott) / Introducing Inspector Maigret (contains The Crime of Inspector Maigret and The Death of Monsieur Gallet; London: Hurst & Blackett, 1933) / Maigret Stonewalled (translated by Margaret Marshall)
• La Nuit du carrefour, 1931 - The Crossroad Murders (translated by Anthony Abbott) / Maigret at the Crossroads (translated by Robert Baldick) / The Night at the Crossroads (translated by Linda Coverdale) - Maigret ja tienristeyksen valot (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien, 1931 - The Crime of Inspector Maigret (translated by Anthony Abbott) / Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets (translated by Tony White) - Maigret ja matkalaukku (suom. Aili Palmén)
• Le relais d'Alsace, 1931 - The Man from Everywhere (translated by Stuart Gilbert)
• La Tête d'un homme, 1931 - A Battle of Nerves (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / Maigret's War of Nerves (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Maigret ja mies Seinen rannalta (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• L'Affaire Saint-Fiacre, 1932 - The Saint-Fiacre Affair (translated by Margaret Ludwig) / Maigret Goes Home (translated by Robert Baldick) - Maigret kotikylässään (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Chez les Flamands, 1932 - The Flemish Shop / Maigret and the Flemish Shop (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Maigret rajan pinnassa (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Le Fou de Bergerac, 1932 - The Madman of Bergerac (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Maigret vastatuulessa (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• La Guinguette à deux sous, 1932 - Guinguette by the Seine / Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / The Bar on the Seine (translated by David Watson) - Maigret maalaiskapakassa (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• "Liberty Bar", 1932 - Liberty Bar / Maigret on the Riviera (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Murha Rivieralla (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• L'Ombre chinoise, 1932 - The Shadow on the Courtyard / Maigret Mystified - Maigret ja varjokuva ikkunassa (suom. Aili Palmén)
• Le Port des brumes, 1932 - Death of a Harbor Master (translated by Stuart Gilbert) / Maigret and the Death of a Harbor-Master (translated by Stuart Gilbert) - Sumujen satama (suom. Ilkka Pastinen)
• Les Gens d'en face, 1933 - The Window over the Bay (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury)
• L'âne rouge, 1933 - The Night Club (translated by Jean Stewart)
• Les fiançailles de Monsieur Hire, 1933 - Mr. Hire's Engagement (translated by Daphne Woodward)
• L'Écluse no. 1, 1933 - The Lock at Charenton (translated by Margaret Ludwig) - Maigret kanavasululla (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Les gens d'en face, 1933 - The Window over the Way (translated by Robert Baldick)
• La maison du canal, 1933 - The House by the Canal (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury)
• Le coup de lune, 1933 - Tropic Moon (translated by Stuart Gilbert; Marc Romano)
• Maigret, 1934 - Maigret Returns (translated by Margaret Ludwig) - Maigret ja sukulaispoika (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• L'Homme de Londres, 1934 - Newhaven-Dieppe (translated by Stuart Gilbert) - Mies Lontoosta (suom. Annikki Suni)
• Le Testament Donadieu, 1937 - The Shadow Falls (translated by Stuart Gilbert) - Testamentti (suom. Sulamit Reenpää)
• L'Assassin, 1937 - The Murderer (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury)
• Le Cheval Blanc, 1938 - The White Horse Inn (translated by Norman Denny)
• Le suspect, 1938 - The Suspect (translated by Stuart Gilbert)
• Les Rescapés du Télémaque, 1938 - The Survivors (translated by Stuart Gilbert)
• L'Homme qui regardait passer les trains, 1938 - The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (translated by Stuart Gilbert) - Mies ja junat (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Monsieur La Souris, 1938 - The Mouse (translated by Robert Baldick)
• Les Inconnus dans la maison, 1939 - The Strangers in the House (tanslated by Geoffrey Sainsbury)
• Chez Krull, 1939 - Chez Krull (translated by Daphne Woodward)
• Le Coup de vagu, 1939
• Malempin, 1940 - The Family Lie (translated by Isabel Quigly)
• Bergelon, 1941 - The Delivery (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen)
• Cour d'Assises, 1941 - Justice (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury)
• Il pleut, bergère, 1941 - Black Rain (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury)
• La Maison des sept jeunes filles, 1941
• L'Outlaw, 1941 - The Outlaw (translated by Howard Curtis)
• Le Fils Cardinaud, 1942 - Young Cardinal (translated by Richard Brain)
• Oncle Charles s'est enfermé, 1942 - Uncle Charles Has Locked Himself In (tr. 1987)
• La veuve Couderc, 1942 - Ticket of Leave (translated by John Petrie) / The Widow (translated by John Petrie)
• Cécile est Morte, 1942 - Maigret and the Spinster (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret'n tyttöystävä (suom. Maijaliisa Auterinen)
• Les Caves du Majestic, 1942 - Maigret and the Hotel Majestic (translated by Caroline Hillier) - Maigret ja hotellin kahvinkeittäjä (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• La maison du juge, 1942 - Maigret in Exile (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen)
• La Vérité sur Bébé Donge, 1942 - The Trial of Bébé (translated by Louise Varèse)
• Signé Picpus, 1944 - To Any Lengths (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) / Maigret and the Fortuneteller (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) - Maigret ja selvännäkijä (suom. Ulla-Kaarina Jokinen)
• L'Inspecteur Cadavre, 1944 - Maigret's Rival (translated by Helen Thomson) - Maigret ja tarkastaja (suom. Erkki Jukarainen)
• Félicie est là, 1944 - Maigret and the Toy Village (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen)
• Les Nouvelles Enquêtes de Maigret, 1944
• Je me souviens...., 1945
• La Fuite de monsieur Monde, 1945 - Monsieur Monde Vanishes (translated by Jean Stewart)
• Trois chambres à Manhattan, 1945 - Three Beds in Manhattan (translated by Lawrence G. Blochman) - Kolme huonetta Manhattanilla (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• Maigret à New York, 1947 - Maigret in New York's Underworld (translated by Adrienne Foulke) - Maigret New Yorkissa (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Maigret se fâche, 1947 - Maigret in Retirement (translated by Jean Steward)
• La Pipe de Maigret, 1947 - Maigret's Pipe (translated by Jean Stewart)
• Maigret et l'inspecteur Malchanceux, 1947 - The Short Cases of Inspector Maigret (published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Crime Club, 1959)
• Lettre à mon juge, 1947 - Act of Passion (translated by Louise Varèse) - Kirje tuomarilleni (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Le passager clandestin, 1947 - The Stowaway (translated by Nigel Ryan)
• Le Bilan Malétras‎, 1948 - The Reckoning (translated by Emily Read)
• La neige était sale , 1948 - The Snow Was Black (translated by Louise Varèse) / The Stain on the Snow / Dirty Snow (translated by Marc Romano) - Lumi oli likaista (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• Maigret et son mort, 1948 - Maigret's Special Murder (translated by Jean Stewart) / Maigret's Dead Man (translated by Jean Stewart) - Maigret ja hänen vainajansa (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Les Vacances de Maigret, 1948 - Maigret on Holiday (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury ) / No Vacation for Maigret by Georges Simenon; Figure in the Dusk by John Creasey; Justice Has No Sword by Max Franklin (edited by Walter J. Black, 1953) - Maigret viettää lomaa (suom. Sinikka Kallio-Visapää)
• Pedigree, 1948 - Pedigree (translated by Robert Baldick)
• La Première Enquête de Maigret, 1949 - Maigret's First Case (translated by Robert Brain) - Komisario Maigretin ensimmäinen juttu (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Mon ami Maigret, 1949 - My Friend Maigret (translated by Nigel Ryan; Shaun Whiteside) / The Methods of Maigret (Crime Club, 1956) - Ystäväni Maigret (suom. Sinikka Kallio-Visapää)
• Le Fond de la bouteille, 1949 - The Bottom of the Bottle (translated by Cornelia Schaeffer)
• Maigret chez le coroner, 1949 - Maigret at the Coroner's (translated by Frances Keene) / Maigret and the Coroner (translated by Frances Keene) - Maigret syrjästäkatsojana (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Maigret et la vieille dame, 1950 - Maigret and the Old Lady (translated by Robert Brain) - Maigret ja vanha rouva (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• L'Amie de Mme Maigret, 1950 - Madame Maigret's Friend (translated by Helen Sebba) / Madame Maigret's Own Case / The Friend of Madame Maigret (translated by Helen Sebba) - Rouva Maigret'n ystävätär (suom. Maijaliisa Auterinen)
• Maigret et les petits cochons sans queue, 1950
• Maigret au "Picratt's", 1951 - Maigret in Montmartre (translated by Daphne Woodward) / Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper (translated by Cornelia Schaeffer) - Maigret ja Picrattin tanssijatar (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Une vie comme neuve, 1951 - A New Lease of Life (translated by Joanna Richardson)
• Maigret en meublé, 1951 - Maigret Takes a Room (translated by Robert Brain) / Maigret Rents a Room (translated by Richard Brain) - Maigret vuokraa huoneen (suom. Anna Louhivuori)
• Maigret et la grande perche, 1951 - Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (translated by J. Maclaren-Ross) / Inspector Maigret and the Burglar's Wife - Maigret ja humalasalko (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Les Mémoires de Maigret, 1951 - Maigret's Memoirs (translated by Jean Stewart) - Maigret muistelee (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Un Noël de Maigret, 1951 - Maigret's Christmas (translated by Jean Stewart)
• Les frères Rico, 1952 - The Brothers Rico (translated by Ernst Pawel)
• La mort de Belle, 1952 - Belle (translated by Louise Varèse) 
  
• Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters, 1952 - Inspector Maigret and the Killers (translated by Louise Varèse) / Maigret and the Gangsters translated by Louise Varèse) - Maigret ja gangsterit (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Le Revolver de Maigret, 1952 - Maigret's Revolver (translated by Nigel Ryan) - Maigret'n revolveri (suom. Aili Palmén)
• Maigret et l'homme du banc, 1953 - Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) / Maigret and the Man on the Bench (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret ja penkillä istuskelija (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Maigret a peur, 1953 - Maigret Afraid (translated by Margaret Duff) - Maigret pelkää (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Maigret se trompe, 1953 - Maigret's Mistake (translated by Alan Hodge) - Maigret erehtyy (suom. Aili Palmén)
• Feux rouges, 1953 - Red Lights (translated by Norman Denny)
• Le grand Bob, 1954 - Big Bob (translated by Eileen M. Lowe)
• Maigret à l'école, 1954 - Maigret Goes to School (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret koulussa (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• L'horloger d'Everton, 1954 - The Clockmaker (translated by Norman Denny) / The Watchmaker of Everton (translated by Norman Denny)
• Maigret et la jeune morte, 1954 - Maigret and the Young Girl translated by Daphne Woodward) / Inspector Maigret and the Dead Girl (Crime Club, 1955) - Maigret kilpasilla (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Tidal Wave, 1954 (contents: Belle - La Mort de Belle; The Bottom of the Bottle - Le fond de la bouteille; The Brothers Rico - Les frères Rico)
  
• Maigret chez le ministre, 1955 - Maigret and the Minister (translated by Moura Budberg) / Maigret and the Calame Report (translated by Moura Budberg) - Maigret ja kadonnut asiakirja (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• ‎Les complices‎, 1955 - Accomplices (translated by Bernard Frechtman) - Rikostoverit (suom. Aili Palmén)
• Maigret et le corps sans tête, 1955 - Maigret and the Headless Corpse (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret ja kahvilan emäntä (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Maigret tend un piège, 1955 - Maigret Sets a Trap (translated by Daphne Woodward) - Maigret virittää ansan (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• En cas de malheur, 1956 - A Case of Emergency (translated by Helen Sebba) / In Case of Emergency (translated by Helen Sebba) - Kuolemani varalta (suom. Sulamit Reenpää)
• Un échec de Maigret, 1956 - Maigret's Failure (translated by Daphne Woodward) - Maigret epäonnistuu (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Le petit homme d'Arkhangelsk, 1957 - The Little Man from Archangel (translated by Nogel Ryan) - Pikku mies Arkangelista (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Le Nègre, 1957 - The Negro (translated by Helen Sebba)
• Maigret s'amuse, 1957 - Maigret's Little Joke (translated by Richard Brain) / None of Maigret's Business (The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, 1958) - Maigret huvittelee (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Le fils, 1957 - The Son (translated by Daphne Woodward)
• Strip-tease, 1958 - Striptease (translated by Robert Brain) - Striptease (suom. Mirja Rutanen)
• Maigret voyage, 1958 - Maigret and the Millionaires (translated by Jean Stewart) - Maigret matkustaa (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Les Scrupules de Maigret, 1958 - Maigret has Scrupules (translated by Robert Eglesfield) - Maigret psykiatrina (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• Le Président, 1958 - The Premier (translated by Daphne Woodward) - Pääministeri (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants, 1959 - Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses (translated by Daphne Woodward) - Maigret ja vastahakoiset todistajat (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• Une confidence de Maigret, 1959 - Maigret Has Doubts (translated by Lyn Moir) - Maigret uskoutuu (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Dimanche, 1959 - Sunday (translated by Nigel Ryan)
• Le Veuf, 1959 - The Widower (translated by Robert Baldick)
• Maigret aux assises, 1960 - Maigret in Court (translated by Robert Brain) - Maigret oikeudessa (suom. Kaj Kauhanen)
• L'ours en peluche, 1960 - Teddy Bear (translated by Henry Clay) - Ylilääkäri (suom. Sulamit Hirvas)
• Maigret et les vieillards, 1960 - Maigret in Society (translated by Robert Eglesfield) - Maigret ja vanhukset (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Maigret et le voleur paresseux, 1961 - Maigret and the Lazy Burglar (translated by Daphne Woodward) - Maigret ja valikoiva varas (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• Maigret et les braves gens, 1962 - Maigret and the Black Sheep (translated by Helen Thomson) - Maigret ja kunnon ihmiset (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Maigret et le client du samedi, 1962 - Maigret and the Saturday Caller (translated by Tony White) - Maigret ja lauantaipäivän asiakas (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• La Chambre bleue, 1963 - The Blue Room (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen)
• La Colère de Maigret, 1963 - Maigret Loses His Temper (translated by Robert Eglesfield) - Maigret raivostuu (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• Maigret et le clochard, 1963 - Maigret and the Dosser (translated by Jean Stewart) / Maigret and the Bum (translated by Jean Stewart) - Maigret ja mies siltojen alta (suom. Osmo Mäkeläinen)
• Maigret et le fantôme, 1964 - Maigret and the Ghost (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) / Maigret and the Apparation (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen)
• Maigret se défend, 1964 - Maigret on the Defensive (translated by Alastair Hamilton) - Maigret puolustautuu (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Le petit saint, 1965 - The Little Saint (translated by Bernard Frechtman) - Pikku pyhimys (suom. Elina Hytönen)
• Le Train de Venise, 1965 - The Venice Train (translated by Alastair Hamilton) - Juna Venetsiasta (suom. Ulla-Kaarina Jokinen)
• La Patience de Maigret, 1965 - The Patience of Maigret (translated by Alastair Hamilton) / Maigret Bides His Time (translated by Alastair Hamilton) - Maigret on kärsivällinen (suom. Inkeri Sallamo)
• Maigret et l'affaire Nahour, 1966 - Maigret and the Nahour Case (translated by Alastair Hamilton) - Maigret kansainvälisessä seurassa (suom. Aili Palmèn)
• Le Voleur de Maigret, 1967 - Maigret's Pickpocket (translated by Nigel Ryan) / Maigret and the Pickpocket (translated by Nigel Ryan) - Maigret ja taskuvaras (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• An American Omnibus, 1967 (contents: Belle - La Mort de Belle; The Brothers Rico - Les frères Rico; The Hitchhiker - Feux rouges; The Watchmaker of Everton - L'Horloger d'Everton)
  
• Le Déménagement, 1967 - The Neighbours (translated by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson) / The Move (translated by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson)
• Le chat, 1967 - The Cat (translated by Bernard Frechtman) - Kissa (suom. Sulamit Reenpää)
• La prison, 1968 - The Prison (translated by Lyn Moir)
• L'Ami d'enfance de Maigret, 1968 - Maigret's Boyhood Friend (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret ja hänen lapsuudenystävänsä (suom. Sulamit Reenpää)
• Maigret à Vichy, 1968 - Maigret Takes the Waters (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) / Maigret in Vichy (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret Vichyssä (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Maigret hésite, 1968 - Maigret Hesitates (translated by Lyn Moir) - Maigret epäröi (suom. Marja Luoma)
• Novembre, 1969 - November (translated by Jean Stewart)
• Maigret et le tueur, 1969 - Maigret and the Killer (translated by Lyn Moir) - Maigret ja tappaja (suom. Aili Palmén)
• La Folle de Maigret, 1970 - Maigret and the Madwoman (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret ja harmaasilmäinen nainen (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• Quand j'étais vieux, 1970 - When I Was Old (translated by Helen Eustis)
• Maigret et le marchand de vin, 1970 - Maigret and the Wine Merchant (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret ja viinikauppias (suom. Sulamit Reenpää)
• Le riche homme, 1970 - The Rich Man (translated by Jean Stewart)
• Maigret et l'homme tout seul, 1971 - Maigret and the Loner (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen) - Maigret ja yksineläjä (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• La Disparition d'Odile, 1971 - The Disappearance of Odile (translated by Lyn Moir) - Odile katoaa (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• Maigret et l'indicateur, 1971 - Maigret and the Flea (translated by Lyn Moir) / Maigret and the Informer (translated by Lyn Moir) - Maigret ja ilmiantaja (suom. Sinikka Kallio)
• Maigret et Monsieur Charles, 1972 (last Maigret) - Maigret and Monsieur Charles (translated by Marianne Alexandre Sinclair) - Maigret ja monsieur Charles (suom. Irmeli Sallamo)
• Les Innocents, 1972 - The Innocents (translated by Eileen Ellenbogen)
• Lettre à ma mère, 1974 - Letter to My Mother (translated by Ralph Manheim)
• Mémoires intimes I-II, 1981 - Intimate Memoirs (translated by Harold J. Salemson) - Intiimit muistelmat (suom. Ulla-Kaarina Jokinen)
• Omnibus Tout Maigret, tome 10, 2008 - Complete Maigret Short Stories (2 vols.; 1976) - Maigret: Kootut kertomukset (suom. Taina Helkamo, 2015)
  
• L'homme à barbe et autres nouvelles, 2008 (lecture d'Alain Bertrand)
  
• Pedigree et autres romans, 2009 (édition établie par Jacques Dubois et Benoît Denis)
  
• Nouvelles de Lectures de quinzaine, 2009 (Les Amis de Georges Simenon)
• Pedigree, 2010 (translated from the French by Robert Baldick; introduction by Luc Sante)
  
• Act of Passion, 2011 (translated from the French by Louise Varèse; introduction by Roger Ebert)
  
• The Flemish House, 2014 (Penguin Books; translated by Shaun Whiteside)
  
• Cécile is Dead, 2015 (Penguin Books; translated by Anthea Bell)
  
• Lock No. 1, 2015 (Penguin Books; translated by David Coward)
  
• Liberty Bar, 2015 (Penguin Books; translated by David Watson)
  
• The Cellars of the Majestic, 2015 (Penguin Books; translated by Howard Curtis
  
• Signed, Picpus, 2015 (Penguin Books; translated by David Coward
  
• Maigret and the Tramp, 2018 (Penguin Books; translated by Howard Curtis)
  
• Maigret and the Nahour Case, 2019 (Penguin Books; translated by William Hobson
  
• Maigret's Pickpocket, 2019 (Penguin Books; translated by Siân Reynolds
  
• Maigret Hesitates, 2019 (Penguin Books; translated by Howard Curtis)
• Maigret in Vichy, 2019 (Penguin Books; translated by Ros Schwartz)
• Maigret and Monsieur Charles, 2020 (Penguin Books; translated by Ros Schwartz)
  

Selected Maigret films:

• La Nuit du Carrefour/Maigret at the Crossroads/The Crossroads Murder, 1932, dir. by Jean Renoir, adapted from the novel of the same title (1931)
• Le Chien jaune/A Face for a Clue, 1932, dir. by Jean Tarride, adapted from the novel of the same title (1931)
• La Tête d'un homme/A Battle of Nerves, 1933, dir. by Julien Duvivier, starring Harry Baur, adapted from the novel of the same title (1931)
• Picpus/To Any Lengths, 1943, dir. by Richard Pottier, starring Albert Préjean,  adapted from the collection Signé Picpus (1944)
• Cécile est morte/ Maigret and the Spinster, 1944, dir. by Maurice Tourneur, starring Albert Préjean, adapted from the story of the same title (1942)
• Les Caves du Majestic/Maigret and the Hotel Majectic, 1945, dir. by Richard Potter, starring Albert Préjean,, adapted from the story of the same title (1942)
• The Man on the Eiffel Tower, 1949, dir. by Burgess Meredith, starring Charles Laughton, based on La Tète d'un homme (1931)
• Brelan d'as, 1952, dir. by Henri Verneuil, partly based on Le Témoignage de l'enfant de choeur in the collection Maigret et l'inspecteur malchanceux - puis malgracieux (1947)
• Maigret Dirige L'enquete (TV), 1955, dir. by Stanley Cordier, starring Maurice Mason
  
• Maigret Tend un Piège / Maigret Sets a Trap, 1958, dir. by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin, adapted from the novel of the same title (1955)
• Maigret et l'Affaire Saint-Fiacre/The St. Fiacre Affair/Maigret Goes Home, 1959, dir. by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin, adapted from L'Affaire Saint-Fiacre (1932)
• Maigret (TV series), 1960-1963, prod. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), starring Rupert Davies
  
• Maigret voit rouge/Maigret and the gangsters/Inspector Maigret and the Killers, 1963, dir. by Gilles Grangier, starring Jean Gabin, adapted from Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters (1952)
• Maigret à Pigalle, 1966, dir. by Mario Landi, starring Gino Cervi
• Maigret und sein größter Fall, 1966, dir. by Alfred Weidenmann, starring Heinz Rühmann
• Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret, 1967-1990, prod. Antenne-2, Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), starring Jean Richard
  
• Le Chien jaune (TV), 1968, dir. by Claude Barma, starring Henry Czarniak
• Maigret en meublé (TV series: Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret), 1972, starring Jean Richard
• Maigret et l'Homme du banc (TV series:Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret), 1973, dir. by René Lucot, starring Jean Richard
• Megre i staraya, 1974, dir. by Vyacheslav Brovkin, starring Boris Tenin
  
• Maigret hésite (TV series: Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret), 1975, dir. by Claude Boissol, starring Jean Richard
• Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters (TV series: Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret), 1977, dir. by Jean Kerchbron, starring Jean Richard
• Liberty Bar (TV series: Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret), 1979, dir. by Jean-Paul Sassy, starring Jean Richard
• Maigret à Vichy (TV series: Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret), 1984, dir. by Alain Levent, starring Jean Richard
• Maigret (TV film), 1988, prod. Columbia Pictures Television, dir. by Paul Lynch, starring Richard Harris
• Maigret (TV series), 1991-2005, prod. Antenne-2, Ceská Televize, Dune, starring Bruno Cremer
• Maigret (TV series) 1992/93, prod. Granada Television, starring Michael Gambon
• Maigret: La trappola, 2004 (TV film), dir. by Renato De Maria, starring Sergio Castellitto
  
• Maigret: L'ombra cinese, 2004 (TV film), dir. by Renato De Maria, starring Sergio Castellitto 
• Maigret, 2022, dir. by Patrice Leconte, starring Gérard Depardieu as Jules Maigret, based on Maigret and the Dead Girl (1954)