Les scrupules de Maigret
On a slow Monday morning, Maigret’s receptionist shows in a middle-aged man who specifically wanted to see him. When asked what the problem was, he told Maigret that he believed that his wife planned to kill him. To back this up, he showed an envelope of Zinc Phosphide that he had found in the pantry. He knew that this was a potent poison because he had done research at the library. Maigret is temporarily called away for a few minutes, and when he gets back, the man is gone. He had had no time to ask any more questions. He did know that the man worked at a large toy store and was in charge of the electric trains. The next day, the man’s wife comes to see Maigret. She told him that she believed that her husband was planning to kill her. Maigret was in a quandary. There was no crime – as yet – and no real proof that a crime was about to be committed. Maigret has to go underground and do some investigating without the approval of his boss on this one. There is a fatal ending, with Maigret being left holding the bag in the sense that he couldn’t do enough soon enough. This is a penetrating study of a marriage gone bad and of the mental worlds created by both the husband and the wife that led to the conclusion of the relationship.