The Girl on the Train

This is a constricted, tedious, and grossly overwritten "thriller."

The Saint-Fiacre Affair

This Maigret mystery is most notable for its details on the boyhood of the great detective.

The Shadow Puppet

The Maigret mystery here is less impressive than the keen insights Simenon packs into it. Greed, revenge, resentment, and madness all make effective appearances.

The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin

This is a subtle, psychological, and satisfying Maigret mystery but with some twists that, on final analysis, seem a bit contrived.

One Fat Englishman

Kingsley Amis's comic novel from 1963 reads like a coarse Waugh, with enough of a whiff of racism and anti-Semitism to make it occasionally unpleasant. It does manage to entertain and skewer American culture, just not nearly as elegantly as, say, The Loved One does.