Maigret

Jules Maigret is called out of retirement when his nephew, a rookie police officer, is blamed for a murder. The inspector sees right through everyone, as usual, and devises a clever way (both technical and psychological) to achieve the desired result.

The Misty Harbour

This Maigret mystery does not have the same probing into human behavior as some of the others. Or rather, it does, but all of that material is dashed off at the end when the mystery is solved. A second-tier Simenon, but not without its pleasures, including having the inspector himself come in for a bit of physical peril.

The Studio

John Gregory Dunne's The Studio was published during the death throes of the old studio system (when Hedda Hopper's successor still mattered, for example) and benefits from the author's keen observations and ear for dialogue. How a script gets pitched, how agents negotiate, how publicity is devised, the nuts and bolts of moviemaking — it's all here in a tight package written in a style that manages to be both deadpan and engaging.

The Defense

Compassion and pity aren't enough. That is the lesson Luzhin's wife learns in Nabokov's The Defense. Her mother was correct: She would never love him, and love was likely the only thing that could save him. Luzhin's own problems are less interesting than his wife's. He is captured in a maddening web in which chess and existence are confused, yes, but as a character he never comes into full flower.