Maigret & The Lazy Burglar By Simenon, Georges

''His artistry is supreme'' John Banville

''Sullenly, he got dressed. Why, whenever he was woken on a winter night like this, did the coffee have a particular taste? The smell of the apartment was different...his pipe, too, had a different taste.''

Set against a high-profile hunt for the latest criminal gang to hit Paris, Maigret is determined to track down the murderer of a quiet crook for whom he cannot help feeling affection and respect.

This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret and the Idle Burglar.

''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'' Guardian