The old lady from Bayeux
The old lady from Bayeux (original title La vieille dame de Bayeux ) is a story by Georges Simenon , in which Commissioner Maigret investigates an unexplained death in Normandy . The work belonging to the series of Maigret novels and stories was written in Porquerolles in the winter of 1937-38 and was published on February 3, 1939 in the journal Police-Roman . It was published in book form in 1944 in the anthology Les nouvelles enquêtes de Maigret by Gallimard .
In the German-speaking world, the story was published in 1974 in Ellery Queen's crime anthology 15 in the translation by Wulf Bergner . In 1976 it was published in a translation by Hansjürgen Wille and Barbara Klau by Kiepenheuer and Witsch in the anthology Neues von Maigret , and in 1987 by Diogenes Verlag in a new translation by Elfriede Riegler in the anthology Six new cases for Maigret .
action
Maigret stays in the northern French city of Caen , where he is entrusted with the reorganization of the police structures. In the course of his work, he is supposed to investigate the 28-year-old Cécile Ledru. She says that thirteen years ago she was accepted into Madame Croizier's household, first as a domestic help, and later - after Madame showed her even more affection - as a companion. She owed the woman not only a handsome income, but also an educational advancement, because she could not even read when she started working.
The old lady had gone to Caen from Bayeux for dental treatment a month ago and was staying in her nephew Philippe Deligeard's villa. Before she left, according to Cécile Ledru's confession, she had said that if anything happened to her in Caen, she would have been murdered. By whom, she left that open, but didn't need her - the suspect would be the nephew, who has suffered from lack of money for years, but was still one of the greats of the city. Maigret was also able to research how the old lady got her money: Her husband was a simple clerk for a lawyer, but very careful. He took out insurance for his life at every opportunity. So there was an accident when he started his first voyage to England. He was thrown against the railing during a storm and suffered a fractured skull. Smiled at for his caution during his lifetime, this event brought his widow a fortune.
Commissioner Maigret makes his way to the mourning house. There is also a conversation with the nephew - he indignantly rejects the allegations of the partner and states that Cécile has a friend who is on the verge of bankruptcy. He, worried about his aunt, would of course have revealed that her companion had been smuggling her boyfriend into the household at night for a long time. The old lady - a bit prudish - was of course indignant. The nephew reports a break between the two women.
After this conversation Maigret goes to the prosecutor and tells him that although he doesn't know who killed the lady, a feeling tells him that she did not die naturally. Maigret finds out that the doctor had recorded the death in another room. So he may have been wrong not only about the place of death, but also about the identity of the dead. Based on this hypothesis, Maigret discovers that it was not Deligeard's aunt who died of a heart attack, but 68-year-old Caroline, his old nanny. With his wife as an accomplice, Deligeard took Caroline's body into his house, then killed his aunt, and then called the young Doctor Liévin, who did not know the victim, and made him believe it was Joséphine Croizier. The doctor diagnosed a heart attack and issued the nephew permission to be buried. After the doctor's departure, Deligeard brought the Caroline back, where another doctor was called to determine the woman's death. The Caen district attorney accuses Deligeard of being responsible for his aunt's death; he congratulates Maigret on the success of his investigation and wants to keep him in town. However, he prefers to return to Paris as soon as possible.
expenditure
The story appeared after the preprint in Police-Roman (1939) first in Les nouvelles enquêtes de Maigret (Paris, Gallimard, NRF, 1944), and also in 1954 in the French edition of Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine (n ° 76 de May 1954). It was also included in the work editions Œuvres complètes (Lausanne, Editions Rencontre, 1967–1973) in volume IX, in Tout Simenon (Paris, Presses de la Cité, 1988–1993) in volume 25 and in Tout Simenon (Paris, Omnibus, 2002 –2004) included in volume 25. The story was first published in German in the anthology Neues von Maigret. 16 cases of the famous Parisian commissioner published in the translation by Hansjürgen Wille and Barbara Klau. It is now available in a new translation in Diogenes' anthology, The Complete Maigret Stories ( ISBN 978-3-257-06682-1 ).
Adaptations
- The Old Lady of Bayeux , episode of the television series Suspense , (director: Robert Stevens), with Luis van Rooten as Maigret (1952)
- Maigret et la Vieille Dame de Bayeux , made for TV by Philippe Laïk , with Jean Richard , broadcast in 1988.
- La vecchia signora di Bayeux , Italian TV film by Mario Landi , with Gino Cervi , broadcast in 1966.
- Maigret et la Demoiselle de compagnie : Episode 52 of the television series Maigret (Director: Franck Apprederis ), with Bruno Cremer , broadcast in 2005.