Cécile Is Dead

Georges Simenon

Dec 2015 · Inspector Maigret Book 20 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré

A moving novel about the destructive power of greed starring the unrivaled Inspector Maigret

“Poor Cécile! And yet she was still young. Maigret had seen her papers: barely twenty-eight years old. But it would be difficult to look more like an old maid, to move less gracefully, in spite of the care she took to be friendly and pleasant. Those black dresses that she must make for herself from bad paper patterns, that ridiculous green hat!”

In the dreary suburbs of Paris, the merciless greed of a seemingly respectable woman is unearthed by her long suffering niece, and Maigret discovers the far-reaching consequences of their actions.

About the author

Georges Simenon (1903–1989) began work as a reporter for a local newspaper at the age of sixteen, and at nineteen he moved to Paris to embark on a career as a novelist. He went on to write seventy-five Maigret novels and twenty-eight Maigret short stories.


Anthea Bell OBE ( 1936 – 2018) was an English translator of literary works, including children's literature, from French, German and Danish. These include The Castle by Franz Kafka, Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald,the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke and the French Asterix comics along with co-translator Derek Hockridge.