The Yellow Dog (Inspector Maigret #6), Georges Simenon. New York: Penguin Books, 2014 (Originally published in 1931).

Summary: Maigret is called in when a distinguished wine merchant is shot, followed by a murder, a disappearance and another shooting in which a common element in several instances is a yellow dog.

A well-thought of wine merchant makes a late night of it at the Admiral Hotel in the seaside village of Concarneau. Making his way home, he stops to light a cigar, and is shot, though not fatally. A yellow dog shows up nosing around the wounded man. Maigret, setting up a mobile unit, is nearby and called in by the town mayor. He stays at the Hotel and meets an interesting cast of characters. Shortly after he arrives, the doctor, who never practiced but is involved with real estate, recognizes poison on a drink being served. The next day another associate, Jean Serviere vanishes, leaving behind a car with blood-stained seats. Then the doctor has a drink with the third in this circle, Pommeret, who goes home and drops dead of poison.

Hysteria in the town is rising. The dog has been seen several times around the time of the murders as well as a giant vagabond, who becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of most. He is sought–and captured only to break free and elude re-capture. The mayor wants Maigret to do something. Yet he seems curiously inactive, baffling his assistant, who he tells:

‘You’re lucky my friend! Especially in this case, in which my method has actually been not to have one … I’ll give you some good advice: if you’re interested in getting ahead, don’t take me for a model, or invent any theories from what you see me doing.’

Pressed by the mayor to arrest somebody, he arrests the doctor, who is terrified for his own life after what happens to his two associates. While waiting for events to develop that will reveal the murderer, Maigret observes Emma waitress at the Admiral and sometime mistress to the doctor. He senses she knows more than she tells.

When another assault on a customs official occurs, suspicion centers on the vagabond, who is re-captured. But because Maigret has been watching Emma, he knows better as he reveals in a final scene in the doctor’s prison cell.

I have to admit that I was as perplexed as the mayor and the assistant with Maigret, so this was not at all predictable to me, and made Maigret all the more fascinating, particularly for the generous act on his part at the end. Simenon does all this in a short work that can be read in an evening.