The richest wine merchant in Paris is found dead -- shot in front of an elegant house where discreet clients are in the habit of renting rooms for discreet purposes. Everything seems to point to a crime sparked by jealousy. But Maigret is surprised to find a curious absence of shock or grief in the victim's family and colleagues, and further investigation into the life and habits of the murdered man reveals some singularly unlovable traits.
Maigret and the Wine Merchant, Georges Simenon
When prosperous wine merchant Oscar Chabut is shot dead outside a fashionable bordello he has just been visiting with his mistress and secretary, Maigret finds that extra-marital behaviour in Chabut's social group is pretty much the norm. Chabut seems to regard sexual conquest as a means of exerting power and maintaining his self-esteem, and has in the course of his business, created rather a large cast of enemies. Hints of blackmail, anonymous telephone calls and letters and glimpses of a shadowy figure tracking Maigret complicate the case Maigret is struggling to come to grips with, all the while fighting a bad dose of the flu.