August 6, 2019

Cocktail Talk: The Two-Penny Bar

Image result for the two-penny barWell, I’ve now had a fair amount (a large amount, maybe? But all such good stuff I’m glad I haven’t skipped a one) of Maigret Cocktail Talks, and I’m hoping you haven’t missed a one. Because George Simenon’s Parisian Inspector is such an indelible character in mystery literary – and literature in total – that they tend to be un-missable, and lots of boozy fun. The book The Two-Penny Bar as you might expect takes our stoic Inspector to a bar! But how he gets there – via a confidence given by a criminal on death row – and how the mystery around a murder unfolds, and how Maigret’s inescapable solidity and persistence takes center stage, all set this one apart. As does the below quote, which sets up some of the odd-individual-nature of this read:
Corks were popping.
“Come and have a brandy!” said James. “I guess you aren’t a dancer.”
What an odd fellow! He had already drunk enough to lay out four or five normal men, but he wasn’t really drunk. He just slouched around, looking sour, not joining in. He took Maigret back into the house. He sat in the landlord’s high-backed armchair.
–George Simenon, The Two-Penny Bar

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