TEHRAN-The Persian translation of “Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case” written by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon has been released to bookstores across Iran.

Jahan-e Ketab Publishing House has published the book as a new title in its Neqab series, with a translation by Abbas Agahi, Mehr reported.

“Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case” was in fact the name of a 1959 French crime film adapted from Simenon’s “Maigret Goes Home,” a 1932 detective novel featuring his character Jules Maigret. In this story, Maigret is called back to his home village to try to prevent a crime being committed.

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels, 21 volumes of memoirs, and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies.

Between 1931 and 1972, 75 novels and 28 short stories about Maigret were published. With the creation of Maigret, Simenon renewed the detective novel genre. The novels and stories have been translated into more than 50 languages. The Maigret stories have also received numerous film, television, and radio adaptations.

The character of Maigret was influenced by Chief Inspector Marcel Guillaume (1872-1963), said to be the greatest French detective of his day, who became a long-time friend of Simenon. 

Abbas Agahi, 83, is a prominent translator of French literature. A graduate of Paris-Sorbonne University, he has translated over 80 books, mainly works of detective fiction, which is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective investigates a crime, often murder.

The veteran translated has rendered works by various authors into Persian, including George Simenon, Frederic Dard, Michel Bussi, Olivier Norek, Jean-Christophe Grangé, Fred Vargas, Stanislas-Andre Steeman, Pierre Boileau, and Thomas Narcejac among others.

The Neqab series of Jahan-e Ketab Publishing House is a rich collection of more than 100 books in the genres of crime, thriller, and mystery. Although most of the works are from French literature, there are translations from English and German literature as well.

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