TEHRAN-The Persian translation of the book “Maigret Is Afraid” written by Belgian author Georges Simenon has been released in the Iranian book market.

Jahan-e Ketab Publishing House has published the book in 182 pages with a translation by Abbas Agahi, Mehr reported.

It is a new book in the “Neqab” (mask) series by Jahan-e Ketab, which focuses on detective stories. So far, over 30 books on Maigret stories have been published in this series.

In the book, Maigret stumbles upon a series of murders in Fontenay-le-Comte while visiting an old school friend.

On his way home from a conference, Maigret stops to visit an old school friend in Fontenay-le-Comte. A man in the same train car introduces himself and asks if Maigret has come to help solve the murder case. In fact, the man’s brother-in-law had been murdered four days earlier, followed by the murder of a local widow in the same way, a blow to the head with a pipe. While Maigret is in town, a third murder is reported. Maigret soon discovers that there are two warring factions in the town, a clear class separation, and an air of suspicion that only he can put to rest.

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) is one of the most addictive and bestselling European authors of the 20th Century. His work consists of nearly 500 novels and short works, and he is best known as the creator of the fictional detective series consisting of 75 books featuring Inspector Maigret, translated into over 50 languages and sold in more than 50 countries. There are over 800 million Simenon books sold worldwide.

Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms.

He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series appeared in 1931 and the last one was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.

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, 84, 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.

In addition to George Simenon, the veteran translator has rendered works by several authors into Persian, including 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 120 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.

SS/SAB