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PODCAST. For the release of his first Maigrets, the Belgian writer invites all of Paris to an “anthropometric ball”, disguised as a ganster or a cop.
By Frederic Lewino And Gwendoline Dos Santos
Published on
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The same question ran on all the lips of Tout-Paris in mid-February 1931: “Did you receive your summons? This famous summons is none other than an invitation in the form of a judicial identity card. She summons her recipient to an “anthropometric ball” at the Boule Blanche, a famous establishment in Montparnasse. The guest is a young author from Fayard, named Georges Simenon. He had the idea of this police evening to celebrate the publication by Fayard editions of his first two books devoted to the investigations of Commissioner Maigret: Mr Gallet deceased And The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien. A character he had created the previous year in the magazine Detective directed by Joseph Kessel. At the time, Simenon was a tall blond young man of 2…