A twist of orchids

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Georges Simenon

A vagrant living under a bridge is assaulted at night, knocked hard enough to fracture his skull, and thrown into the River Seine. Two bargemen from barges moored nearby fish him out of the cold water before he drowns and he ends up in the hospital in a coma. Chief Superintendent Maigret is called to the scene. One of the bargemen, whose boat is moored near the ramp coming down the embankment, reports seeing two men coming back from under the bridge and departing in a red sports car. The man's identity card provides a name and place of birth - coincidentally the same town as Madame Maigret's sister resides. For once, Madame is able to participate to some degree and assist her husband in his challenging work. The vagrant was at one time a practicing doctor, but has been living in Paris as a bum for many, many years. Maigret knows the down-and-out community do not normally commit violence against each other. What is hidden in the doctor's past?

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M.L. Longworth

"The fourth book in the series finds Verlaque and Bonnet on vacation on a remote island in the glittering Mediterranean Like Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri, M. L. Longworth's books enchant mystery lovers with a taste for good food and gorgeous landscapes. In Murder on the Île Sordou, Judge Antoine Verlaque and his girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet, are hoping to enjoy a relaxing holiday at the Locanda Sordou, an opulent hotel that is reopening after decades, but someone has other plans. Maxime Le Bon and his wife have spent their life savings restoring the Locanda, which lies on an archipelago just off the coast of Marseille. The murder of one of the guests casts a shadow over everyone's vacation, and Verlaque and Bonnet are once again called to investigate. But things go from bad to worse when a violent storm cuts off all communication with the mainland. Will the killer strike again?"--

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Cara Black

Two weeks after Princess Diana's death in Paris in 1997, an illegal Haitian immigrant named Mireille walks into Aimée Leduc's office, claiming that Aimée's late father was also her father. Before Aimée can learn more, Mireille disappears, leaving only a cryptic note with an address in the Latin Quarter where the indomitable Parisian detective finds the corpse of a well-dressed black man with his ear cut off.

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Georges Simenon

Pietr the Lett had for years been clocked across the European frontiers by Interpol. Who was he, this international swindler with the skin of a chameleon? Was he Oswald Oppenheim, friend of multi-millionaires? Or Olaf Swann, a Norwegian merchant officer down at Fécamp? Or Fédor Yurovich, a down-and-out Russian drunk? Or could he have been the twisted corpse they found on the Pole Star express when it drew into Paris? It cost Maigret one of his best inspectors — and a ducking in the sea — to unravel one of the most tortuous puzzles of identity he had ever handled.