13 DECEMBER 1957, Page 29

Maigret's Little Joke. By Simenon. (Hamish Hamilton, I Is. 6d.)

Slender little piece, in which Chief-Inspector Maigret, on leave, idling in the cafés of Paris, helps to solve a murder mystery by reading the local newspapers and sending anonymous little chits to his deputy at the Quai des Orfevres. Vin ordinaire, rather than vintage Simenon, but drinkable.