4 JULY 1958, Page 45

It's a Crime

Maigret and the Old Lady. By Simenon. (Hamish Hamilton, I is. 6d.) Another of the master's scenes from French provincial life—Normandy, this time, with Balzacian characters set against a Uoudin coast-scape, and Maigret stolidly sipping ealvados, and tying up the loose ends.