Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (French: [ʒɔʁʒ simnɔ̃]; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer, most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret.

One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels (including 192 under his own name), 21 volumes of memoirs and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies.

Much of his work is semi-autobiographical, inspired by his childhood and youth in Liège, extensive travels in Europe and the world, wartime experiences, troubled marriages, and numerous love affairs.

[8] This gave the young Simenon an introduction to the wider world, which was later reflected his novels, notably Pedigree (published 1948) and Le Locataire (The Lodger) (1938).

He read widely in the Russian, French and English classics, frequently played truant, and turned to petty theft in order to buy pastries and other war-time luxuries.

[13] In January 1919 the 15-year-old Simenon took a job as a junior reporter at the Gazette de Liège, a right-wing Catholic newspaper edited by Joseph Demarteau.

He was also assigned interviews with leading international figures such as Hirohito, Crown Prince of Japan, and French war hero Marshal Foch.

In early 1922 one of the members of the group, Joseph Kleine, hanged himself at the doors of the St Pholien church of Liège after a night of excess with Le Caque.

[20] When Simenon's military service ended in December 1922, he resigned from the Gazette and moved to Paris to establish a base for himself and his future wife, Régine, whom he preferred to call Tigy.

[23] In the summer of 1923, Simenon was engaged by the Marquis de Tracy as his private secretary, which obliged him to spend nine months of the year at the aristocrat's various rural properties.

[25] Now with a steady income from his writing, Simenon left the Marquis' employ in 1924 and returned to Paris where he and Régine found an apartment in the fashionable Place des Vosges.

His first, Le roman d'une dactylo (The Story of a Typist) was quickly sold and two more appeared in 1924 under the pseudonyms "Jean du Perry" and "Georges Simm".

[29] However, the Simenons were tiring of their hectic life in Paris, and in April 1928 they set out with Boule for a six-month tour of the rivers and canals of France in a small boat, the Ginette.

[34][33] The first Maigret novels were launched in book form by Fayard in February 1931 at the fancy dress bal anthropométrique which had a police and criminals theme.

[44] Later in 1940, a local doctor examined Simenon and diagnosed a serious heart illness, advising him to cut back on his favourite pastimes of pipe smoking, excessive eating, alcohol, and sex.

As a popular, non-Jewish author who avoided war themes and anti-German sentiments, Simenon had few problems in having his works published at a time of censorship and paper restrictions.

Gide considered La veuve Couderc superior to Camus' The Stranger which was published around the same time and has a similar main character and themes.

The Continental production of Simenon's Les inconnus dans la maison (Strangers in the House) had exaggerated anti-Semitic themes which are not in the novel.

[54] The Simenons arrived in New York in October 1945 and soon moved to Canada, where they set up home at Ste-Marguerite du Lac Masson, north of Montreal.

[56] The Simenons and Denyse drove to Florida in the summer of 1946, and then visited Cuba in order to arrange for permanent residence visas for the United States.

[63] While living in Connecticut, Simenon's book sales increased to an estimated 3 million a year, and he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.

[70] Simenon continued to produce novels at a rate of three to five a year at Enchandens, including two of his most notable, Le président (The Premier) (1958) and Les anneaux de Bicêtre (The Patient) (1963).

Le Canard Enchaîné told its readers, "Monsieur Georges Simenon makes his living by killing someone every month and then discovering the murderer.

"[87]The Maigret stories are short and characterised by their simple writing style and a deliberately restricted vocabulary (which Simenon estimated was limited to 2000 words).

[88][89] Patrick Marnham, Scott Bradfield and others state that the early Maigrets were innovative because the detective doesn't hunt for clues or use deduction to find the guilty party, but rather immerses himself in the life and environment of the victim and suspected criminal.

[93] Recurrent themes include political influence over the justice system, snobbery and class divisions, and the role of social background and pure chance in determining whether an individual becomes a criminal or a respected member of society.

[97] Referring to The Saint-Fiacre Affair, John Banville wrote, "The story is silly, as usual, but the evocation of the little town and its people makes such considerations irrelevant.

[99] Simenon defined the novel as, "a passion which completely possesses and enslaves the writer and permits him to exorcise his demons by giving them form and casting them out into the world.

"[101]Biographer Fenton Besler described the roman durs as "psychological thrillers...in which he explores the darkest corners of the human mind and, in tautly written prose, creates an atmosphere which is sinister and entirely his own.

[106] Nevertheless, the academic and critical reception of his novels in France and the United States was mixed, which Ralph Ingersoll, Brendan Gill and Gilbert Sigaux have attributed to suspicion about their popularity and the speed with which they were written.