Editing Jules Maigret (section)

==Character==

===Creation===
[[File:Marcel Guillaume commissaire divisionnaire 1932.jpg|thumb|{{ill|Marcel Guillaume|fr}}, a celebrated French police commissioner, pictured giving evidence in 1932. He has been seen as a possible inspiration for Maigret.]]
The character of Maigret was invented by Simenon while drinking in a cafe<ref name="sansom"/> and imagining a Parisian policeman: "a large powerfully built gentleman...a pipe, a [[bowler hat]], a thick overcoat."<ref name="lawson">{{cite web|last=Lawson|first=Mark|title=Inspecting Maigret: Rowan Atkinson puts on his thinking hat|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/25/inspector-maigret-itv-rowan-atkinson-mark-lawson|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=25 March 2016|access-date=4 January 2020|archive-date=6 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206001145/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/25/inspector-maigret-itv-rowan-atkinson-mark-lawson|url-status=live}}</ref> Maigret was reputed to be based on Marcel Guillaume, an actual French detective<ref name="haining">{{cite web|last=Haining|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Haining (author)|title=The Great Detectives: Maigret|date=5 March 2015 |url=https://strandmag.com/the-magazine/articles/the-great-detectives-maigret/|publisher=[[The Strand Magazine]]|access-date=4 January 2020|archive-date=13 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113115637/https://strandmag.com/the-magazine/articles/the-great-detectives-maigret/|url-status=live}}</ref> although Simenon himself variously claimed not to remember the inspiration or that Maigret was influenced by Simenon's own father.<ref name="haining"/>

Biographers Thomas Narcejac and Fenton Bresler both see Simenon himself in his creation.<ref name="haining"/>

===Description===
Maigret is described as a large, broad-shouldered man; he is gruff but patient and fair.

Recurring characters in the series include Maigret's wife Louise (usually referred to simply as Madame Maigret)<ref name="haining"/> and in particular "The Faithful Four", a group consisting of his four loyal police colleagues (Sgt./Inspector Lucas, Janvier, Lapointe, and Torrence<ref name="haining"/>).
Other prominent characters include police surgeon Dr. Paul, Judge Coméliau, the Examining Magistrate who alternates between being a help and a hindrance to Maigret, and Dr. Pardon, Maigret's friend and physician.

Maigret doesn't like his first name being used and prefers to be simply called "Maigret".<ref name="wenger">{{cite book|last1=Wenger|first1=Murielle|last2=Trusel|first2=Stephen|title=Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|pages=6–7|year=2017|isbn=978-1476669779}}</ref> Even Maigret's wife largely restricts herself to calling him "Maigret", only calling him by his first name a handful of times.<ref name="wenger"/>

In most novels, Maigret is aged around 45 to 55 years. There are contradictory clues to his year of birth. In ''Monsieur Gallet, décédé'', which takes place in 1930, Maigret is described as 45, indicating 1885 as his year of birth. In another novel ''La première enquete de Maigret'', where the investigation takes place in 1913, the author states that Maigret is 26, which establish his year of birth as 1887. In the 1932 novel  ''L'affaire Saint-Fiacre'', Maigret is 42, which would mean he was born in 1890, assuming that Maigret is contemporary to the year the novel was written.<ref>Murielle Wenger, Stephen Trussel ''Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective'', McFarland 2017, p.9</ref>

Maigret began working as a police officer in [[Paris Police Prefecture|Paris]] in his twenties. At the age of 30, he entered the Homicide Squad and later, nearing his forties, became chief inspector of the squad. It is mentioned that Maigret retired when in his mid-fifties, which gave him over 30 years of experience in the police.<ref>Murielle Wenger, Stephen Trussel ''Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective'', McFarland 2017, p.11</ref>

He was from the village of Saint-Fiacre in the [[Allier]] Department, where his father Evariste Maigret was the bailiff for the local landowner; see Simenon's novel ''[[Maigret's Failure]]'' (''Un échec de Maigret''), about a school bully and contemporary, "Fatty" Ferdinand Fumal from the same village.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

===Characteristics===
Maigret wears a thick black [[overcoat]], a [[bowler hat]] (which he later swaps out for a [[fedora]]) and frequently smokes a [[tobacco pipe]].<ref>Murielle Wenger, Stephen Trussel ''Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective'', McFarland 2017, p.21</ref> He is described as tall and heavy, with broad shoulders, large hands, a thick face, thick hair, thick eyebrows and bright eyes of a "greenish gray" colour. He has strongly growing facial hair and therefore shaves every morning.<ref>Murielle Wenger, Stephen Trussel ''Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective'', McFarland 2017, p.16-19</ref>

In his investigations, Maigret's method is to put himself in another person's place in order to discover why the crime was committed, rather than just finding out [[whodunit]]. He is described as a person with extraordinary [[humanity (virtue)|humanity]].<ref>Murielle Wenger, Stephen Trussel ''Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective'', McFarland 2017, p.1-2</ref>