Un crime en Hollande

The novel was written aboard the Ostrogoth, near Morsang-sur-Seine, in May 1931, and is set in Delfzijl, in Dutch Friesland, the largest of the country’s provinces. The manuscript was destroyed by the author. A murder, a love triangle, Maigret, and a question: should the police maintain order or assist justice?

This title is among the first twenty-two novels published by Arthème Fayard in the first collection dedicated to him, which saw the birth of Commissaire Maigret. The series was launched on February 20, 1931, with the publication of Monsieur Gallet, décédé and Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien, on the occasion of the famous Bal anthropométrique at La Boule Blanche, to which Simenon invited all of Paris. The series was then published at a rate of one book per month and ended in October 1932 after twenty-two titles, including seventeen “Maigret” novels, two other novels (Le Relais d’Alsace and Le passager du Polarlys) and three collections of short stories (Les 13 coupables, Les 13 énigmes and Les 13 mystères).

The first edition appeared in July 1931, and its deluxe-paper issue appeared a year later: at the time, it was not customary to plan a deluxe-paper printing for detective novels. Struck by remorse, Fayard nevertheless eventually issued, on the occasion of a reprint, 50 copies on vélin pur fil Lafuma. As a result, the deluxe-paper copies of the first sixteen titles published by Fayard (fifteen Maigret investigations and Le Relais d’Alsace) are not part of the first editions of these novels. It was only from Le port des brumes (the Maigret novel published in May 1932) onward that Fayard began printing deluxe-paper copies of the first editions.