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Penguin to publish 75 Maigret novels as part of massive Simenon campaign

12:45 10/09/2013

Pipe-smoking detective Jules Maigret will return to British bookstores this autumn, with Penguin publishing all 75 books in Belgian author’s Georges Simenon’s series over as many months, writes The Bookseller's Stacey Bartlett. Starting with Pietr the Latvian, the first in the series, on November 7, one Maigret title will be published every month as a paperback in what is one of Penguin’s most ambitious and extensive series launches ever. As well as the Maigret novels, Penguin also has plans to re-publish a selection of Simenon’s literary works—of which there are “about 150”—including The Stain on the Snow and The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By. “He wrote close to 400 long and short stories in his lifetime, so there’s a lot to cherry pick from,” said series editor Josephine Greywoode. The publisher was approached by Peters, Fraser & Dunlop, which manages Simenon’s estate following the Belgian author’s death in 1989. “It’s a huge deal for Penguin UK and US,” she said, adding that a year-long marketing campaign will “try and create a trail from book to book for the readers”. Marketing includes a booklet for booksellers introducing the author and Maigret; a loyalty scheme; “money-can’t-buy” prizes, including places at a Maigret dinner with guests including the books’ translators and Simenon’s son John; and a simultaneous launch for six of the titles next spring. Simenon has sold around 80 million copies worldwide, and John Banville, Julian Barnes and Paul Theroux count themselves as fans, but Greywoode said Simenon’s UK profile “is not the same as other countries . . . it is something we are aware of and we hope we can make a difference with this fresh and very concerted, long-term and ambitious project. We see [Simenon] as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Every single one of these books deserves a bit of attention and is very distinct from the others . . . if we were to put out 75 altogether, we would be forcing [booksellers] in many ways to make a selection, but hopefully if we are seeding them over a longer period of time it allows the reader and the retailer to take it one step at a time, and to really savour each book for what it is.”

Written by The Bulletin