An earlier (copyright 1962) Maigret, as frugal as any in the series, finds him officiating over the inexplicable murder of a retired manufacturer on the night his wife and daughter are at the theater. In slow seriatim, three small facts are fed Maigret and the reader: the dead man had played the horses; someone had occupied the top floor maid's room; his wife had a worthless brother who appeared and disappeared from time to time. As calm and methodical as ever--just follow the microdots.