It is a hot and steamy summer, and Maigret is hatching a plan to capture a serial murderer by playing on the killer's perverse vanity. He finally succeeds when an important clue leads him to a trio of suspects. But the three are entangled in a web of guilt and possessiveness so tight that the unraveling nearly exhausts the Inspector--until, at last, he discovers the tortured motives behind the murders. Maigret is a registered trademark of the Estate of Georges Simenon.