New Releases by Georges Simenon

TWO DESPERATELY LONELY, DISILLUSIONED PEOPLE MEET AT A NEW YORK BAR, SPEND THE ENTIRE NIGHT TOGETHER, AND TAKE REFUGE IN A GARISH HOTEL. THEY FALL IN LOVE BUT ARE AFRAID TO BELIEVE A NEW LIFE IS POSSIBLE. TRANSLATION OF TROIS CHAMBRES A MANHATTAN.

''Why all of a sudden did this shock him? He was annoyed with himself for being shocked. He felt as if he had been sucked into the bourgeois, almost edifying, atmosphere that surrounded those epeople, ''good people'' so everyone kept telling him.'' A retired manufacturer has been shot dead by his own pistol, last seen alive by his son-in-law. In this seemingly motiveless murder, Inspector Maigret must rely on his famous intuition to discover the truth.

A Helen and Kurt Wolff book.

An elderly woman who has repeatedly sought Chief Superintendent Maigret''s help over an intruder in her apartment is mysteriously murdered.

When Maigret receives a visit from an old schoolmate whose mistress has been shot to death, he feels compelled to look into the case. Yet his friend is one of the suspects--along with the dead woman''s four other lovers, each unknown to the others. The basis for a public television Mystery! presentation. Translated by Eileen Ellenbogen. Maigret is a registered trademark of the Estate of Georges Simenon.

Inspector Jules Maigret differs from his English counterparts of the 1930s and 40s in that he is a respectable, bourgeois member of the police force - archetypally French. In this reissued collection of dramatized short stories, Maigret and Simenon look back over four of their greatest cases.

Two couples, Ray and Mona Sanders and Donald and Isabel Dodd, attend a party together. On their way home, a violent snowstorm prevents Dodd''s car from reaching the house. The four set out on foot, when they arrive, Ray has gone missing. Donald pretends to go looking for him in the snow, but, stupefied by fatigue and alcohol, he prefers to take refuge in the barn. As the night passes, Donald considers that his attachment to Ray is in fact only a badly disguised envy for a man who has succeeded financially. He begins to hate Ray and is convinced that he has just killed him by not coming to his aid. Donald''s physical and moral state deteriorates as he is tortured by his fantasies.

A series of murders in Paris force Chief Inspector Maigret to set a trap at the risk of causing another crime.

Paralyzed and unable to speak, a newspaper publisher reviews his life from a hospital bed and is able to find a new understanding.