From Unknown Body to Solved Murder

This flow follows the investigation from an unidentified woman found in the rain to the exposure of the men who killed her.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Body in the Square

The Body in the Square Discovery After an exhausting interrogation at the Quai des Orfèvres, Jules Maigret hears that a young woman has been found dead on Place Vintimille. He goes there with Inspector Janvier and meets Inspector Lognon, already guarding the scene. First Questions The dead woman has no papers or handbag, and one shoe is missing. Her cheap blue evening dress seems out of place in the rain; bruises and a fractured skull indicate that she was beaten before being struck fatally.

A Name in the Dress

A Name in the Dress Medical Clues At the Medico-Legal Institute, Dr. Paul estimates that the woman was about twenty and had been dead for hours before her body was left in the square. She was badly intoxicated, but had never had sex, complicating the assumption that she was a Montmartre bar girl. The Shop Label A label in her faded dress points Maigret to Elisabeth Coumar’s shop on Rue de Douai. Coumar recognizes the garment and explains that the dead woman rented it for a second time the previous evening, leaving her own clothes behind.

Louise Emerges

Louise Emerges Recognition A hesitant telephone call sends Jules Maigret to Rue de Clichy, where a concierge identifies the dead woman as Louise Laboine. Louise had rented a room from Madame Crêmieux but kept largely to herself and had disappeared without explaining where she was going. A Narrowing Trail Madame Crêmieux describes a poor young woman with few possessions, a locked suitcase, and an old photograph of a man. The name and room give the investigation its first outline, but Louise’s life still seems almost entirely unrecorded.

The Wedding Trail

The Wedding Trail A Nightclub Witness Inspector Lognon’s painstaking inquiries uncover a witness who saw Louise enter Le Roméo during a wedding reception. She sought out the bride, Jeanine Armenieu, spoke with her, and then left alone rather than accept a taxi. The Missing Hours Other witnesses place Louise walking across central Paris toward Rue de l’Etoile. The route and the late hour make her brief visit to the reception a decisive lead, but no one can yet account for the time before her death.

The Trap at Pickwick’s

The Trap at Pickwick’s A False Account At Pickwick’s Bar, Albert Falconi offers an apparently complete account of Louise’s visit and of a letter awaiting her. Jules Maigret notices that the story does not fit the shy, unworldly woman reconstructed from witnesses and medical evidence. Confession and Arrest Maigret exposes the invented details: Louise did not drink a martini or read a letter in the basement. Falconi admits that he and Bianchi wanted her identity card to claim hidden money, and that Bianchi killed her during the attempted theft. Falconi is taken into custody.

Just after three on the first night

Before dawn on the first morning

The first day after the murder

The second day of the investigation

Near the investigation’s climax