The Carter of 'la Providence'

Inspector Maigret is standing in the pouring rain by a canal near the town of Épernay. A well-dressed woman, Mary Lampson, has been found strangled in a stable nearby. Why did her glamorous, hedonistic life come to such a brutal end here? Surely her taciturn husband Sir Walter knows – or maybe the answers lie with the crew of the barge La Providence. Translated by David Coward