The Cellars of the Majestic

Below stairs at a glamorous hotel on the Champs-Elysees, the workers lives are worlds away from the luxury enjoyed by the wealthy guests. When their worlds meet, Maigret discovers a tragic story of ambition, blackmail and unrequited love. ''Compelling, remorseless, brilliant'' John Gray ''Try to imagine a guest, a wealthy woman, staying at the Majestic with her husband, her son, a nurse and a governess . . In a suite that costs more than a thousand francs a day . . At six in the morning, she''s strangled, not in her room, but in the basement locker room''Below stairs at a glamorous hotel on the Champs-Élysées, the workers'' lives are worlds away from the luxury enjoyed by the wealthy guests. When their worlds meet, Maigret discovers a tragic story of ambition, blackmail and unrequited love. This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret and the Hotel Majestic. ''One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories'' Guardian ''A supreme writer . . unforgettable vividness'' Independent