Mystery Review: The Carter of La Providence is the fourth (or the second ...) Maigret novel and has had a few different titles: Lock 14, The Crime at Lock 14, Maigret Meets a Milord, and The Carter of the Providence. The last is closest to Simenon's choice in French. There's a reason for the different monikers. Here we hardly get to know Maigret, who seems phlegmatic and reserved, and does little detecting that we can see though he does engage in a marathon bicycle ride -- young and spry as he was. He gathers a few bits and bobs that don't seem to tie together and there's little about how Maigret solves the crimes except for some telegrams he sends seeking information about various names. Which may be for the best as the scenario is almost wholly implausible except in the Gothic world of early 20th Century mystery stories. Mostly Simenon uses The Carter of La Providence to create a mood: dark, melancholy, rainy, and that he does very well. The mystery is secondary to the feeling, the scenery, the descriptions of the life of those who work and live on and along the canals. We get a generous description of those on the boats, the workers, the odd or sad characters that people this little corner of northern France. The Carter of La Providence almost seems like a new kind of mystery, one that gives the feel of the setting, the reactions of the various folk who encounter the crimes, the desultory actions of the police, and then after generating a spell-binding mood resolves it all as if by a magician's wand in a burst of sentiment. More a "feel-dunnit" than a whodunnit. [3½★]
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