A man on the run, a madman on the loose terrorizing the town, and Maigret on the case—a thrilling, nerve-racking mystery from Georges Simenon.

Maigret is on the train to Bordeaux trying to sleep, to no avail: a man in the bunk above is tossing and turning, perhaps even crying. Suddenly, the passenger jumps up, then jumps off the moving train. Maigret instinctively follows suit but is struck down, shot in the shoulder. When he reawakens, he's hospitalized and surrounded by officials—who think he is the local murderer. Though the confusion is soon cleared up, Maigret's interest is piqued by the stories of the madman who has been killing women on the side of the road, first strangling his victims, then stabbing them with a giant needle. It's a case that comes about by pure chance, and there's nothing to do but recover, bedridden. So using his indefatigable power of deduction, along with his penchant for mischievous schemes, the inspector resolves to figure out just what the situation is in Bergerac.