Barely twenty-eight years old. But it would be difficult to look more like an old maid, to move less gracefully, in spite of the care she took to be friendly and pleasant. Those black dresses . . . that ridiculous green hat! For six months the dowdy Cécile has been coming to the police station, desperate to convince them that someone has been breaking into her aunt's apartment. No one takes her seriously - until Maigret unearths a story of merciless, deep-rooted greed. 'Simenon tells us that though life is beautiful, it is often appalling.' New Yorker