Book Log 2020 #28: Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon

This is the first novel featuring Inspector Maigret, a police detective in pre-WW2 Paris, in which he is tasked with bringing in the titular Latvian, a master criminal who is currently on a train due to arrive at the Gare du Nord. Maigret heads to the station with a squad of police in tow. Once there he thinks he sees his man... only to learn that there's been a murder on the train, and the victim also appears to be his man.  It later turns out that there are at least two other people connected to the two potential Pietrs who also fit the description. Maigret has his hands full trying to figure out which one of these men - if any - is the actual Pietr.

This should be the set up for an interesting case, but I found the book pretty dull. Maigret's method of detection is apparently to play a hunch and then futz around with his pipe while waiting to see if the hunch pays off.  Part of me thinks that can't be all there is to him - there are 75 Maigret novels, published in a number of languages and adapted for the big and small screens - but based on this outing I don't feel compelled to find out.