“It was December 3rd. The rain had not stopped for a moment. Exactly twenty days had passed since November 13th, the day of the incident, and yet another huge 3 on the calendar - that was when the first elderly woman was murdered near the Saint-Sauveur church, just a few steps beyond the canal.
“You consider me crazy, manic, perverted (they even called me sexually perverted while none of the elderly women had been raped). You are wrong. I am a man with perfectly sound mind.
“If my actions do not seem normal to you, it is because you do not know. And, unfortunately, for my own personal safety, I am not allowed to inform you. You will understand. There are seven women on the list, and the number was not randomly chosen. I act very logically, because I must. You will realize it after the death of the seventh. Because after that, nothing will happen. La Rochelle will find its peace again.”
In the seaside town of La Rochelle, six women have been strangled to death. The city lives in terror. The pilot Léon Lambé lives above his hat shop. He is a respectable citizen who raises no suspicion. He passes through all the police checkpoints without hindrance. He frequents the Café de Colomb every evening, where he meets with the doctor, the senator, the police inspector, and others, who play bridge.
He provokes a young trainee journalist from the local newspaper by sending anonymous notes announcing his murders. He strangles with a cello string, to which he has tied two sticks at the ends. The only one who has realized that Mr. Lambé is the murderer is a tailor from Armenia who lives opposite him. And they play a game of cat and mouse.
This is one of the most atmospheric novels by Simenon, with a deep anatomy of the society of rural France. Claude Chabrol made one of the finest film adaptations of Simenon's book in 1982, playing with references to Hitchcock's 'Psycho.' Starring the great actor Michel Serrault, who conveys all the banality, shallowness, and mediocrity of the murderer, and Charles Aznavour, wonderful in the role of the tailor Kasountas.
