Max Survives Paris

A gruesome murder four years earlier, in La Santé prison in Paris, casts a long shadow over the lives of many people. Chief Inspector Maigret of Police Nationale is one of them. It is such a painful subject that he refuses to discuss it. In the present time, Max, almost fourteen, who knows nothing of past events, is enjoying a brief holiday with his Parisian relatives, one of whom is Chief Inspector Maigret. And that is how he manages to be in the wrong place at the wrong time: Montmartre, early evening. There, he witnesses some disturbing events that he can’t forget. Even in the face of intensive police questioning, combined with incredulity, his faith in what he saw remains steadfast.

The next morning, the mutilated body of a young souvenir seller, last seen the same night at Montmartre, is found, and Chief Inspector Maigret must take the accounts given by Max – and his own wife – even more seriously than he did before. Just as things are getting tough, Chief Inspector Clive Scott of Scotland Yard offers Maigret the help of young Patrick Evremond as a ‘leg man’ for a week or so. Patrick believes Max’s account of what happened at Montmartre. And why wouldn’t he? He’s seen the same thing himself in London.

An attempted political assassination starts a turf war between the Police Nationale and the Gendarmerie Nationale, and that’s when things really turn ugly. Is it possible that Chief Inspector Maigret is a traitor to his country..? Max Survives Paris will be enjoyed by teenage and young adult readers.

Margaret de Rohan worked for the Australian High Commission for seven years, then spent the next 10 years in post-disaster work following the Zeebrugge ferry disaster in 1987, in which she had a personal involvement. Margaret is ‘Granny Meg’ to her four wonderful grandchildren, all of whom live in England. She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from Oxford Brookes University in 2005. Her earlier books are Celia and Granny Meg go to Paris (Matador 2011), Celia and Granny Meg Return to Paris (Matador 2012) and Chief Inspector Maigret Visits London (Matador 2013).