Grand Banks Cafe (Penguin Books)

A new translation of Georges Simenon's gripping novel set in an insular fishing community, book eight in the new Penguin Maigret series. It was indeed a photograph, a picture of a woman. But the face was completely hidden, scribbled all over in red ink.

Someone had tried to obliterate the head, someone very angry. The pen had bitten into the paper. There were so many criss-crossed lines that not a single square millimetre had been left visible. On the other hand, below the head, the torso had not been touched.

A pair of large breasts. A light-coloured silk dress, very tight and very low cut. Sailors don't talk much to other men, especially not to policemen. But after Captain Fallut's body is found floating near his trawler, they all mention the Evil Eye when they speak of the Ocean's voyage.

Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels. "Compelling, remorseless, brilliant". (John Gray). "One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century...Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories".

(Guardian). "A supreme writer...unforgettable vividness". (Independent).Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. Best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret books, his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe.

He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations, releasing one new title each month.