The creator of Parisian police detective Inspector Maigret, the central figure in more than 100 novels, Georges Simenon was one of the major French-language novelists of the 20th century as well as one of the most prolific.

He produced 190 potboilers signed with 17 pseudonyms; 358 novels and short stories signed Simenon; 25 autobiographical works; 30 series of articles published in the French press before and immediately after World War II; and a ballet scenario. Yet for French literature professor Lucille Becker, however, the true importance of Simenon's oeuvre is "its success in conveying to the reader insights into the human condition."