Maigret's Childhood Friend: Inspector Maigret, Book 69 (Unabridged‪)‬

Florentin pulled one of those faces which had once amused his classmates so much and disarmed the teachers.

Maigret didn't dare to ask why he had come to see him. He studied him, struggling to believe that so many years had passed.

He was so used to acting the fool that his face automatically assumed comical expressions. But his face was still greyish, his eyes anxious.

A visit from a long-lost schoolmate who has fallen on hard times forces Maigret to unpick a seedy tangle of love affairs in Montmartre, and to confront the tragedy of a wasted life. 

This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret's Boyhood Friend.