Maigret is not infallible. Had prejudice forced him into filure in the Fumal case? He had been unable to mask his antipathy for the bloated meat-merchant when he called on him, with a recommendation from the Minister of the Interior, to seek police protection. It had made it no better to discover he had been at school with this tough, malicious Midas. He had hated Fattie Fumal, even then. Everybody had: it seemed everybody still did.When in spite of precautions, Fumal is brutally murdered in his own home, Maigret has to examine his conscience. Could he have done more? And now... which of Fumal's dubious, drunken entourage had acted as executioner for the rest?