When a small time crook—a drunk, thug, pimp, and thief—is murdered on a small Mediterranean island just after he was heard boasting loudly about his policeman "friend" Maigret, Inspector Maigret is compelled to leave Paris to investigate the crime. But no one seems to have a motive for the killing. Not the old English lady and her male "secretary," nor the aging prostitute or the Dutch anarchist. But all of them have secrets they prefer to keep hidden.