Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. He is best know in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and 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. David Coward is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Leeds and has translated many books from French for Penguin Classics.