Maigret Dirige l'Enquête plot
Jules Lapie was a sort of bookkeeper at a shipping company in Fecamp. One of his duties was to check shiploads. During one of his checks, he was offered a drink. Jules drank too much and woke up two days later at the Cape of Good Hope. He also fell overboard and lost part of his leg. Back in Fecamp, he sued the shipping company, and received a considerable sum of money, from which he bought a house near Paris, took a maid (named Felicie) and lived quietly. Until one day, after running an errand, he finds her murdered in the kitchen. Maigret is turned on.