Maigret goes to School

 Set in a small village that reminds Maigret of his childhood, a cantankerous old woman is murdered and the village schoolteacher, who is an outsider gets the blame.
He asks Maigret for help and this results in Maigret travelling to the village and trying to unravel village politics and history. 8/10

Our Mutual Friend

by Charles Dickens

A long read for the Christmas period and a book I have not read for a long time which made it all the more enjoyable as I could not remember how it unfolded. The humour is wonderful and Dickens' slating of the poor laws still carries a punch from this far away in history. 
The antics of John Harmon would I think raise a few eyebrows nowadays and may make some modern readers uncomfortable but the power of the storytelling gift still shines through, and with memorable supporting characters like the Veneerings, Mr. Venus and Jenny Wren this is a great read. 9/10