This is the biography of Georges Simenon, the creator of Inspector Maigret and one of the most widely read genre writers of all time. By the age of 22 he was writing 3 novels a month, and by his death Simenon had produced nearly 400, as well as 25 autobiographical books and innumerable stories, although his overriding inspiration in writing was always financial gain. Simenon prized quantitative achievement in his personal life as well. He claimed to have slept with 10,000 women by the end of his life, though his second wife put the number at a more modest 1200, including three marriages and a love affair with Josephine Baker. Simenon also had close friendships with some of the great cultural figures of the day, such as Andre Gide, Jean Renoir and Henry Miller.