A glamorous woman suddenly turns up dead in the middle of nowhere in a tragic, mysterious puzzle that only Georges Simenon's legendary detective can solve. It's just another slow, rainy day on a French canal, until the discovery of a woman's body disrupts the placid scene. Inspector Maigret is baffled by the facts of the case: an expensively dressed woman, Mary Lampson, has been strangled in a nearby stable, with no road nearby wide enough for automobile traffic. Only by chance was her body found, without a noise, witness, or trace of mud to aid in explaining the scene. How did this glamorous, pearl-laden woman meet her end? It seems that those on board the barge La Providence--Mary's proud husband, Sir Walter; a friend named Willy Marco; and a Chilean parliament member's widow--might hold the key to the puzzle. In The Carter of La Providence, once again, Georges Simenon orchestrates a harrowing plot of secrets and dramas that disturb, and reveal the underbelly of, the everyday.