A maid dies after sipping a poisoned drink on a country estate. Was the woman of the house the true target, as she claims, or will Maigret uncover another story?

In the tranquil coastal village of Étretat, a young maid has died after drinking an arsenic-laced sleeping draught. The murderer's real target, however, was the elderly widow Valentine Besson. Or so Valentine declares when she visits Maigret in Paris, humbly requesting that he take on the case.

Swapping his official patch for the seaside, Maigret encounters mixed opinions on the Besson family, whose late patriarch was a face cream magnate. Is Valentine a sweet old lady or a cold-hearted phony? Is the mutual loathing with her beautiful, unhappy daughter a red herring or the key to the mystery? In these picture-postcard surroundings, Maigret must distinguish truth from window dressing--and quell his own rising distaste for grim reality--before tragedy strikes again.