La Mort de Belle
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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La Mort de Belle (1952) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon. Set in the United States, it tells the story of Spencer, a married teacher who is suspected of having murdered a young girl who was staying in the where he lives with his wife.
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Plot
One evening, in the early snow season, in a small town in rural New York, while his wife Christine has gone to a friend's house for bridge, Spencer Ashby stays home to grade papers and to pursue his hobby of woodcarving. The Ashbys, who are very close, have taking in the daughter of a friend of Christine's, Belle Sherman, for the past month. Belle Sherman, who has gone to the local movie theater, returns before the evening is over, while Spencer is busy in his cubbyhole. Christine will return later.
The next morning, as soon as he arrives at the college, Spencer is urgently called back. Belle has been found strangled in her room. Nothing can explain this murder.
The investigation begins immediately and Spencer is confronted by the coroner Bill Ryan, and then by Lieutenant Averell of the State Police. The interrogations he undergoes are painful and he feels even more humiliated because the principal of the college has asked him not to show up in class.
Information taken by the F.B.I. in Virginia, where Belle lived, reveals that she has had several love affairs and that she is far from being the well-behaved young girl that the Ashbys imagined. It is also established that Belle had not been to the movies and that she was seen, the same evening, in the company of a man. If the coroner suspects Spencer, Averell, more psychologist, understands that his naivety is the best guarantee of his innocence.
However, the investigation stalls. In spite of Christine's kindness, in spite of the understanding of a policeman, Mr. Holloway, Spencer's morale deteriorates. Public opinion is not in his favor. The front of his house is tarred with a large M (=Murderer), the children show him a suspicious curiosity, he feels excluded from the community. He was summoned to Litchfield, New Hampshire, to be reheard by Coroner Ryan. While he was expecting to be charged, he learned that no charges, at least so far, have been filed against him.
On his way home, relieved and relaxed, he does what he always thought was forbidden: he goes into a bar. He then goes to a cafeteria where he meets by chance Ryan's secretary, Miss Anna Moeller, with whom the evening takes an intimate turn. At the end of the evening, they leave a dance hall to make love in Spencer's car. Spencer is then ridiculed by her because of his impotence and, suddenly distraught, he strangles her.
It is the lieutenant Averell who will come to arrest him. From now on, nobody will be able to believe that he is not Belle's murderer. Nobody, except a man he will never know.
Particular aspects of the novel
Belle's character is evoked through images, and her death is only the starting point of an investigation that will disturb a man to the point of pushing him towards an irresponsible act: he ends up committing the murderous act of which he was suspected.
Data sheet
Time and place
- A village in the United States near Litchfield (New York State)
- Contemporary time period
Characters
- Spencer Ashby, American, history teacher at Crestview School, married, no children, age 40
- Christine Ashby, his wife, 42 years old
- Belle Sherman, single, 18 years old
- Anna Moeller, secretary to the Litchfield coroner, single
Adaptations
In film
- 1961 : La Mort de Belle, French film by Édouard Molinaro.
On television
- 2009 : Jusqu'à l'enfer, French telefilm directed by Denis Malleval.
Source
- Maurice Piron, Michel Lemoine, L'Univers de Simenon, guide des romans et nouvelles (1931-1972) de Georges Simenon, Presses de la Cité, 1983, p. 166-167
Translations
English
It has been translated into English as Belle as a separate volume and in the collection Tidal Wave which also included Le Fond de la bouteille and Les Frères Rico.
See also
