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German-language secondary literature on the subject of Simenon is quite rare, and scholarly treatises are even rarer. The anthology »Simenon: Ermittlungen, Existenzen, Atmosphären« aims to close this gap. It was published in April by J.B. Metzler, part of the (serious) Springer publishing house.

The editors of this volume are Hermann Doetsch (Lecturer in French, Spanish and Hispano-American Literature and Film Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) and Wolfram Nitsch (Professor of Romance Literature at the University of Cologne). 

The following section reproduces the content description of the flyer for the title:
This volume honours Simenon's long underestimated novel in four respects. From a genre-historical perspective, it emphasises the originality of the investigator character Maigret and the affinity of the »hard novels« to existentialism. From a subject-historical perspective, he explains how the protagonists of these novels in particular come into conflict with processes of social modernisation and biopolitical control. From a media-theoretical perspective, it illuminates how closely Simenon observed modern techniques of investigation and surveillance. Finally, from the point of view of spatial theory, it deals with his distinctive sense of milieus and atmospheres.

The book has 349 pages and costs 74.99 euros in printed form (a quirky price for a printed book) and 59.99 euros for the e-book version.