Maigret and the Headless Corpse — Georges Simenon

A man's dismembered body is found in a canal, and only Maigret can uncover the killer

When a man's headless body is discovered in Paris's Saint-Martin Canal, Maigret is quick to answer the call. It is in this very neighborhood that he meets a strangely taciturn woman who runs a cafe. Her husband is away on a trip -- or so she says. As is often the case, Maigret soon learns that there is more to the story than meets the eye.