Georges Simenon was, during his lifetime, the bestselling writer alive. He created Chief Inspector Maigret, one of the most-loved and sanest characters in modern fiction, but was himself an alcoholic, a fantasist, a man possessed by the demon of sexual jealousy, a crime writer whose own life was haunted by the possibility of crime. His stated ideal was family life, but he conducted a quarrel with his widowed mother that lasted for 50 years, and his own family life ended in catastrophe with the suicide of his daughter. He married twice and seduced hundreds of women, including Josephine Baker.