David Hare: the genius of Georges Simenon
As he brings one of the crime writer's novels to the National stage, David Hare reveals why he loves the pithy, power-obsessed creator of MaigretLike many bookish children, I grew up consuming detective fiction more than any other kind. Even then I had noticed that stories supposedly driven by narrative depended for their real vitality on establishing ambience. Crime writing came to life when it had density, when you…