Maigret is spending a few days between assignments avoiding a long trip back to Paris and then on again to his next assignment. The seaside resort is run by an acquaintance from earlier days in Paris, Monsieur Louis. Staying at the resort is a art dealer, Monsieur Owen, who is wheelchair bound from MS and accompanied by a nurse. Also staying is a flamboyant actress with her newly acquired second husband and a dog. There is also a gentleman whom Monsieur Louis describes as a "fixer" who "helps" people not favored by Lady Luck at the Casino. A unknown dead man is found in Monsieur Owen's bath with the actress's dead dog. Both the second husband and Monsieur Owen have disappeared. The actress faints; the nurse demures. Maigret who is on vacation and "not involved" even after Monsieur Louis's request for help get interested in the strange actions of the characters.
The pragmatic, reserved and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth.
