A Man’s Neck

In a Montparnasse cafe, Willy Ferrièrre openly muses about paying 10,000 francs to hire someone to kill his wealthy aunt to claim the inheritance. An unseen figure slips him a note indicating willingness to take up the job.

That night, Joseph Heurtin enters the aunt's house, following footprints and a map to the bedroom, expecting a cache of money. He stumbles upon the woman's dead body, and his bloody hands leave fingerprints on the scene.

A shadowy figure named Radek reveals himself and assures Heurtin that he will clean up the prints and tells him to hide out. He exits the house, locking the door behind him, leaving the crime scene untouched.

Inspector Maigret is assigned to the murder investigation, and clues begin to point toward Heurtin. The trail leads the detectives to Heurtin's parents' house in Versailles.

At Versailles, Heurtin is arrested and protests his innocence, claiming there was another man in the murdered woman's house. Maigret grows suspicious as the magistrate prepares to prosecute.

Although officially removed from the case for letting Heurtin escape, Maigret orders Heurtin to be followed. Heurtin unknowingly leads Maigret back toward the Montparnasse cafe.

Maigret returns to the Montparnasse cafe and sits with Ferrièrre and his mistress Edna, continuing his inquiries. Radek, who is blackmailing Ferrièrre, intensifies his pressure as the tension in the cafe builds.

Maigret has several encounters with Radek, who all but confesses to the perfect crime, but the full truth remains elusive. Heurtin continues to evade police surveillance as the net tightens.

Radek confronts Ferrièrre and Edna at the cafe and, in a volatile moment, drags Edna to his apartment while Ferrièrre does nothing to intervene. The power shift around the crime increases the danger for everyone involved.

In his apartment Radek confesses his long standing motives, his loneliness, and his hatred of pretenders as Maigret and his team approach. The suspense reaches a breaking point as the investigators close in on the killer and his accomplice.

A violent confrontation erupts; Radek shoots one of Maigret's men, and both Radek and Heurtin are killed in the ensuing fight. The case edges toward resolution as the two killers lie dead and the net tightens around Ferrièrre.

Maigret escorts Ferrièrre out in custody, bringing the murder investigation to a close. With the principal culprits dead or detained, the detective walks away having resolved the case.