The Carter of 'La Providence'

What was the woman doing here? In a stable, wearing pearl earrings, her stylish bracelet and white buckskin shoes! She must have been alive when she got there because the crime had been committed after 10 in the evening. But how? And why? And no one had heard a thing! She had not screamed. The two carters had not woken up. If the whip had not been mislaid, it was likely the body might not have been discovered for a couple of weeks or a month, by chance when someone turned over the straw. And other carters passing through would have snored the night away next to a woman's corpse! These questions lead Maigret into an unfamiliar world of canals, with its run down cafés, shadowy towpaths and eccentric inhabitants.