The rich traditions of French adventure literature of the 19th century found worthy successors in the 20th century - suffice it to name such authors as J. Simenon, L. Thomas, C. Exbray. In this series, one of the first places belongs, undoubtedly, to the Frenchman of Belgian origin Stanislas-Andre Steeman, who became one of the founders of the modern European detective novel. It is interesting, in particular, to note that it was Steeman who created the image of the famous detective Commissioner Maigret, which was then used, after some modification, in dozens of novels by J. Simenon. It was Steeman who gave French detective prose the clarity and completeness of plots, the dynamism of events, and a modern flavor that it had previously lacked.