 For instance, Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret goes after the criminals, but refuses to judge them, seeing crime as a human situation to be understood.William McIlvanney's novel "Laidlaw" (1977), with its lead character of Inspector Jack Laidlaw, seemed to have been influenced by Maigret.The social criticism in Sjöwall and Wahlöö's Martin Beck detective series appears in many works of tartan noir, such as the dark novels of Denise Mina.