Read Series: Inspector Morse
by Author Colin Dexter
The Way Through The Woods (1994)
The Way Through the Woods is the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series, and won the Gold Dagger Award in 1992. It is perhaps the quintessential Morse novel. Its title, part of the couplet,"There once was a way through the woodsBefore they planted the trees"is taken from a poem by Rudyard Kipl...
Service of All the Dead (1996)
Redeeming factors: competently, at times even engagingly written; reasonably complex plot (although the main "surprise" is a common enough twist in whodunnits that I was considering it from fairly early on); and a nice touch in that Morse doesn't get everything right, not even at the end. That ma...
The Secret of Annexe 3 (1997)
The Secret of Annexe 3 is the seventh book in Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse" series. We are now at the midpoint of the series, and Morse is firmly fixed in his irascible curmudgeon role. He is now 54. One minor character says he is "distinctly brusque and hostile" on her first encounter with h...
The Riddle of the Third Mile (1997)
The Riddle of the Third Mile is the sixth book in Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series. It dates from 1983, and is not, I fear, one that will linger in the memory. It is chiefly interesting for the back story it reveals about Morse himself, who is now 52. Most of chapter seven is devoted to Mor...
The Remorseful Day (2000)
The Colin Dexter mysteries featuring Chief Inspector Morse of the Thames Valley CID and leading up to this book have prepared the reader for the likely end of the great detective. He drinks far to much, easts poorly, can't resist the occasional cigarette, and (most recently) has been diagnosed wi...
Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories (1996)
I've heard it said that you can tell a great novelist by the short stories he or she writes. "Morse's Greatest Mystery" is a short story collection by Colin Dexter, the genius who gave the world Chief Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis. The eleven stories include six about Morse and five more mys...
Last Seen Wearing (1997)
I wonder if the reason I couldn't really care very much about this story is related to Morse not really caring very much about it either. When he cannot squeeze it into being murder-shaped, he admits that he simply cannot raise much enthusiasm. And in many ways I feel similarly.The opening Prolog...
Last Bus to Woodstock (1996)
I came to the Inspector Morse novels by a round-about route. We visited my in-laws over Labor Day weekend, and on Sunday evening wound up watching a bit of TV. Usually I do my best to ignore the television---engrossing myself in a crossword or a good book. But this particular evening a show ca...
Death Is Now My Neighbor (1999)
Death is Now my Neighbour is the 12th novel in Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse" series; another enjoyable and very well-written read, in the series focusing on the crimes solved by Chief Inspector Morse, and Detective Sergeant Lewis. It is not vital to read the books in order - each one can stand...
The Dead of Jericho (1996)
Although The Dead of Jericho is the fifth novel in Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse" series, published in 1981, it was interestingly the first one to be dramatised for television in 1986. The rest, as they say, is history. The characters of Morse and Lewis are now solidly defined and sparring agai...
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1997)
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn, the third novel about Inspector Morse, moves outside the Colleges to an independent organisation - The Oxford Examinations Syndicate - which runs exams for overseas students. The eponymous Nicholas Quinn is a recently appointed employee, though the decision by ...
The Wench Is Dead (1998)
The Wench is Dead is the eighth novel in Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse" series. It is one of the most intriguing so far, as it is a story within a story. The mystery itself is based on a true unsolved crime which had been researched by Dexter. In part then, it is an historical novel. The novel ...
The Jewel That Was Ours (1993)
A unique episode in the "Inspector Morse" canon The Jewel That Was Ours started out as an episode for television written by Julian Mitchell, entitled "The Wolvercote Tongue." "Inspector Morse" was a very popular TV series starring John Thaw as Morse and Kevin Whately as Lewis, who by the time of ...