Inspector Morse: The First Three Novels

by Colin Dexter

Featuring the first three books in Colin Dexter's classic crime series starring Inspector Last Bus to Woodstock, Last Seen Wearing and The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn .

Last Bus to

The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man – facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key . . .

Last Seen

Morse was beset by a nagging feeling. Most of his fanciful notions about the Taylor girl had evaporated and he had begun to suspect that further investigation into Valerie’s disappearance would involve little more than sober and tedious routine . . . The statements before Inspector Morse appeared to confirm the bald, simple truth. After leaving home to return to school, teenager Valerie Taylor had completely vanished, and the trail had gone cold. Until two years, three months and two days after Valerie’s disappearance, somebody decides to supply some surprising new evidence for the case . . .

The Silent World of Nicholas

Morse had never ceased to wonder why, with the staggering advances in medical science, all pronouncements concerning times of death seemed so disconcertingly vague. The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead . . . And his murder, in his north Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford Colleges . . .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Murder Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Ebooks, Thriller

857 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 9, 2013

About the author

Norman Colin Dexter was an English crime writer, known for his Inspector Morse novels.

He started writing mysteries in 1972 during a family holiday: "We were in a little guest house halfway between Caernarfon and Pwllheli. It was a Saturday and it was raining - it's not unknown for it to rain in North Wales. The children were moaning ... I was sitting at the kitchen table with nothing else to do, and I wrote the first few paragraphs of a potential detective novel." Last Bus to Woodstock was published in 1975 and introduced the world to the character of Inspector Morse, the irascible detective whose penchants for cryptic crosswords, English literature, cask ale and Wagner reflect Dexter's own enthusiasms. Dexter's plots are notable for his use of false leads and other red herrings.

The success of the 33 episodes of the TV series Inspector Morse, produced between 1987 and 2001, brought further acclaim for Dexter. In the manner of Alfred Hitchcock, he also makes a cameo appearance in almost all episodes. More recently, his character from the Morse series, the stalwart Sgt (now Inspector) Lewis features in 12 episodes of the new ITV series Lewis. As with Morse, Dexter makes a cameo appearance in several episodes. Dexter suggested the English poet A. E. Housman as his "great life" on the BBC Radio 4 programme of that name in May 2008. Dexter and Housman were both classicists who found a popular audience for another genre of writing.

Dexter has been the recipient of several Crime Writers' Association awards: two Silver Daggers for Service of All the Dead in 1979 and The Dead of Jericho in 1981; two Gold Daggers for The Wench is Dead in 1989 and The Way Through the Woods in 1992; and a Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in 1997. In 1996 Dexter received a Macavity Award for his short story Evans Tries an O-Level. In 1980, he was elected a member of the by-invitation-only Detection Club.

In 2000, Dexter was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature.

From Wikipedia

Series:
* Inspector Morse

Awards:
Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger
◊ 1979: Service of all the Dead
◊ 1981: The Dead of Jericho
Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger
◊ 1989: The Wench is Dead
◊ 1992: The Way Through the Woods

Reviews

[Marie Flanigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to like these books more, but Morse on paper is even more pathetic than John Thaw's version, which isn't to say Thaw does a bad job. He portrays Morse brilliantly. The Morse of the books is a tired, often befuddled, kind of perverted guy who needs to stop drinking and ogling women so much. I find reading the wanderings of Morse's mind and unconventional approach to policing is just less enjoyable than watching it, which is not typical of how I feel in general, just in this case.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer - I only recently discovered Morse with the show on PBS Masterpiece Mystery Endeavour. Endeavour is set in the swinging sixties with a young handsome Morse. These books are set in an indefinable later date when Morse is middle age and balding.

These stories are dead dull. The first one was okay there was an actual crime, an actual investigation and solution. The second was a cold case that the reader learns the solution to but Morse does not (clever? Annoying you decide)
The third is about a murder; well actually 2 murders of people who work at the testing company for overseas O levels and A levels. It is deadly dull. Every time Morse thinks he has solved it he hasn't. Everyone is lying ... dum dum dum dumb.

I have to give Masterpiece and (BBC?) huge credit for creating exciting shows out of this character. They did a better job of communicating his quirks and eccentricities in 20 minutes than I have gathered in all three books.

If I hadn't seen Endeavour I wouldn't have read these at all.

Honestly 3 stars is over generous

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last Bus to Woodstock (1975)
Last Seen Wearing (1976)
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1977)

I suspect many more people know Colin Dexter's stories through the excellent TV performances of John Thaw as Inspector Morse than they do from reading the original novels, although these too are very popular. This volume contains the first three novels in the series.

Covering three different books in one review is not easy so one has to look for themes and commonalties. It is safe to say that, as one would expect, Dexter gets better with practice. The final novel in the sequence ['Quinn'] is far better than the first ['Woodstock'].

They are novels of their time. The Inspector Morse of these books strikes me as only superficially similar to John Thaw's famous characterisation. I won't be reading any more of them but not because I think they are bad (they are not) but because complicated puzzles don't interest me.

Morse likes crossword puzzles and one suspects that Dexter does too -a great deal. Indeed, the books are attractive to many readers precisely because Dexter is very good at plotting complex mysteries with many twists and turns and surprises, perfect for people with that sort of mind.

Morse himself very often gets it horribly wrong at times (reflecting how people puzzle out crossword clues) as he relies on leaps of intuition and the logic of incomplete information. The final result is tied up neatly based on Dexter working back from his envisioning of the original crime.

Unfortunately I got lost quite a way into the stories and largely because I did not care enough to go beyond my intuition that Morse's imaginative responses to the data were not really police work so much as channelling his author. The author being Morse's God revealing Truth through Morse.

Police work was looser in the 1970s than today but Morse strikes me, even under those conditions, as having been given far too much leeway by his superiors although it was good to see him being a little kinder to Lewis (who is brighter than in the TV series) than Thaw's grumpy character.

In fact, Morse is not particularly grumpy or depressive here. He is distinctly more lively. Carlton/Central TV's scriptwriters built Thaw's character up into something a little different from Dexter's via the many clues given in the book. These are not the same men.

Morse is actually not very personally interesting in the books. He is an intuition machine designed to get us through the puzzle, test our wits and surprise us. You cannot build a TV drama up on a central character who is an intuition machine.

This is not to say that Dexter is a bad writer. In fact, he holds the attention well but the puzzle aspect (the very purpose of crime fiction) eventually crowds out the rest and conventionalities (like set piece scenes that have 'everyone in the room') do appear.

The most interesting aspect of the novels is something different entirely - the strange obsession with sex. Dexter may or may not have given us an interest into his own mind but he has certainly given us an insight into why many women think of men as 'misogynistic'.

Frankly, the first book is downright nasty in this respect. Although Dexter very much moderates his content in the two subsequent books, some of the assumptions about and attitudes to women go beyond the stereotypical into something that can only be described as crass.

This is the most marked difference between Dexter's Morse and Thaw's Morse. Dexter's Morse is a lascivious sexual oaf at root whose character seems to owe something to the pulp fiction of an earlier era whereas Thaw's Morse is an introvert romantic who simply can't find a soul partner.

If Thaw's Morse is misogynistic, it is well hiddden and an attribute (if it is there) of his introversion whereas Dexter's Morse, if not truly misogynistic, nevertheless seems prone to lascivious fantasy and a liking for blue movies with all that charm provided by single sex education in the 1950s.

This was a bit of a surprise and even distasteful in the first book, moderated though still present in the second book and largely made tolerable in the third. It wasn't going to be the reason I might not read on (I've given that reason) but only because I sensed he had 'grown up' over time.

Dexter only started writing in his mid-40s and had hitherto been little more than a retired classics teacher. The third book owes a lot to his own deafness and to a later job in the examinations system. Perhaps we are seeing a displaced mid-life crisis and sexual frustration.

The books are defined by the man's mind - a crossword puzzle aficionado and a former classics teacher who 'tried his hand' at detective fiction and discovered that his puzzling academic mind could create an alter ego that, in turn, could become iconic in the hands of the TV industry.

If you like complicated puzzles in which (I cannot actually vouch for whether this is true or not since I do not have that sort of mind myself) the solution is as possible to you as to Morse with the right leaps of intuition and a use of logic based on shared facts, then you might enjoy these books.

Be aware of the 1970s attitude to women in the first novel but don't let it put you off because he is clearly getting a grip of himself by the third. Enjoy the plotting and the Oxford ambience while you work out the mystery. As I say, I won't be reading any more but that is me. I'll stick with Thaw.

[Clayton · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you find Morse's character appealing and don't mind a few shallow characters in the mix, not to mention a hefty amount of overly elaborate description, then you will like these novels. I must admit that I didn't like them as much as other British mysteries, and I definitely prefer P.D. James for a few reasons. One thing that bothered me in all of these novels is that no one seems to care about the murder victim, ever. Most of the characters other than Morse are painted with a judgmental brush, and none of them are fully developed when compared to the protagonist. Dexter's depiction of women is especially bothersome. In the first two novels, the very young girls all are attracted to older men, and most of them are comfortable performing casual acts of prostitution. Morse himself is quite lecherous and to some this may be endearing but I found it tiresome.

[Jim Dunedin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The TV series, Morse, Lewis and Endeavor, are all excellent, with actors, script writing and productions values of the highest standards. Plus of course the wonderful historic scenery of Oxford. After reading these early Morse books I can see how John Thaw and co had some heavy lifting to do. The basics are in the books, the characterization, the settings, the cleverness of detective plot. However they are left down badly by some hackneyed and turgid writing at times. No more so than with the constant cheap sexism and occasional racism. Women, whether victims of crime, or bystanders are open game for no end of cheap shots of sexual objectification. We are also supposedly to be OK with a middle aged boring crossword loving detective having voluptuous women throw themselves at him constantly. Really? Seems to be author fantasy. Watch the shows, forget the books.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the Morse books as much as the show, almost. The characterization of Morse is better in some ways than in either Inspector Morse or "Endeavour" and more into his inner sexual fantasies and gritty desires, which always seem to get squashed under the weight of crime. His intuitiveness as a detective is what makes him interesting. He baffles the methodical Sergeant Lewis because he seems to have no method at all. He spins scenarios and then tries to prove them, often getting it wrong more than once before he finally sees all the pieces fit together. Dexter does well at keeping the reader inside Morse's mind, and just the opposite of many detectives, when you are in Morse's mind you do not know what is going on. Compare to Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes: if you were inside Holmes's head instead of Watson's you would piece it all together right the first time and then be assembling the evidence into proof. Or Poirot by Christie: he always seems to have solved the mystery long before he makes his dramatic revelation. With Morse, he more often ends up being disgusted with the outcome, once he figures out the tangle of multiple malfeasance and deception. There is always some kind of marital or sexual betrayal, and usually more than one, which theme plays off of Morse's inability to find romance in his own life.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expect the rest will improve

Any series has to improve across time: either that, or fade into nothing. I found these first three overly complicated, involving too much guesswork, and more designed to trick the reader than to let him her participate in solving the mystery.

[Fiona Warburton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish, found it very tedious, I loved the TV series, but one of those rare examples of the TV show being better than the book

[Lori Fidler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad these books led to the Inspector Morse TV series, which led to the Endeavour series; not going to put myself through reading any more, though.

[Derick Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed

I love Colin Dexter’s writing, as I love Morse and Lewis, but the plots! Oh dear. The first of this trilogy is the Last Bus to Woodstock, and although beautifully written it’s quite bizarre. Basically we have an engaged woman who, once a week, has sex with a married man. She doesn’t care about him, which makes it odd, but presumably she’s lonely and horny as her fiancé is often away. His wife is getting suspicious so they decide not to meet one week. (They have an inexplicable code thru letters passed on via an intermediary, by the way, rather than using the phone!) Anyway, in spite of agreeing not to meet he goes to their usual trysting place and, for no particular reason, she follows him. As does his wife. Both see him pick up a hitchhiker, bring her to a pub car park, and have sex with her in the back of his car. After she gets out the wife runs off, he drives off, and his bit on the side brutally kills this new girl with a tire iron conveniently lying nearby. Why she does it is a bit of a mystery as she’s not in love with him but there you go. She leaves the car park and the dead girl’s occasional boyfriend arrives. He, being a pervert, tears off her clothes and rapes her corpse. As you do. You would expect Dexter to know that corpses don’t bruise, btw, but that seems to escape everyone. Anyway, the wife goes home and, when she hears about the murder, assumes her hubby did it, which is fair enough. So she confesses to the killing and kills herself, which is not. In fact, it’s ridiculous. Meanwhile the killer starts flirting with the investigating officer, Morse, and even goes out with him. And, apparently, falls in love with him. And vice versa. Silly? Oh yes. But enjoyable nonsense. But aside from the stupid plot there were things I was very uncomfortable with, in all his books. The number of beautiful-often underage- girls who leap eagerly into bed with middle-aged men is embarrassing more than anything else, and no doubt wishful thinking on the author’s part. What troubled me was that all the women in his books are mere objects of sexual desire, and often -usually- are tramps. In Colin Dexter’s world almost all the women are either sluts or actual prostitutes, and the men are all lechers. Yes, there are sluts and satyrs in the world, but not nearly as many as Dexter makes out. Overall, deeply flawed, and I’m not sure they’re pass an editor these days. I won’t review the other books,save to say the same criticisms apply. In the third, Morse solves an extremely complicated murder, which is wonderful, but he had no shred of evidence against the men he arrested. None. Nothing. Not even a convenient confession. But then, Morse isn’t really a policeman and these stories aren’t in any way related to real life. A bit like Oxford university itself.

[Carrie R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read Colin Dexter’s original Morse books after having seen the original BBC series, the Inspector Lewis series, and the new “young Morse” series. This publication contained the first 3 books and I enjoyed them quite a bit. But what was interesting is that Dexter’s Morse on the page - at least in these early books - is quite different from the television character Morse. Dexter’s Morse is intelligent but not extraordinarily so. There is virtually no mention of his time at Oxford. Dexter’s Morse makes a lot of mistakes - puts the clues together in the wrong order, arrests the wrong person, misinterprets things and is sometimes quite the bungler. But Dexter’s Morse loves opera, word puzzles, pints of beer, and is almost constantly thinking about women - something that resonates with the television Morse. And the mysteries themselves are interesting and enjoyable. Dexter is good at setting the stage prior to any murders and does leave you in suspense - especially with the false trails that Morse and Lewis take.

[Bonnie Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books that inspired Inspector Morse on British TV

I first watched Endeavor on PBS and then discovered the Inspector Morse series. I saw that the series was based on novels by Colin Dexter so I looked for copies. I found this book which contains the first three novels. It is interesting how closely the series follows the books. One difference is the car Inspector Morse drives. The writing is very good. Anyone who likes the TV series will like the books, I think. I enjoyed them immensely. They seem to be all available as ebooks on Kindle. I watched all of the films on Prime TV.

[Reader Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curious

I never really watched the TV series Morse. I have been watching Lewis and Endeavour and enjoyed watching those. I got curious, so, I thought I would give the books a go.
It has been good to go retro to a time before Mobile phones and DNA testing etc. To see how crime was solved back in the day.
I have enjoyed reading this omnibus, The first three mysteris.
Morse is a little shabbier around the edges, but just as pompous than he is portrayed. I feel sorry for the loyal and long suffering Lewis. I think I would have told Morse to "go fuck himself" long ago. What a patronising prick he is.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected at all. I have never watched the television series Morse but I am a fan of the show Endeavor, the prequel to Morse. Morse of the books is a befuddled and befuddling detective. Trying to follow Morse's many conjectures was tiring and I started skimming those passages in the third book. He does a lot of running around in his investigations--it's maddening. Another maddening aspect of these books is his lascivious commentary, always in his head. Was Dexter trying to write a pulp novel?

[Lkelly6 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed that I did not enjoy these books. Written in too-talky, too repetitive old-time style, which I found annoying. I prefer not to become hyper-aware of writing style while I am reading.

I disliked that Dexter conceals some clues from the reader so that Morse's mystery-solving report at the end strikes me as less brilliant and more unsatisfying.

I love the television series ENDEAVOUR about Morse's early years that shaped his Inspector life as older adult; I merely like the Inspector Morse series.

[David N Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the television series - classic crime drama - and had great expectations for this set of the first three novels. While it provided great character scripts for Morse (frustrated bachelor, potential alcoholic, intemperate, self-opinionated) the stories were somewhat mediocre and probably 'over written' (i.e. could have been shortened considerably). B the end of the third novel, my expectations of a thrilling crime drama had dissipated.
I think Colin Dexter improved his plots as his series progressed, but these three novels could be described (harshly) as initial practice.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy these novels very much. I wish there were a way to list them separately here. I've read 2 of the 3 in this compilation, and I'm not sure I'll read the 3rd before the end of the year, but want to comment now.
The characters are a bit different than the BBC series--more nuanced and flawed, with different skills in some. So, if you have watched the series, you will enjoy the differences, I think.

[Calvin Preece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to have the first three Inspector Morse novels in a collected volume

I am such a fan of Colin Dexter that I often reach for his works whenever I find myself wanting a good British puzzler to stretch my deductive powers. He never fails to challenge and surprise me. All three of these stories are wonderful examples of a master mystery writer.

[BookAddict · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like these more and it's amazing to me how the script writers were able to make the PBS show so riveting. Maybe I'm getting old but it just took so long for these to get to the point and then even I'm the unveiling the writing made my head explode. Definitely not up to Agatha Christie but maybe theater books got better?

[Sandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Returned, un-read. Couldn't abide the character of Inspector Morse! Like so many of us, I've been enjoying BBC's Endeavor series; this 'Morse' in Dexter's books is not for me, however. I've so many books to read, happily, that I will savor - can't waste my time on this kind of thing.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanted to Like it But the Actual Reading Ruined My Iterest

A sexist bully is Morse, not someone I enjoyed reading about. Amazing I was able to read as much as I did. Find Peter Grainger a much better author to read.

[Louis Deegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tedious. I guess I"m influenced by the TV series. The Morse in these books is not similar to the I've come to know. After finishing these three stories, continuing is not an option.
Morse's bumbling, mistakes, handling of Lewis seem a little hard to believe. Just too Tedious.

[Jennifer Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished the first book in the series. I'm not sure I'll continue with the rest. I love Morse, and I love Oxford. However, I found Dexter's writing a little pedestrian. Characters take leaps which don't seem in keeping with how they've been written, and the discordant notes linger.

[Frank Mondimore · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a word: disappointing. I expected Dexter’s Morse to be a more rounded, deeper character than the TV series portrays, but found the opposite to be true. He has little of the complexity and none of the charm of Morse as embodied by actor John Thaw in the BBC series. This Morse is crude and mean spirited, not to mention misogynistic and homophobic. The writing is serviceable but often bland. Aside from the long suffering Lewis, other characters are two dimensional and uniformly unpleasant individuals. It was interesting to read a few of the books that inspired the series, but I’ll be stopping now, thank you.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. I had watched the tv show first and liked the character in the book a little better. He loves the ladies!

[Jan E. Taddeo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Bit Dated...

The misogyny of the ‘70s is hard to read in 2018. Tedious listening to Morse’s misguided theories over and over.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed as I love Morse on TV but this is very sexist and also racist at times. Managed the first book of the trilogy and then stopped.

[Jan Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding books, outstanding author (goes without saying)

[Sheila Gregoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read these because I loved the television series, but these are seriously misogynistic. Women are always the villains, and I eventually just got sick of it.

[Dorinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional read

I love everything about the Morse books. Not something you can race through. Take your time and enjoy the experience.