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Inspector Morse #8
Moord op de Barbara Bray
Inspector Morse, recovering from an ulcer in Oxford's Radcliffe Hospital, comes across an old book recounting a sensational murder case that took place in Oxford 100 years earlier. Convinced that the two men hanged for the crime were innocent, Morse sets out from the confines of his bed to prove it.
191 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1989
128 people are currently reading
1638 people want to read
About the author
Colin Dexter
180 books713 followersNorman 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
December 3, 2024
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 received the British Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award, for the best Crime novel of the year, in 1989.
The phrase "The Wench is Dead" is often quoted, but originally was a quotation from Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta, written around 1590.
"Friar Barnardine: Thou hast committed...
Barabas: Fornication: but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead."
Colin Dexter again uses his favoured form for this Inspector Morse novel. Each chapter is satisfyingly headed with an apt literary quotation. In this one however, there is another layer - a "framework" story within this structure.
It starts with Inspector Morse being admitted to hospital with a ruptured stomach ulcer. He becomes very aware of his own mortality, and begins to feel very low and vulnerable. This first part of the book deals with the situation Morse finds himself in. He recognises that he has to lay off his beloved whisky, and idles away his time between watching the patients around him and admiring what he sees as the comparative charms of his nurses. He is frustrated to be trapped, and becomes very aware of his age, and how he is beginning to appear to others - particularly women.
He is particularly pleased to see Lewis, who visits him bearing gifts such as lemon barley water, books and illicit booze. The readers' world becomes very small, as we match our viewpoint to that of Morse, as he variously enjoys the dubious pleasure of a sordid paperback or critiques a terminally boring pseudo-academic textbook, full of "pompous polysyllaby". One slight book, however, does intrigue him. "Murder on the Oxford Canal", which had been given to him by the widow of a fellow patient, Colonel Deniston.
The middle part is given over to the tale of a murder that had happened in 1859, described in the booklet Morse was reading as "a tale of unbridled lust and drunken lechery."
Of course, nothing is as it seems. From his hospital bed Morse directs operations, determined to solve this mystery from long ago, as he believes that the wrong men were hanged. He puzzles over the clues and information in the text. There had been enough circumstantial evidence, yet no really direct evidence. No witnesses to the murder, nothing to say how the murder had been committed, and no motive. Morse reads and analyses the text over and over again, sending both Lewis and a librarian - ostensibly there to visit another patient, but who seems quite taken with him - to gather more information.
The story sways satisfactorily between Morse's painstaking dissection of the evidence and a gently humorous description of his time in the hospital. He still has his charisma, and the females are still attracted by his intellectual charm, but he recognises that he is becoming more dissolute; that as Dexter puts it his "culture" is always fighting against his "coarseness".
The final quarter of the book sees Morse discharged from hospital, but still very embroiled in the case.
This is a very well-balanced book, flipping satisfyingly between both parts, and giving both equal value. It contains a devious mystery story in true Dexter fashion, and deserves its award. Unlike some of the previous novels, we are not blinded by the sheer number of characters, so that the plot becomes fiendishly difficult to decipher for extraneous reasons. The convolutions in this plot are all pertinent to the story.
By this point in the series we are very interested in the "back story" of Morse, and in this novel we are provided with further snippets of interesting information - such as that he would never step into the "Conservative Club" and that he too had his origins in a terraced or "back-to-back" house. There is evidently a story to be revealed in future novels here, with Oxford District Council at its root, as Morse clearly has very bad memories which he is suppressing.
Details such as this, and the frequent throwaway amusing comments such as,
"Morse said nothing; but he almost prayed (quite something for a low-church atheist)"
cleverly make us want to stick with the series and learn more about our irascible curmudgeon of a hero. We are rooting for Morse in his unsuccessful romantic encounters. We appreciate the poignancy of his only receiving half a dozen Christmas cards, and professing to feeling relieved that he has no gifts to buy. We cheer him along when he begins to show a more appreciative side towards Lewis. We chuckle at his vanity as he completes his beloved "Times" crossword in record time - save for one final clue. (Knowing that he could easily solve it if he had access to his "Chambers" dictionary back at home, he surreptitiously puts in the last two letters at random - just in case anyone is watching!)
Yet all this notwithstanding, the complicated layers of the "story within a story" insist on gaining our attention, as they are gradually unfurled. That is quite an achievement! It is indeed a devious and compelling story of intrigue, lust and deception, with twists a-plenty. Morse has to bring all his brilliant talents and sheer dogged persistence to solve it. Which, naturally, he does, although as he said to Lewis,
"It was done a long time ago, Lewis, and done ill."
An appropriately modern take on the novel's title.
The phrase "The Wench is Dead" is often quoted, but originally was a quotation from Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta, written around 1590.
"Friar Barnardine: Thou hast committed...
Barabas: Fornication: but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead."
Colin Dexter again uses his favoured form for this Inspector Morse novel. Each chapter is satisfyingly headed with an apt literary quotation. In this one however, there is another layer - a "framework" story within this structure.
It starts with Inspector Morse being admitted to hospital with a ruptured stomach ulcer. He becomes very aware of his own mortality, and begins to feel very low and vulnerable. This first part of the book deals with the situation Morse finds himself in. He recognises that he has to lay off his beloved whisky, and idles away his time between watching the patients around him and admiring what he sees as the comparative charms of his nurses. He is frustrated to be trapped, and becomes very aware of his age, and how he is beginning to appear to others - particularly women.
He is particularly pleased to see Lewis, who visits him bearing gifts such as lemon barley water, books and illicit booze. The readers' world becomes very small, as we match our viewpoint to that of Morse, as he variously enjoys the dubious pleasure of a sordid paperback or critiques a terminally boring pseudo-academic textbook, full of "pompous polysyllaby". One slight book, however, does intrigue him. "Murder on the Oxford Canal", which had been given to him by the widow of a fellow patient, Colonel Deniston.
The middle part is given over to the tale of a murder that had happened in 1859, described in the booklet Morse was reading as "a tale of unbridled lust and drunken lechery."
Of course, nothing is as it seems. From his hospital bed Morse directs operations, determined to solve this mystery from long ago, as he believes that the wrong men were hanged. He puzzles over the clues and information in the text. There had been enough circumstantial evidence, yet no really direct evidence. No witnesses to the murder, nothing to say how the murder had been committed, and no motive. Morse reads and analyses the text over and over again, sending both Lewis and a librarian - ostensibly there to visit another patient, but who seems quite taken with him - to gather more information.
The story sways satisfactorily between Morse's painstaking dissection of the evidence and a gently humorous description of his time in the hospital. He still has his charisma, and the females are still attracted by his intellectual charm, but he recognises that he is becoming more dissolute; that as Dexter puts it his "culture" is always fighting against his "coarseness".
The final quarter of the book sees Morse discharged from hospital, but still very embroiled in the case.
This is a very well-balanced book, flipping satisfyingly between both parts, and giving both equal value. It contains a devious mystery story in true Dexter fashion, and deserves its award. Unlike some of the previous novels, we are not blinded by the sheer number of characters, so that the plot becomes fiendishly difficult to decipher for extraneous reasons. The convolutions in this plot are all pertinent to the story.
By this point in the series we are very interested in the "back story" of Morse, and in this novel we are provided with further snippets of interesting information - such as that he would never step into the "Conservative Club" and that he too had his origins in a terraced or "back-to-back" house. There is evidently a story to be revealed in future novels here, with Oxford District Council at its root, as Morse clearly has very bad memories which he is suppressing.
Details such as this, and the frequent throwaway amusing comments such as,
"Morse said nothing; but he almost prayed (quite something for a low-church atheist)"
cleverly make us want to stick with the series and learn more about our irascible curmudgeon of a hero. We are rooting for Morse in his unsuccessful romantic encounters. We appreciate the poignancy of his only receiving half a dozen Christmas cards, and professing to feeling relieved that he has no gifts to buy. We cheer him along when he begins to show a more appreciative side towards Lewis. We chuckle at his vanity as he completes his beloved "Times" crossword in record time - save for one final clue. (Knowing that he could easily solve it if he had access to his "Chambers" dictionary back at home, he surreptitiously puts in the last two letters at random - just in case anyone is watching!)
Yet all this notwithstanding, the complicated layers of the "story within a story" insist on gaining our attention, as they are gradually unfurled. That is quite an achievement! It is indeed a devious and compelling story of intrigue, lust and deception, with twists a-plenty. Morse has to bring all his brilliant talents and sheer dogged persistence to solve it. Which, naturally, he does, although as he said to Lewis,
"It was done a long time ago, Lewis, and done ill."
An appropriately modern take on the novel's title.
December 13, 2022
Having read this so long ago, faintly remembering it was a great addition to Colin Dexter's Oxford based Morse series, I now listened to this on audio, wonderfully narrated by the actor Samuel West, and, indeed it proved to be a gripping listen at 5 hours and 45 minutes long. With his cleaner calling for an ambulance, the story has the irascible Morse confined to a hospital, diagnosed with a perforated ulcer, a consequence of his unhealthy lifestyle. The widow of a recently passed away patient on his ward gives him a slim book written by her husband, titled Murder on the Oxford Canal', with its details of the gruesome murder of Joanna Franks in 1859. Needing something to occupy his bored mind, he sets about to solve a murder which, for him, has strange anomalies and things that just do not make sense. He is absolutely convinced that the 2 men convicted and hanged for the crime were innocent. He is aided by the ever faithful Sergeant Lewis, and the attractive librarian daughter, Christine, of a fellow patient. I can definitely recommend this, and the audio in particular.
July 31, 2016
This is among my favorites of the books in Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series, mainly because the conceit is so clever. In the other Morse novels, as is the case with virtually all police procedurals, a crime is committed--usually a murder--and then Morse appears on the scene, begins an investigation and hopefully brings the guilty party to justice.
In this case, though, Morse is laid up in the hospital with a perforated ulcer and is confined to bed for a couple of weeks. While lying there, he reads a short publication detailing the brutal rape and murder of a woman named Joanna Franks and the subsequent trial and execution of her alleged killers. The crime occurred a hundred and thirty years earlier, in 1859. Mrs. Franks, who apparently could not afford a ticket on the train or on a stage, had booked passage on a canal boat, journeying from Preston Brook south to Oxford. The sensual young woman was the only passenger on the boat, which was carrying freight, and according to the testimony at the trial, she immediately aroused the animal passions of the four drunken, derelict crewmen who ultimately forced themselves upon her, killed her and then dumped her body into the canal.
Morse is fascinated by the story, but his keen investigative mind is troubled by some of the details of the alleged crime. He's also bothered by the fact that the defendants were immediately presumed to be guilty and were not allowed the presumption of innocence. From his hospital bed, Morse begins his own investigation of the incident, assisted as always, by his able sidekick, Sergeant Lewis, and by a sexy young librarian who's visiting her father who is in the next bed. Lewis and the librarian dig through the available old records at Morse's instruction, and by the time he leaves the hospital, Morse is convinced that he has the real solution to the crime.
Again, it's a very clever idea and it's very well executed. It's a fun tale and fans of Chief Inspector Morse will certainly want to seek it out.
In this case, though, Morse is laid up in the hospital with a perforated ulcer and is confined to bed for a couple of weeks. While lying there, he reads a short publication detailing the brutal rape and murder of a woman named Joanna Franks and the subsequent trial and execution of her alleged killers. The crime occurred a hundred and thirty years earlier, in 1859. Mrs. Franks, who apparently could not afford a ticket on the train or on a stage, had booked passage on a canal boat, journeying from Preston Brook south to Oxford. The sensual young woman was the only passenger on the boat, which was carrying freight, and according to the testimony at the trial, she immediately aroused the animal passions of the four drunken, derelict crewmen who ultimately forced themselves upon her, killed her and then dumped her body into the canal.
Morse is fascinated by the story, but his keen investigative mind is troubled by some of the details of the alleged crime. He's also bothered by the fact that the defendants were immediately presumed to be guilty and were not allowed the presumption of innocence. From his hospital bed, Morse begins his own investigation of the incident, assisted as always, by his able sidekick, Sergeant Lewis, and by a sexy young librarian who's visiting her father who is in the next bed. Lewis and the librarian dig through the available old records at Morse's instruction, and by the time he leaves the hospital, Morse is convinced that he has the real solution to the crime.
Again, it's a very clever idea and it's very well executed. It's a fun tale and fans of Chief Inspector Morse will certainly want to seek it out.
November 15, 2021
Ne' bello ne' brutto, un giallo piuttosto innocuo e per lunghi tratti noioso. La trovata narrativa non e' particolarmente originale, ma le indagini all'indietro nella Storia hanno sempre un particolare fascino, a patto che siano supportate da ritmo e qualita' di scritture. E qui mancano entrambi. Il personaggio principale dell'ispettore Morse e' abbastanza simpatico (cosi' come il suo assistente), ma nel complesso, quello che potrebbe essere vagamente definita ironia british risulta abbastanza tediante.
December 29, 2024
A deviation from the usual investigation in that Morse begins working on an historic case while recovering from a stomach ulcer in hospital.
Standout quotes:
"As he sat in the kitchen of his bachelor flat in North Oxford dressed in pajamas as gaudily striped as a lido deckchair he was debating whether his stomach could cope with a wafer of Weetabix when the phone rang."
"Since fast driving was his only significant vice, other than egg and chips, Lewis was delighted, albeit on one of his rest days, to be invited to drive the Lancia. The car was a powerful performer and the thought of the stretch of the M1 up to the A52 turnoff was most pleasurable."
Standout quotes:
"As he sat in the kitchen of his bachelor flat in North Oxford dressed in pajamas as gaudily striped as a lido deckchair he was debating whether his stomach could cope with a wafer of Weetabix when the phone rang."
"Since fast driving was his only significant vice, other than egg and chips, Lewis was delighted, albeit on one of his rest days, to be invited to drive the Lancia. The car was a powerful performer and the thought of the stretch of the M1 up to the A52 turnoff was most pleasurable."
May 1, 2017
Laid up in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Inspector Morse comes across an account of a 19th century murder. Intrigued by the inaccuracies in the account, he decides to solve the murder from his hospital bed. With the help of his faithful Sergeant Lewis and an attractive librarian visiting her poorly father, Morse soon becomes engrossed in the case of a young woman, apparently murdered by boatmen during her canal journey from Oxford to London.
It takes a crime writer of considerable skill and chutzpah to use the premise of a long-forgotten murder, solved by a pyjama-clad detective who is mostly in bed. Luckily, Colin Dexter is up to the challenge. The usual pleasures of a Morse book are here in abundance: the detailed Oxford scenery (which can now be followed by the reader via Google Streetmaps), the touching loneliness of Morse's ageing bachelor existence, the complex layering of clues and revelations. I particularly enjoyed the short quotations which preface each of the chapters, beginning, of course, with the title:
"Friar Barnadine: Thou has committed fornication-
Barabas: But that was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead." (Marlowe, The Jew of Malta)
One star is dropped for the tedious sexism: as usual, female characters only appear to fall in love with Morse, or for Morse and Lewis to leer over. Particularly sleazy and improbable is the one-night stand with which Morse is rewarded (by the author) after solving the crime. The character descriptions of these women (variously described as "sirens", tarts", or "nymphets") is irritatingly two-dimensional. I was reminded of a quotation of my own, from Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own".
"Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size."
If you can bear the dated characterisation of women, this is a pleasantly satisfying detective story.
It takes a crime writer of considerable skill and chutzpah to use the premise of a long-forgotten murder, solved by a pyjama-clad detective who is mostly in bed. Luckily, Colin Dexter is up to the challenge. The usual pleasures of a Morse book are here in abundance: the detailed Oxford scenery (which can now be followed by the reader via Google Streetmaps), the touching loneliness of Morse's ageing bachelor existence, the complex layering of clues and revelations. I particularly enjoyed the short quotations which preface each of the chapters, beginning, of course, with the title:
"Friar Barnadine: Thou has committed fornication-
Barabas: But that was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead." (Marlowe, The Jew of Malta)
One star is dropped for the tedious sexism: as usual, female characters only appear to fall in love with Morse, or for Morse and Lewis to leer over. Particularly sleazy and improbable is the one-night stand with which Morse is rewarded (by the author) after solving the crime. The character descriptions of these women (variously described as "sirens", tarts", or "nymphets") is irritatingly two-dimensional. I was reminded of a quotation of my own, from Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own".
"Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size."
If you can bear the dated characterisation of women, this is a pleasantly satisfying detective story.
May 18, 2019
Whenever you think about Morse you'll remember the brilliant series with John Thaw as Morse and Kevin Whately as Lewis, having see the series and re-reading the book in Hardcover you cam simply not escape the face of Thaw and Whately when you are reading the story.
Anyhow this book is has an interesting concept of having a book within a book and having Morse solving a murder from the 1850's while he is laying into a hospital due to his unhealthy bachelor way of living. He gets a book given to him which does find his interest and a librarian from the Bodleian Library in Oxford and his sergeant Lewis are doing his footwork into solving the mystery of a woman being killed and thrown in the canal. The guilty have been punished by hanging but yet Morse is not convinced about the truth that was always assumed.
And as always Colin Dexter does give us all the clues and makes it an interesting puzzle to solve.
I must admit that this different style of murder story did actually impress me quite a bit since the writer makes it worth your time and actually pulls it of to keep the reader interested.
I do wonder what Colin Dexter would make from the succes of the continuation series Lewis, which is also one of my favorite shows and the prequel TV show Endeavour which is Morse the early years. It must be quite a good feeling that people are still enjoying your creation long after you have finished them. Sadly Colin Dexter is no longer among us since the 21th march 2017.
Anyhow this book is has an interesting concept of having a book within a book and having Morse solving a murder from the 1850's while he is laying into a hospital due to his unhealthy bachelor way of living. He gets a book given to him which does find his interest and a librarian from the Bodleian Library in Oxford and his sergeant Lewis are doing his footwork into solving the mystery of a woman being killed and thrown in the canal. The guilty have been punished by hanging but yet Morse is not convinced about the truth that was always assumed.
And as always Colin Dexter does give us all the clues and makes it an interesting puzzle to solve.
I must admit that this different style of murder story did actually impress me quite a bit since the writer makes it worth your time and actually pulls it of to keep the reader interested.
I do wonder what Colin Dexter would make from the succes of the continuation series Lewis, which is also one of my favorite shows and the prequel TV show Endeavour which is Morse the early years. It must be quite a good feeling that people are still enjoying your creation long after you have finished them. Sadly Colin Dexter is no longer among us since the 21th march 2017.
August 2, 2022
I recently read Goldfinger by Fleming and reading this by Dexter was similar in that I couldn't keep the images from the TV or film versions out of my mind's eye when reading it. I kept seeing John Thaw and couldn't mentally picture anyone else but him as Morse. Which is both a good and a bad thing I suppose - good because I love Thaw's grumpy depiction of the detective and bad because it's nice when reading a book to imagine your own protagonists and settings.
Basically it's an interesting plot, with Morse in hospital and reading about a murder case from the 19th century in Oxford (and starts to doubt the prosecution case which led to executions by hanging of some of the accused) instead of him solving a contemporaneous crime. That, again, was both a good and a bad thing - good because it created an interesting and different plot and bad because I think on balance I would have preferred to read about Morse and Lewis cracking a case in their own day as the first Morse book that I have ever read.
Still, it was an enjoyable journey, and I love the depiction of the genius detective who thinks laterally and solves problems using a kind of supercomputer of a mind that puts most of ours to shame.
Basically it's an interesting plot, with Morse in hospital and reading about a murder case from the 19th century in Oxford (and starts to doubt the prosecution case which led to executions by hanging of some of the accused) instead of him solving a contemporaneous crime. That, again, was both a good and a bad thing - good because it created an interesting and different plot and bad because I think on balance I would have preferred to read about Morse and Lewis cracking a case in their own day as the first Morse book that I have ever read.
Still, it was an enjoyable journey, and I love the depiction of the genius detective who thinks laterally and solves problems using a kind of supercomputer of a mind that puts most of ours to shame.
April 17, 2009
The book begins with poor Morse in the hospital suffering from a bleeding ulcer and enlarged liver, the result of all those pints. It's so different from the usual Morse in command; now he's forced to undergo the indignities of the hospital and completely at the mercy of others. He is given a copy of a book detailing the results of the murder of Joanna Franks who had been raped and murdered in 1859. The perpetrators had been arrested and hung. With nothing better to do, Morse reads the book but soon begins to have doubts about the original prosecution. So we have a book within a book. Soon Morse is deep into locating materials from the original investigation.
There are some really charming scenes. Lewis brings Morse a soft-porn novel, The Blue Ticket, a paperback with a titillating cover. One night, after waking up following lights out, he notices that the officious nurse who runs the ward is absent, and he turns his light on -- what harm could it do -- to read this little erotic diversion. Nurse "Cratchett" catches him at it, chastises him for turning the light on and then notices the cover of the book.
Needless to say, Morse solves the century-old crime, much to his satisfaction. The usual excellent language is present. Delightful.
There are some really charming scenes. Lewis brings Morse a soft-porn novel, The Blue Ticket, a paperback with a titillating cover. One night, after waking up following lights out, he notices that the officious nurse who runs the ward is absent, and he turns his light on -- what harm could it do -- to read this little erotic diversion. Nurse "Cratchett" catches him at it, chastises him for turning the light on and then notices the cover of the book.
Needless to say, Morse solves the century-old crime, much to his satisfaction. The usual excellent language is present. Delightful.
January 22, 2016
Both Morse and I are poorly: me in bed getting over a cold; himself in the JR2 with a perforated ulcer. And both of us given reading to do: me the book; himself a short pamphlet from the recently widowed wife of a patient. And both of us working out how Joanna Franks was murdered back in the 1800s.
This is a goodie, like solving a cryptic crossword. And the solution, coming on the heels of patient research, several lucky finds (including a carpet on sawdust in Ireland, and some height marks in a soon-to-be-demolished house in Derby), and paralleling Morse's own climb back to health, is elegant.
One small point is how often Morse falls in love with women, and how often he is frustrated, or says the wrong thing, or.... At least in this one he is able to 'stay the night'...
This is a goodie, like solving a cryptic crossword. And the solution, coming on the heels of patient research, several lucky finds (including a carpet on sawdust in Ireland, and some height marks in a soon-to-be-demolished house in Derby), and paralleling Morse's own climb back to health, is elegant.
One small point is how often Morse falls in love with women, and how often he is frustrated, or says the wrong thing, or.... At least in this one he is able to 'stay the night'...
February 25, 2017
The best Inspector Morse novel that I have read so far (from the first eight books in this series). Brilliant plotting, very cleverly crafted! Morse re-solves a crime from the mid-19th century. Recommended for anyone who loves this genre.
April 5, 2012
I like the Morse books, but Josephine Tey did the detective in the hospital story much, much better. The underlying historical mystery was just not interesting.
February 15, 2013
I decided to read a few mysteries, since so many people love them, but realized I don't. This flaccid little book felt like such a waste of time--especially the odd way that the book's attractive women kept falling for the aging, alcoholic Morse. Really?
October 9, 2017
I love watching Morse the show on BBC. I think this is the first book from the series which the television show is based that I've read. I will be on the lookout for more after reading this one.
It was a book within a book and the mystery happened long ago. Morse gets bored if he isn't kept occupied, I think. He is handed several books for his hospital recovery, but only one intrigues him. He picks away at it, gets others to do his bidding to help in his investigation since he can't get out and about.
I love how he manipulates people. They can't seem to stay angry at him for all his bluster. They can't seem to help themselves to aid him in his search no matter the difficulty.
The story moves quickly. I look forward to more of his investigations and grumpy manipulations.
Definite recommend
It was a book within a book and the mystery happened long ago. Morse gets bored if he isn't kept occupied, I think. He is handed several books for his hospital recovery, but only one intrigues him. He picks away at it, gets others to do his bidding to help in his investigation since he can't get out and about.
I love how he manipulates people. They can't seem to stay angry at him for all his bluster. They can't seem to help themselves to aid him in his search no matter the difficulty.
The story moves quickly. I look forward to more of his investigations and grumpy manipulations.
Definite recommend
March 30, 2023
Ladies and gentlemen tried to write this review before I left for work. The day before the closure of the Faculty for the Easter holidays. I don't know if I'll be on a petit committee (I finally arrived, and there are more people than I expected). I wrote this review quickly, and running, because I didn't know what I was going to do today. If I continue the reading of the unjustly postponed (I started it on one of the deck) "Born in the purple" of the interesting Hungarian writer Laszlo Passuth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (here he is famous for his novel "The God of rain over Mexico" for many the best novel, which has been written about the conquest of Mexico, fleeing from the typical Hispanophobia of Protestantism, Marxist historiography, and Wokism, which have dominated the opinion of the masses). I should have written the reviews of "El revés del derecho" by Fernando Vizcaíno Casas https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... or that of "El enemigo del pueblo" by Henryk Ibsen https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... , my friend Enrique Casany was also promised the reading of "El filo de la razor" by W. Somerset Maugham https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... . If I would like to read this holiday some books like "Memoirs of Agrippina" by the French Pierre Grimal https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... I have been left wanting to continue investigating the history of the Julio-Claudius dynasty. Although I like the Flavios https://www.goodreads.com/series/4217... better. It gives me, that we must approach the history of Rome as if it were "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6..., or in "The Forest" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8... from different perspectives, and seeing from the point of view of the different characters who starred in the events. Like the novel Proceso a Jesús by Diego Fabbri https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... I believe, we must give voice to all even the most abject, or those who like us better. It is therefore interesting to analyze the facts from the point of view of Agrippina, or Tiberius https://www.goodreads.com/series/8769.... I would also like to continue with a writer that I really liked Anne Perry https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... I loved her "White Chapel Conspiracy" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... see what happens with "Indecent Proposition" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... a novel in which I would not like to find myself in the shoes of poor Woody Harrelson, who has to compete with wealth, and the appeal of Robert Redford. Of course the temptation that Demi Moore had to face was never so strong, and I would like to try it with "Quo Vadis" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... or some similar Peplum, and I did not forget the interesting grimdark (so far) of "The Shadow of the Gods" by John Gwynne https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... and once I have made time he went on to write for Goodreads users my review of "The wench is dead" but not before congratulating the users of Goodreads these holidays, and wishing them a week of Passion in the profane sense, and religious. I trust that this will make my absence more bearable as the yoke of the gospel.
This review is written to answer user Richard Hannay of @goodreads who asked me, why had I given it such a low grade? (It is stated that there is no revanchist, punitive desire, and that it is answered with politeness, respect, and affection to a person who has asked a question. A server likes to treat people well, and with respect to people.) I met Colin Dexter, thanks to the story of the detective novel by the English writer P.D. James https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... (the creator of detective Adam Dalgliesh https://www.goodreads.com/series/4035..., and the dystopia "Children of Men" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... adapted by Mexican Alfonso Cuarón played by one of my favorite actors Clive Owen) and I heard about his inspector Morse. Before starting this review, I would like to apologize to my followers on Facebook, and Instagram for the brevity, lightness, and haste with which I write this review. As already said I still did not know what I wanted to do today, and I wrote it in the shortest, and simplest way, to have an outline, or a previous sketch, that would serve as the basis for my review of Goodreads (while the Faculty of Medicine of Valladolid will be able to read my reviews both on Instagram and Facebook, although I will try to make the Goodreads ones better). All in all, I hope I have left interesting ideas to whoever reads it.
What I don't know is why I confuse this author with the novelist Len Deighton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (who is more dedicated to espionage novels, but, anyway. The only novel, which was read to him did not leave a very good taste in my mouth, since I found it very boring). On paper this novel is very interesting to Inspector Morse suffers a perforation of a stomach ulcer (and more after talking to his indolent boss Stranger, who seems to show some apathy to his subordinate). It's just like Alan Grant https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... (not exactly Michael Chrichton's fictional character in Jurassic Park https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...), and the protagonist of "The Rear Window" (read Cornell Woolrich's novel written under the pseudonym William Irish). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... if you haven't read it yet) stays hospitalized, after receiving a harsh reprimand from the doctor, who treats him like a liar, and someone who is going to be prone to diabetes type mellitus, and other cardiovascular diseases. In addition to being worried about Morse's liver. Please if you are doctors who read my review do not treat your patients as if you were Gregory House, because you are not, and even if you are, I believe, that you should treat people with humanity, tact, and affection. Someday you will find yourself in your patients' shoes, and they will ask for mercy. This is something that should be taught in first medical school. Just as doctors do not cure, but relieve, and there is still much for doctors, and for all of us, much to learn, and it must be done with humility, as my Chief maintains.
Unlike the previous characters Morse is not in the hospital, for a mild ailment like the previous detectives, who only have a slight discomfort (although a plastered leg like Jeffries' is somewhat cumbersome, but what this character fights against is boredom, while Morse fights for his life). It is almost more interesting its convalescence, and its process of conversion at least of maturation than the case itself. As he tries to trick the nun Nessie (McLean), as he throws the yew trees at nurse Fiona Wells (Bella Fiona), as the other nurse Eileen (there is another Jamaican nurse named Violet, but she does not paint anything) he will fall in love with him, and will be jealous of the librarian Christine Greenaway daughter of the patient with whom Morse shares a room. It is incredible that someone as physically unattractive as Morse, and who is not at all sympathetic raised these passions among women. It is interesting how his partner Lewis brings him smuggled alcoholic beverages (although he is discovered by the Nun Nessie), and how he reads erotic novels (also) smuggled (when the nun Nessie catches him in this transgression will not be as severe as one would expect, you could even say that there is some complicity between the two ;-)), while trying to read the boring book of sociology that Lewis's wife has given him "The scales of justice of Shropshire" (and that he will never finish reading, although he will use it for research). At the same time he reads the investigation of a dead general with whom he coincides in the hospital (the way in which the book gets his hands is still comical in English is not the same, but the general's widow tends to misspell Morse's surname, and transform him into a walrus. Surely in English the language confusion will be different. But I admit, I laughed a lot with this humorous gag. I don't know why I thought of Mr. Walrus from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...) as a series of sailors from the Barbara Bray phalla raped, and killed a woman Joanna Franks, who had as her husband first a conjurer (who is the best) an Irishman named F.T. Donovan and, who is allegedly raped by the crew consisting of Jack Oldham (the Captain), Alfred Busson (who looked at the belongings), Towns (who hides more than he seems), and Wooton (who is a minor). Who were blamed only because sailors (in Victorian times had a bad reputation for blasphemers, and men without God. At least according to Dexter) that is, they are victims of a prejudice, just as in this day and age we are victims of other prejudices. The four parts of the general's thesis make Flash Back I agree with Morse that according to the sensationalist story of the Colonel the best part is the last (in the first trial they were acquitted for lack of evidence, but it was repeated, and the sailors were sentenced to hang, saving two of them). This genre of investigating a crime of the past is not new, as Josephine Tey did in "The Daughter of Time" (if I had not previously read this novel, perhaps I would have won more points. He had another of a free person, who was taken as a slave, but the most famous is the novel in which Grant proves the innocence of Richard III.) If I hurry G.K. Chesterton https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... On paper it is very interesting, but as my father says it is too complex for my taste, Christine Greenaway the librarian is not as interesting as the historian who helped Grant prove that Richard III did not murder the children of the Tower. Morse concludes that psychologically the crime does not fit with the way of being of the sailors (who spend cursing eternally to the femme fatal entangler Joanna Franks calling her crazy, promiscuous, manipulative and entangled), but Faulkner raises this in his novel "Sanctuary" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... that speaks of the rape suffered by a young woman by a family of the Bible belt the characterization of Popeye is very crudely as the description of the spike in the vagina. As far-fetched as this hypothesis may be, and despite Morse's knowledge of the nature of criminals, it was also possible. When Morse (having matured, and being missed by the medical staff, perhaps if it had only been Morse's convalescence my note would have been a bigger star) recovers the novel goes down a lot. Not to mention that it is too complex, and takes us to places that are not necessary, and for no reason (there were times when I did not clarify what was happening, and it was somewhat confusing. I knew the main ruse, which I cannot reveal to the reader.) Nor is Morse someone who won the reader's sympathies. They don't reconstruct the crime (which is sometimes a bit heavy, but it serves to remind the reader of what happened in case a detail happened. We are not told how Morse reaches his conclusions), nor do they summarize the research, and the reader gets involved (at least in my case). He would have needed that. The doctors' party could have been spared the trip to Ireland, and Joanna's house was a bit confusing. In the end I had to draw my own conclusions. Nor does it help that Dexter is telling us every now and then that Morse is an atheist by the grace of God (the latter I add is an expression that the filmmaker Luis Buñuel said https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., but tires a little so many references to his atheism) it is noted that the novel is later than those of the Golden Age of the Detection Club , and more postmodern not only in religious issues, but also political with those allusions to Tatcherism, which I am not very pro-Tatcher either, but the political creed of Colin Dexter himself is noticeable. You have to be careful with the personality of the detective because you can lose the audience, depending on how it is. It happened to me with the saga of Manu Yukawa de Galileo in "The devotion of suspect X" by Keigo Higashino, which I thought was wonderful, but in the following installments he also gave him for doing strange things, and for spoiling the detective as he does in "Salvation of a saint" https://www.goodreads.com/series/9916... and make him hateful (they also made him a scientist, and an atheist by the grace of God, and they took a long time to get him out, and fighting him with the assistant was not the best idea. They also introduced a very irritating female police. Jonathan Argyll https://www.goodreads.com/series/4153... is charming, and since nothing is known of his way of thinking, nor does his creed offend anyone.) So does Conan Doyle with Professor Challenger (although I never liked that character. Doyle made him a spiritualist) https://www.goodreads.com/series/6333.... In the end a very trivial fact gives the key to the crime (which is not what it seems), and the motivation for it. My grade is (2/5).
This review is written to answer user Richard Hannay of @goodreads who asked me, why had I given it such a low grade? (It is stated that there is no revanchist, punitive desire, and that it is answered with politeness, respect, and affection to a person who has asked a question. A server likes to treat people well, and with respect to people.) I met Colin Dexter, thanks to the story of the detective novel by the English writer P.D. James https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... (the creator of detective Adam Dalgliesh https://www.goodreads.com/series/4035..., and the dystopia "Children of Men" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... adapted by Mexican Alfonso Cuarón played by one of my favorite actors Clive Owen) and I heard about his inspector Morse. Before starting this review, I would like to apologize to my followers on Facebook, and Instagram for the brevity, lightness, and haste with which I write this review. As already said I still did not know what I wanted to do today, and I wrote it in the shortest, and simplest way, to have an outline, or a previous sketch, that would serve as the basis for my review of Goodreads (while the Faculty of Medicine of Valladolid will be able to read my reviews both on Instagram and Facebook, although I will try to make the Goodreads ones better). All in all, I hope I have left interesting ideas to whoever reads it.
What I don't know is why I confuse this author with the novelist Len Deighton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (who is more dedicated to espionage novels, but, anyway. The only novel, which was read to him did not leave a very good taste in my mouth, since I found it very boring). On paper this novel is very interesting to Inspector Morse suffers a perforation of a stomach ulcer (and more after talking to his indolent boss Stranger, who seems to show some apathy to his subordinate). It's just like Alan Grant https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... (not exactly Michael Chrichton's fictional character in Jurassic Park https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...), and the protagonist of "The Rear Window" (read Cornell Woolrich's novel written under the pseudonym William Irish). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... if you haven't read it yet) stays hospitalized, after receiving a harsh reprimand from the doctor, who treats him like a liar, and someone who is going to be prone to diabetes type mellitus, and other cardiovascular diseases. In addition to being worried about Morse's liver. Please if you are doctors who read my review do not treat your patients as if you were Gregory House, because you are not, and even if you are, I believe, that you should treat people with humanity, tact, and affection. Someday you will find yourself in your patients' shoes, and they will ask for mercy. This is something that should be taught in first medical school. Just as doctors do not cure, but relieve, and there is still much for doctors, and for all of us, much to learn, and it must be done with humility, as my Chief maintains.
Unlike the previous characters Morse is not in the hospital, for a mild ailment like the previous detectives, who only have a slight discomfort (although a plastered leg like Jeffries' is somewhat cumbersome, but what this character fights against is boredom, while Morse fights for his life). It is almost more interesting its convalescence, and its process of conversion at least of maturation than the case itself. As he tries to trick the nun Nessie (McLean), as he throws the yew trees at nurse Fiona Wells (Bella Fiona), as the other nurse Eileen (there is another Jamaican nurse named Violet, but she does not paint anything) he will fall in love with him, and will be jealous of the librarian Christine Greenaway daughter of the patient with whom Morse shares a room. It is incredible that someone as physically unattractive as Morse, and who is not at all sympathetic raised these passions among women. It is interesting how his partner Lewis brings him smuggled alcoholic beverages (although he is discovered by the Nun Nessie), and how he reads erotic novels (also) smuggled (when the nun Nessie catches him in this transgression will not be as severe as one would expect, you could even say that there is some complicity between the two ;-)), while trying to read the boring book of sociology that Lewis's wife has given him "The scales of justice of Shropshire" (and that he will never finish reading, although he will use it for research). At the same time he reads the investigation of a dead general with whom he coincides in the hospital (the way in which the book gets his hands is still comical in English is not the same, but the general's widow tends to misspell Morse's surname, and transform him into a walrus. Surely in English the language confusion will be different. But I admit, I laughed a lot with this humorous gag. I don't know why I thought of Mr. Walrus from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...) as a series of sailors from the Barbara Bray phalla raped, and killed a woman Joanna Franks, who had as her husband first a conjurer (who is the best) an Irishman named F.T. Donovan and, who is allegedly raped by the crew consisting of Jack Oldham (the Captain), Alfred Busson (who looked at the belongings), Towns (who hides more than he seems), and Wooton (who is a minor). Who were blamed only because sailors (in Victorian times had a bad reputation for blasphemers, and men without God. At least according to Dexter) that is, they are victims of a prejudice, just as in this day and age we are victims of other prejudices. The four parts of the general's thesis make Flash Back I agree with Morse that according to the sensationalist story of the Colonel the best part is the last (in the first trial they were acquitted for lack of evidence, but it was repeated, and the sailors were sentenced to hang, saving two of them). This genre of investigating a crime of the past is not new, as Josephine Tey did in "The Daughter of Time" (if I had not previously read this novel, perhaps I would have won more points. He had another of a free person, who was taken as a slave, but the most famous is the novel in which Grant proves the innocence of Richard III.) If I hurry G.K. Chesterton https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... On paper it is very interesting, but as my father says it is too complex for my taste, Christine Greenaway the librarian is not as interesting as the historian who helped Grant prove that Richard III did not murder the children of the Tower. Morse concludes that psychologically the crime does not fit with the way of being of the sailors (who spend cursing eternally to the femme fatal entangler Joanna Franks calling her crazy, promiscuous, manipulative and entangled), but Faulkner raises this in his novel "Sanctuary" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... that speaks of the rape suffered by a young woman by a family of the Bible belt the characterization of Popeye is very crudely as the description of the spike in the vagina. As far-fetched as this hypothesis may be, and despite Morse's knowledge of the nature of criminals, it was also possible. When Morse (having matured, and being missed by the medical staff, perhaps if it had only been Morse's convalescence my note would have been a bigger star) recovers the novel goes down a lot. Not to mention that it is too complex, and takes us to places that are not necessary, and for no reason (there were times when I did not clarify what was happening, and it was somewhat confusing. I knew the main ruse, which I cannot reveal to the reader.) Nor is Morse someone who won the reader's sympathies. They don't reconstruct the crime (which is sometimes a bit heavy, but it serves to remind the reader of what happened in case a detail happened. We are not told how Morse reaches his conclusions), nor do they summarize the research, and the reader gets involved (at least in my case). He would have needed that. The doctors' party could have been spared the trip to Ireland, and Joanna's house was a bit confusing. In the end I had to draw my own conclusions. Nor does it help that Dexter is telling us every now and then that Morse is an atheist by the grace of God (the latter I add is an expression that the filmmaker Luis Buñuel said https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., but tires a little so many references to his atheism) it is noted that the novel is later than those of the Golden Age of the Detection Club , and more postmodern not only in religious issues, but also political with those allusions to Tatcherism, which I am not very pro-Tatcher either, but the political creed of Colin Dexter himself is noticeable. You have to be careful with the personality of the detective because you can lose the audience, depending on how it is. It happened to me with the saga of Manu Yukawa de Galileo in "The devotion of suspect X" by Keigo Higashino, which I thought was wonderful, but in the following installments he also gave him for doing strange things, and for spoiling the detective as he does in "Salvation of a saint" https://www.goodreads.com/series/9916... and make him hateful (they also made him a scientist, and an atheist by the grace of God, and they took a long time to get him out, and fighting him with the assistant was not the best idea. They also introduced a very irritating female police. Jonathan Argyll https://www.goodreads.com/series/4153... is charming, and since nothing is known of his way of thinking, nor does his creed offend anyone.) So does Conan Doyle with Professor Challenger (although I never liked that character. Doyle made him a spiritualist) https://www.goodreads.com/series/6333.... In the end a very trivial fact gives the key to the crime (which is not what it seems), and the motivation for it. My grade is (2/5).
October 10, 2013
Convalescing in the hospital, Morse puts down his pornographic novel The Blue Ticket and begins to read Murder on the Oxford Canal, a brief privately published history of a century-old crime that his just-deceased roommate's widow has brought him. He becomes increasingly absorbed in the story and the flaws in the case; two men, workers on a canal boat, were hanged for the murder of a drowned woman whom they had been ferrying down the canal. Morse feels an injustice may have been done. Once released from the hospital he and Lewis track down some clues. Frankly, the biggest mystery here is why every hot 20-something woman Morse ever meets instantly falls in love with this white-haired dipsomaniac who by his own admission could stand to lose a few stone.
November 10, 2016
Reread over the past two days, as I wanted something to take my mind off what's gone on.
The conceit here is that Morse is in the hospital being treated for a bleeding ulcer. While there, an elderly woman whose husband has just died of a heart attack, gives him a copy of a short book her husband wrote concerning the death of a woman in 1859 and the subsequent hanging of two men who were charged with her murder. Morse becomes interested in the case from what he reads and proceeds to investigate, mostly from his hospital bed, but with the help of his sidekick Lewis and a young librarian whose father is in the bed across from Morse's.
It's a bit of a set up, but for all that it's very well done.
My one complaint is that Morse, who's in his mid 50's, attracts women who are in their 20's and 30's - wishful thinking on Colin Dexter's part, I imagine - though things work out somewhat differently in the end.
A solid four stars - in the context of the Morse series, perhaps five.
The conceit here is that Morse is in the hospital being treated for a bleeding ulcer. While there, an elderly woman whose husband has just died of a heart attack, gives him a copy of a short book her husband wrote concerning the death of a woman in 1859 and the subsequent hanging of two men who were charged with her murder. Morse becomes interested in the case from what he reads and proceeds to investigate, mostly from his hospital bed, but with the help of his sidekick Lewis and a young librarian whose father is in the bed across from Morse's.
It's a bit of a set up, but for all that it's very well done.
My one complaint is that Morse, who's in his mid 50's, attracts women who are in their 20's and 30's - wishful thinking on Colin Dexter's part, I imagine - though things work out somewhat differently in the end.
A solid four stars - in the context of the Morse series, perhaps five.
September 19, 2019
As Morse, the veritable DCI with a penchant of crosswords, ales, mysteries and belle femme, is taken to a hospital ward for finally treating his growing stomach ulcer, he encounters a 100-year old mystery through the pages of a slim volume. What starts off as a whimsical journey into 1850 Oxford, ends up being a mystery, an ever-present itch which Morse, the witty busybody can't well leave alone. With his faithful and critical Lewis at his side, Morse stumbles through this journey peeling through the layers of history, only to solve it and leave this dark lane by remarking this:
"It was done a long time ago, Lewis, and done ill."
A well-crafted plot, filled with the warmth, loneliness and intellectual charm of Morse, it's a definite read for all fans of this Oxford gent.
My Rating - 5/5
"It was done a long time ago, Lewis, and done ill."
A well-crafted plot, filled with the warmth, loneliness and intellectual charm of Morse, it's a definite read for all fans of this Oxford gent.
My Rating - 5/5
December 1, 2015
Having already read the preceding Morse novels, I was pleased by this book's combination of the irascible, self-absorbed but sympathetic Morse and the historical mystery at its centre. I somehow had two copies, one of which I gave to my sister; she, a very avid reader but not acquainted with Dexter's works, did not particularly enjoy the book but liked Morse's character. Therefore I would not recommend this as the first foray into the world of Chief Inspector Morse (nothing wrong with starting from the beginning, I always feel, even though the stories generally stand alone), but for Dexter fans another excellent entry in the canon.
May 18, 2008
This is an unusual Inspector Morse story because he is investigating a murder which happened in 1860 as a diversion whilst in hospital.
I found some of the conclusions he came to rather flimsy based on the evidence available. The story was mildly interesting but not one of his best.
I found some of the conclusions he came to rather flimsy based on the evidence available. The story was mildly interesting but not one of his best.
May 21, 2020
Inspector Morse mystery No. 8: A bedridden and bored Inspector Morse decides to investigate a cold case… from the 1850s!!! 5 out of 12
May 6, 2022
‘What’s her name?’
‘They call her “Nessie”.’
‘Was she born near the Loch?’
‘In it, Lewis.’
‘They call her “Nessie”.’
‘Was she born near the Loch?’
‘In it, Lewis.’
November 29, 2020
Probably my favorite of the series! Morse has landed himself in hospital with a bleeding ulcer. At first he is very ill, indeed, and is forced to face, perhaps for the first time, his own mortality. He is also forced, no less unpleasantly, to face a lengthy stay with no booze, no music, and at first, no food or drink at all.
An elderly Army colonel named Deniston is dying in the ward; after his passing, his widow passes out copies of a small book the colonel had written and published during his lifetime called Murder on the Oxford Canal. Morse’s reading material is limited to 3 choices: A Comparative Study of Crime and its Punishment as Recorded in the County of Shropshire, 1842-1852, a pulp fiction novel titled The Blue Ticket — both kindly supplied by Lewis — and the aforementioned Deniston book.
Eventually, Morse becomes enthralled — obsessed, even — with the century-old mystery of the murder of a woman named Joanna Franks. He reaches the conclusion that the men convicted of her murder (one of whom was hanged and one was reprieved at the last moment and transported to Australia) were wrongly convicted.
The historical mystery is really well done, and it’s great seeing Morse in a less formal setting, shall we say, out of his milieu. Very enjoyable.
An elderly Army colonel named Deniston is dying in the ward; after his passing, his widow passes out copies of a small book the colonel had written and published during his lifetime called Murder on the Oxford Canal. Morse’s reading material is limited to 3 choices: A Comparative Study of Crime and its Punishment as Recorded in the County of Shropshire, 1842-1852, a pulp fiction novel titled The Blue Ticket — both kindly supplied by Lewis — and the aforementioned Deniston book.
Eventually, Morse becomes enthralled — obsessed, even — with the century-old mystery of the murder of a woman named Joanna Franks. He reaches the conclusion that the men convicted of her murder (one of whom was hanged and one was reprieved at the last moment and transported to Australia) were wrongly convicted.
The historical mystery is really well done, and it’s great seeing Morse in a less formal setting, shall we say, out of his milieu. Very enjoyable.
September 29, 2025
This is the first Inspector Morse book I have read, as I’ve only seen the TV series before. I enjoyed this mystery. It’s slightly unusual as it is mostly solved from Inspector Morse’s hospital bed! I would say it’s fairly predictable but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
February 23, 2021
In terms of how this differs from the rest of the series, this is most definitely Morse's version of Poirot's "Five Little Pigs". I'll be astonished if wiser heads than mine haven't already drawn this conclusion and written on the subject. I'm going off now to look.
April 25, 2014
Josephine Tey did it in Daughter of Time. Now Dexter does it in this book--puts his detective, in this case Inspector Morse, in the hospital and gives him an historical mystery to rethink. Morse has a perforated ulcer, and a yen for some of the nurses, when he's given a book that describes a Victorian murder. The perpetrators were convicted and hanged, but something seems off about the whole case to Morse, who manages to investigate while he's in the hospital, and follows up on the case--to no end but the satisfaction of his own curiosity--when he's out of the hospital.
October 17, 2021
One of the weakest Dexter novels. Extremely derivative, in that a great debt is owed to Josephine Tey - I wonder if royalties were paid to the estate of Elizabeth MacKintosh.
It is almost a self-parody in the regular use of Dexter's literary fixations. He delights in a pastiche of literary styles which has become a self indulgence that annoys me.
And finally, for a crossword buff, he uses the most obvious plot device. One has to question whether any murderer has ever self identified with an anagram. The early identification removed much of the pleasure in reading
It is almost a self-parody in the regular use of Dexter's literary fixations. He delights in a pastiche of literary styles which has become a self indulgence that annoys me.
And finally, for a crossword buff, he uses the most obvious plot device. One has to question whether any murderer has ever self identified with an anagram. The early identification removed much of the pleasure in reading
July 11, 2008
I was a little disappointed in this one. There was very little mystery to it, the salient points seemed to be pretty obvious. The book seemed more a testament to Morse's aging libido than anything else. I understand this book is a little atypical of most Morse novels, so I'll give him another try, but this one did not impress me.
December 19, 2009
The writer is too cute by half. A disappointment.
January 19, 2015
Took me a long while to slog through this one. Nothing much happened. The plot sort of meandered along. Josephine Tey did bedridden-detective-solves-ancient-crime better in Daughter of Time.
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