Showing results by author "Colin Dexter" in All Categories

The murder of Yvonne Harrison had left Thames Valley CID baffled. A year after the dreadful crime they are still no nearer to making an arrest. But one man has yet to tackle the case - and it is just the sort of puzzle at which Chief Inspector Morse excels. So why is he adamant that he will not lead the re-investigation, despite the entreaties of Chief Superintendent Strange and dark hints of some new evidence? And why, if he refuses to take on the case officially, does he seem to be carrying out his own private enquiries?

The murder of a young woman... A cryptic 17th-century love poem... And a photograph of a mystery grey-haired man... More than enough to set Chief Inspector E. Morse on the trail of a killer. And it's a trail that leads him to Lonsdale College, where the contest between Julian Storrs and Dr Denis Cornford for the coveted position of Master is hotting up. But then Morse faces a greater, far more personal crisis....

Morse had solved so many mysteries in his life. Was he now, he wondered, beginning to glimpse the solution to the greatest mystery of them all? How can the discovery of a short story by a beautiful Oxford graduate lead Chief Inspector Morse to her murderer? What awaits Morse and Lewis in Room 231 of the Randolph Hotel? Why does a theft at Christmas lead the detective to look upon the festive season with uncharacteristic goodwill? And what happens when Morse himself falls victim to a brilliantly executed crime?

Colin Dexter's brain-teasing whodunit unravels a complex web of deceit and betrayal in the upper echelons of Oxford academia. At the centre of this web is the murder of a young woman, Rachel James, shot from close range through her kitchen window.

Chief Inspector Morse was alone among the congregation in suspecting continued unrest in the quiet parish of St Frideswide's. Most people could still remember the churchwarden's murder. A few could still recall the murderer's suicide. Now even the police have closed the case - until a chance meeting among the tombstones reveals startling new evidence of a conspiracy to deceive.

The body of Joanna Franks was found at Duke's Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22nd June 1859. At around 10.15 a.m. on a Saturday morning in 1989, the body of Chief Inspector Morse, though very much alive, was removed to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. As Morse begins his recovery, he comes across an account of the investigation and trial that followed Joanna Frank's death...and becomes convinced that the two men hanged for her murder were innocent.

The murder of Yvonne Harrison at her home in the Cotswold village of Lower Swinstead has left Thames Valley CID baffled. A year after the dreadful crime, they are still no nearer to making an arrest. But one man has yet to tackle the case - and it is just the sort of puzzle at which Chief Inspector Morse excels.

By the 16th of July, the Master of Lonsdale was concerned but not yet worried. Dr Browne-Smith had passed through the porter's lodge at approximately 8:15 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 11th July. And nobody had heard from him since. Plenty of time to disappear, thought Morse. And plenty of time, too, for someone to commit murder....

Chief Superintendent Strange's opinion was that too little progress had been made since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. Yet the police had no weapon, no suspect, no motive.

Chief Superintendent Strange's opinion was that too little progress had been made since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. Yet the police had no weapon, no suspect, no motive. Within days of taking over the case Chief Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of Dr Felix McClure.

The body of Joanna Franks was found at Duke's Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22nd June 1859. At around 10.15 a.m. on a Saturday morning in 1989 the body of Chief Inspector Morse - though very much alive - was removed to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Treatment for a perforated ulcer was later pronounced successful.

For Oxford, the arrival of 27 American tourists is nothing out of the ordinary...until one of their number is found dead in Room 310 at the Randolph Hotel. It looks like a sudden and tragic accident. Only Chief Inspector Morse appears not to overlook the simultaneous theft of a jewel-encrusted antique from the victim's handbag. Then, two days later, a naked and battered corpse is dragged from the River Cherwell. A coincidence? Maybe. But this time Morse is determined to prove the link.

Das verschwundene Mädchen. Inspector Morse hält nicht viel von Vorschriften. Während sein Untergebener, Sergeant Lewis, penibel nach Polizeihandbuch ermittelt, folgt Morse lieber seiner Intuition, wobei ihn das tägliche Kreuzworträtsel der Times immer wieder auf verblüffende Fährten bringt. Vor allem, wenn er bei einem Pint Bitter in einem verrauchten Pub seinen Gedanken nachhängt. Eine herausfordernde Bewährungsprobe ist der Fall der spurlos verschwundenen Valerie Taylor, die vor mehr als zwei Jahren von zu Hause weggelaufen ist.

Hinter den alten Mauern der Oxford-Universität ist nicht alles so ehrwürdig, wie es scheint. Der fast taube Nicholas Quinn wird überraschend zum Mitglied des Verbands für Auslandsprüfungen der Oxford-Universität berufen. Quinn lebt sich schnell ein in die Welt der angesehenen Professoren, der Nachmittagssitzungen mit gutem Rotwein und der bequemen Ledersessel. Nur hat er kaum Gelegenheit, sich an seinem neuen Job zu erfreuen: Schon kurz nach seiner Ernennung wird Quinn vergiftet in seiner Wohnung aufgefunden.

Ein kniffliger Fall für Inspector Morse. Das kleine englische Städtchen Woodstock ist stolz auf seine historischen Gebäude und die edlen Pubs, in denen angeblich schon die frühen Royals zu Gast waren. Kaum einer erliegt nicht dem Charme von altehrwürdigen Mauern und schicken Hotels. Doch die heile Fassade bekommt deutliche Risse, als im dunklen Hinterhof des "Black Prince" die Leiche einer jungen Frau gefunden wird.