Colin Dexter

An Inspector Morse book by the originator of the series!

I have read a few Colin Dexter novels but this is the first for a while. On balance I enjoyed reading The Dead of Jericho since it is basically well written and the story flows along nicely. Morse is cantankerous and brilliant at twists and turns and Lewis is the thickhead stooge who says the most outrageous things.

Nevertheless, Lewis is the perfect foil for Morse as he lurches from interview to interview and from clue to clue.

One aspect of the book that I found both striking and annoying is Dexter’s seeming obsession with giving us the smallest details of each part of the Oxford district: down to areas, streets and houses. Clearly Dexter is keen to ensure that we believe that the story is as realistic as possible since he uses real locations as his settings. Being an inhabitant of an area that is partly involved in this book, it’s interesting to be able to say, ‘I was there just yesterday’ or ‘I don’t know where that is’!

The storyline centres round a woman for whom Morse has feelings but she has the temerity to die just as Morse thinks he’s in with a shout! Morse is even partially implicated in the story as he unwittingly turns up at the house where the young lady met her demise at a time when her death could just have taken place or could even have been in progress. To help this part of the story along, Morse is spotted coming and going!

For one reason and another Morse is not, in fact, the lead detective in this case at the outset but he’s relatively quickly brought in to crack the case. Then we are treated to a long list of twists and turns that are interesting and that bring along with them some nicely developed characters. Dexter paints a decent picture of Oxford and surrounding districts, too, by the way and I can imagine that someone could read this book elsewhere in the UK or even abroad and be attracted to visit the city on the basis of Dexter’s descriptions.

The case is cracked and Morse is happy; and I don’t think I’ve given too much away by saying that and Morse goes on to drink a load more beer as he turns his attentions to another case. Morse certainly drinks a lot of beer and at all times of the working day as well as the evening!

This is not my favourite detective story and I much preferred The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn to this one but it’s worth a read at least.

Duncan Williamson
22 May 2003