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Inspector Morse #2
Last Seen Wearing
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 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 . . .
372 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1976
342 people are currently reading
2216 people want to read
About the author
Colin Dexter
176 books706 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 527 reviews
March 7, 2023
Inspector Morse, mystery #2: - in which a seemingly vanished and missing female student is feared to have been a victim of foul play. With dodgy parents and teachers, and the previous inspector on the case dying in a traffic accident, Morse and Lewis are giving a cold case with so many variables, half-truths and potential motives, which sees them both really struggle to make any sense of it. Although written in the 1970s still not dated and a good read. 7 out of 12, Three Star read.
The John Thaw TV adaptation of this book saw a 22 year old Liz Hurley in the role of one of the current students.
2012 read
The John Thaw TV adaptation of this book saw a 22 year old Liz Hurley in the role of one of the current students.
2012 read
November 8, 2024
In this second book of the "Inspector Morse" crime mystery series, entitled Last Seen Wearing the cogs and wheels of Colin Dexter's brain are really beginning to revolve. The number of false conclusions Morse leaps to is quite staggering. And embarrassingly I was with Inspector Morse in every blind alley he trundled up. Even when I thought (he and) I had guessed the answer, Colin Dexter deftly diverted my attention away from it, so that it was literally only in the final few pages that my vague suspicions consolidated into a correct analysis.
Morse and Lewis both seem to be settling happily into their designated roles for the series. It is startlingly different from the TV adaptation though on a number of points. Far from being the cultivated, fastidious intellectual portrayed on TV, Dexter's original seems permanently "randy as a goat", classing women variously as honeys, blowsy or careworn. (Though both depictions of the Inspector are able to accurately complete "The Times" crossword in under 10 minutes.)
I strongly suspect Dexter not only of writing his own character into that of Morse's, but also writing with a male audience in mind. I cannot see present-day female readers taking kindly to such over-simplistic categories, when the male characters have the privilege of being rather more carefully drawn. (But then considering the preponderance of post-feminist "Chicklit", maybe the ground rules have depressingly slipped back once more.)
Lewis is different too - stolid certainly, but older than Morse and not a Geordie.
But even greater than these differences is the actual FEEL of the book. Very little of the action takes place in Oxford. A fair bit is on motorways, or in London or North Wales. There's not even one perambulation around Oxford's Radcliffe Camera! I do wonder what Colin Dexter made of the liberties taken by the TV series. On the other hand I hope he begins to portray his female characters a little more fully in the the next book, rather than inserting ad-hoc sketchy stereotypes. The idea that this is acceptable because this is how the main character views them, really is a poor excuse.
Morse and Lewis both seem to be settling happily into their designated roles for the series. It is startlingly different from the TV adaptation though on a number of points. Far from being the cultivated, fastidious intellectual portrayed on TV, Dexter's original seems permanently "randy as a goat", classing women variously as honeys, blowsy or careworn. (Though both depictions of the Inspector are able to accurately complete "The Times" crossword in under 10 minutes.)
I strongly suspect Dexter not only of writing his own character into that of Morse's, but also writing with a male audience in mind. I cannot see present-day female readers taking kindly to such over-simplistic categories, when the male characters have the privilege of being rather more carefully drawn. (But then considering the preponderance of post-feminist "Chicklit", maybe the ground rules have depressingly slipped back once more.)
Lewis is different too - stolid certainly, but older than Morse and not a Geordie.
But even greater than these differences is the actual FEEL of the book. Very little of the action takes place in Oxford. A fair bit is on motorways, or in London or North Wales. There's not even one perambulation around Oxford's Radcliffe Camera! I do wonder what Colin Dexter made of the liberties taken by the TV series. On the other hand I hope he begins to portray his female characters a little more fully in the the next book, rather than inserting ad-hoc sketchy stereotypes. The idea that this is acceptable because this is how the main character views them, really is a poor excuse.
November 1, 2022
I met Inspector Morse many years ago on the TV screen, and he quickly became a favorite with me. After Morse, I graduated to Inspector Lewis, and then, of course, Endeavor. I decided a while back to seek out the original books and see if the character on the pages of Colin Dexter’s novels was as enthralling as the ones he spawned in film.
Only two books in, it is too early to say he is not, but it certainly looks that way. Not to say he isn’t interesting, intriguing, and roguishly familiar, but he has less depth than his celuloide counterparts. In fact, he is, like most novel detectives, very ordinary and cliche for me. It is not a genre that pulls me in. I loved Sherlock Holmes when I was young, and doted on Nancy Drew; I have enjoyed the occasional modern mystery, but as an adult, for the most part, I seem to always part ways with detective novels feeling a bit let down.
I like the human, flawed side of Morse, but this book had him missing the mark far too often to please me. In several instances, when he felt he had absolutely solved the mystery, I was going “but what about…” He also has less of what makes him lovable and more of what doesn’t–very boozy and adolescently sexual.
I am hoping this is just Colin Dexter before he got his feet and really knew who Morse was, but it might be that the writers for the series were just much better at defining a character than Dexter was. I might continue through the next book, or maybe I will just embrace the Morse in my head and abandon the books.
Only two books in, it is too early to say he is not, but it certainly looks that way. Not to say he isn’t interesting, intriguing, and roguishly familiar, but he has less depth than his celuloide counterparts. In fact, he is, like most novel detectives, very ordinary and cliche for me. It is not a genre that pulls me in. I loved Sherlock Holmes when I was young, and doted on Nancy Drew; I have enjoyed the occasional modern mystery, but as an adult, for the most part, I seem to always part ways with detective novels feeling a bit let down.
I like the human, flawed side of Morse, but this book had him missing the mark far too often to please me. In several instances, when he felt he had absolutely solved the mystery, I was going “but what about…” He also has less of what makes him lovable and more of what doesn’t–very boozy and adolescently sexual.
I am hoping this is just Colin Dexter before he got his feet and really knew who Morse was, but it might be that the writers for the series were just much better at defining a character than Dexter was. I might continue through the next book, or maybe I will just embrace the Morse in my head and abandon the books.
August 16, 2024
Reading through this series with Simon. We enjoyed this book very much even though the plot seemed overly complicated, although it may not have helped that we were taking short trips and dipping in and out of the story.
Standout quotes:
Sitting at the opera next to an ample sized gentleman: "The 'mountain' on his left began to quiver and very soon Morse was a helpless observer as the fat man set about removing his jacket, which he effected with infinity more difficulty than an aging Houdini would have experienced in escaping from a straight jacket."
"Do you think that's our lollipop man?" asked Morse. In the middle of the road stood a white coated attendant in a peaked cap wielding the scepter of his authority like an arthritic bishop with a crook. Several pupils of the Roger Bacon School were crossing under the aegis of the standard-bearer."
A gritty description of the surroundings Morse and Lewis find themselves in: "they stood in a bed-sitting room containing a single unmade bed, the sheets dirty and creased, a threadbare settee, an armchair of more recent manufacture, a huge ugly wardrobe, a black and white TV set, and a small under-populated book shelf."
Morse shares his thoughts on the possible sequence of events of the crime with Lewis who "was left wondering where the inspector's train of thought had jumped the rails and landed in such a heap of crumpled wreckage by the track."
Finally, we learn of the enigma of Morse's first name: "It's a funny thing," said Morse, "But no-one ever calls me by my Christian name."
Standout quotes:
Sitting at the opera next to an ample sized gentleman: "The 'mountain' on his left began to quiver and very soon Morse was a helpless observer as the fat man set about removing his jacket, which he effected with infinity more difficulty than an aging Houdini would have experienced in escaping from a straight jacket."
"Do you think that's our lollipop man?" asked Morse. In the middle of the road stood a white coated attendant in a peaked cap wielding the scepter of his authority like an arthritic bishop with a crook. Several pupils of the Roger Bacon School were crossing under the aegis of the standard-bearer."
A gritty description of the surroundings Morse and Lewis find themselves in: "they stood in a bed-sitting room containing a single unmade bed, the sheets dirty and creased, a threadbare settee, an armchair of more recent manufacture, a huge ugly wardrobe, a black and white TV set, and a small under-populated book shelf."
Morse shares his thoughts on the possible sequence of events of the crime with Lewis who "was left wondering where the inspector's train of thought had jumped the rails and landed in such a heap of crumpled wreckage by the track."
Finally, we learn of the enigma of Morse's first name: "It's a funny thing," said Morse, "But no-one ever calls me by my Christian name."
October 8, 2015
Last seen wearing her school uniform, Valerie Taylor disappeared a little over two years ago on her way back to her school in a small town near Oxford after having eaten lunch at home. Seventeen and very well-developed, Valerie had a taste for older men and after her parents reported her missing, Valerie was never seen again and her body was never found.
The police detective originally assigned to the case has continued to work it periodically, even though what little trail there was has long since gone cold. He may have turned up a new lead, but before he could report back to his superiors, the detective was killed in an auto accident, and only a few days later, Valerie’s parents receive a letter, allegedly from their missing daughter, saying only that she is still alive and well and that her parents should not worry about her.
The Superintendent now assigns the case to Chief Inspector Morse. Morse, whose principal interest is homicide, has no interest whatsoever in pursuing the case of a missing person. But he quickly convinces himself that, letter or no letter, Valerie Taylor has long since been dead and he sets himself to the task of finding her killer, assisted by his faithful sidekick, Sergeant Lewis.
It won’t be an easy job. There’s no physical evidence of any kind, especially after so much time has passed, and Morse quickly discovers that the people closest to Valerie may all have their reasons for wishing that the case would stay unresolved. Morse will be forced to formulate and discard any number of theories and as he turns up the heat, someone else will have to die so that the secret of what happened to Valerie Taylor will remain a mystery. It’s a tangled mess and only someone as clever and as unconventional as Morse will have a chance of resolving the mystery. Chief Inspector Morse is one of the most unique and compelling characters in British crime fiction, and it’s always fun to spend an afternoon watching him work.
I do have one minor nit to pick which is that, as the climax nears, Morse completely overlooks a major clue that is literally right in front of his face. As he struggles to make sense of something that seems to make no sense, the reader is left to holler at him to pay attention to what he’s seen with his own eyes. If he doesn’t snap to by the end of the book, the reader will be left knowing the solution while Morse is still at sea. Still, this is a minor quibble and Last Seen Wearing is a very enjoyable read.
The police detective originally assigned to the case has continued to work it periodically, even though what little trail there was has long since gone cold. He may have turned up a new lead, but before he could report back to his superiors, the detective was killed in an auto accident, and only a few days later, Valerie’s parents receive a letter, allegedly from their missing daughter, saying only that she is still alive and well and that her parents should not worry about her.
The Superintendent now assigns the case to Chief Inspector Morse. Morse, whose principal interest is homicide, has no interest whatsoever in pursuing the case of a missing person. But he quickly convinces himself that, letter or no letter, Valerie Taylor has long since been dead and he sets himself to the task of finding her killer, assisted by his faithful sidekick, Sergeant Lewis.
It won’t be an easy job. There’s no physical evidence of any kind, especially after so much time has passed, and Morse quickly discovers that the people closest to Valerie may all have their reasons for wishing that the case would stay unresolved. Morse will be forced to formulate and discard any number of theories and as he turns up the heat, someone else will have to die so that the secret of what happened to Valerie Taylor will remain a mystery. It’s a tangled mess and only someone as clever and as unconventional as Morse will have a chance of resolving the mystery. Chief Inspector Morse is one of the most unique and compelling characters in British crime fiction, and it’s always fun to spend an afternoon watching him work.
I do have one minor nit to pick which is that, as the climax nears, Morse completely overlooks a major clue that is literally right in front of his face. As he struggles to make sense of something that seems to make no sense, the reader is left to holler at him to pay attention to what he’s seen with his own eyes. If he doesn’t snap to by the end of the book, the reader will be left knowing the solution while Morse is still at sea. Still, this is a minor quibble and Last Seen Wearing is a very enjoyable read.
August 29, 2023
Interminably boring, I'd say !
The novel revolves around an unsolved criminal investigation involving the disappearance of a teenage girl. The story is full of red herrings and the overall plot is utterly perplexing to follow. New theories keep popping frequently, each one being aimlessly popped up.
Had it not been for those insightful quotes at the beginning of each chapter ( although they hardly seem to connect the reader to the plot ), I'd have rated it as 1/5.
The novel revolves around an unsolved criminal investigation involving the disappearance of a teenage girl. The story is full of red herrings and the overall plot is utterly perplexing to follow. New theories keep popping frequently, each one being aimlessly popped up.
Had it not been for those insightful quotes at the beginning of each chapter ( although they hardly seem to connect the reader to the plot ), I'd have rated it as 1/5.
June 26, 2025
There’s an interesting assortment of characters who are forever revolving to the top of Morse’s list of suspects in this well plotted story. I enjoyed how Morse always thinks he’s right with his deductions in attempting to solve the case, even though I eventually lost count of the number of times he thought he’d cracked it. The inappropriate attitude of men towards women is a downer.
April 1, 2013
My first impression after reading was 'I have absolutely no idea what to think of this' and it took me a while to figure out why I felt so confused. Eventually I realized it was because I had never seen a detective in a crime-series having been so terribly wrong before. Really. Morse does spent most of the time being extremely wrong: he has a theory, a new clue appears that makes it clear that it can't have happened this way. Another theory. New clue. Repeat almost endlessly.
However these wrong theories aren't comnpletely wasted, many have just a tidbit that isn't completely wrong and collecting all those tidbits finally leads to the real solution (as it turns out he was wrong about having been wrong at one point...) However at no point it feels as if Morse is just aimlessly bumbling along, having no idea what's going on. His theories all make sense at the time. You might accuse him of always looking for the more complicated solution but then the actual solution is somewhat complicated (and it's not like Sherlock Holmes ever went for the easy solution, he just ended up being (almost) always right the first time).
I did like it but it was a bit too much and too concentrated towards the end. At first they had a theory, folowed up leads for a while, found something that disproved the theory, tried another theory. On the final 50 pages or so they just had theory after theory that got often got disproven only a few lines later and that did eventually get a bit riddiculous.
Overall one of those books where I want the half-star system because this was defenitely more than three but not quite four.
However these wrong theories aren't comnpletely wasted, many have just a tidbit that isn't completely wrong and collecting all those tidbits finally leads to the real solution (as it turns out he was wrong about having been wrong at one point...) However at no point it feels as if Morse is just aimlessly bumbling along, having no idea what's going on. His theories all make sense at the time. You might accuse him of always looking for the more complicated solution but then the actual solution is somewhat complicated (and it's not like Sherlock Holmes ever went for the easy solution, he just ended up being (almost) always right the first time).
I did like it but it was a bit too much and too concentrated towards the end. At first they had a theory, folowed up leads for a while, found something that disproved the theory, tried another theory. On the final 50 pages or so they just had theory after theory that got often got disproven only a few lines later and that did eventually get a bit riddiculous.
Overall one of those books where I want the half-star system because this was defenitely more than three but not quite four.
August 3, 2022
4,25 stars - English Ebook
Quote: 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.-
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.
Which is fairly typical Morse. Lots of moving parts, multiple suspects, multiple motives, to the point where it gets confusing.
Morse is handed a three year old disappearance case, a cold case as they call it, a girl gone missing in her way home from school. No body, and the detective who handled the case was killed in a car accident, which I thing should be treated with more suspicion than it received. Did not understand that fact completely.
Ultimately, through a lot of muck and confusion, the whole thing just sort of petered out, with only a few broad conclusions drawn, but no real resolution.
Still the road to it is realy the "Morse road" and therefore good to me. Liked reading it.
Quote: 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.-
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.
Which is fairly typical Morse. Lots of moving parts, multiple suspects, multiple motives, to the point where it gets confusing.
Morse is handed a three year old disappearance case, a cold case as they call it, a girl gone missing in her way home from school. No body, and the detective who handled the case was killed in a car accident, which I thing should be treated with more suspicion than it received. Did not understand that fact completely.
Ultimately, through a lot of muck and confusion, the whole thing just sort of petered out, with only a few broad conclusions drawn, but no real resolution.
Still the road to it is realy the "Morse road" and therefore good to me. Liked reading it.
January 7, 2021
I didn't like this one at all. I found the constant stream of "I've solved it. Oh no, I'm wrong" to be interminably annoying.
January 24, 2025
The second Morse novel. It is clearly written in the 70s and Morse is obsessed with sex but like an adolescent rather than an adult. I enjoyed the story of a missing girl called Valerie Taylor.
So many red herrings that I got dizzy. Everyone is a suspect and a lot of the time is spent in cars traveling to London and Wales. The teaching fraternity does not come out of this story glowing. The headmaster, assistant principal and a French tutor all lack integrity and questionable morals.
The question is where is Valerie and is she dead or alive. The answer is a surprise. The books are so far very different from the tv series and Morse is not the same character in many respects. He still does puzzles and listen to opera but not so obsessed with sex.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The tv episode is very different! Morse more amiable. Valerie doesn’t kill Baines who is now a woman. The Principal is the murderer although not by knifing but by a struggle at the top of the stairs. Prefer the book ending of Valerie the killer and disappearing to London.
So many red herrings that I got dizzy. Everyone is a suspect and a lot of the time is spent in cars traveling to London and Wales. The teaching fraternity does not come out of this story glowing. The headmaster, assistant principal and a French tutor all lack integrity and questionable morals.
The question is where is Valerie and is she dead or alive. The answer is a surprise. The books are so far very different from the tv series and Morse is not the same character in many respects. He still does puzzles and listen to opera but not so obsessed with sex.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The tv episode is very different! Morse more amiable. Valerie doesn’t kill Baines who is now a woman. The Principal is the murderer although not by knifing but by a struggle at the top of the stairs. Prefer the book ending of Valerie the killer and disappearing to London.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2023
3.5 stars. I enjoyed the first book in the series more than this one.
January 31, 2009
It’s always a pleasure to return to the wonderful stories of Colin Dexter and Inspector Morse, that all too-human English detective who drinks too much and realizes he needs to place his collection of Victorian erotica in a less conspicuous place on his bookshelf.
In this case, Victoria Taylor, an attractive seventeen-year-old disappeared two years ago. Morse is handed the case following the death of Inspector Ainley who had just become interested following receipt of a note that Victoria was alive and did not want to be pursued. Morse is convinced she is dead and that possibly the real killer was sending the notes in hopes the investigation will cease. Lewis, Morse’s sergeant on the case, can’t understand Morse’s obsession with the case that Lewis believes is open-and-shut: the girl is alive and well in London and doesn’t want to be found. To his mind, Morse just insists on taking a simple case and making it into a complicated mish-mash.
This case has numerous false leads and Morse swings from a feeling of ecsatitic success at seeming to arrive at the solution only to have his idea dashed to the ground when the evidence fails to support his conclusions. In the end, one of those “false” inspirations proves to be the correct one. The coincidences are seemingly too much for Lewis, but as Morse points out, “It’s an odd coincidence, Lewis, that the forty-sixth word from the beginning and the forty-sixth word from the end of the Forty-sixth Psalm in the Authorised Version should spell ‘Shakespear.’ “
In this case, Victoria Taylor, an attractive seventeen-year-old disappeared two years ago. Morse is handed the case following the death of Inspector Ainley who had just become interested following receipt of a note that Victoria was alive and did not want to be pursued. Morse is convinced she is dead and that possibly the real killer was sending the notes in hopes the investigation will cease. Lewis, Morse’s sergeant on the case, can’t understand Morse’s obsession with the case that Lewis believes is open-and-shut: the girl is alive and well in London and doesn’t want to be found. To his mind, Morse just insists on taking a simple case and making it into a complicated mish-mash.
This case has numerous false leads and Morse swings from a feeling of ecsatitic success at seeming to arrive at the solution only to have his idea dashed to the ground when the evidence fails to support his conclusions. In the end, one of those “false” inspirations proves to be the correct one. The coincidences are seemingly too much for Lewis, but as Morse points out, “It’s an odd coincidence, Lewis, that the forty-sixth word from the beginning and the forty-sixth word from the end of the Forty-sixth Psalm in the Authorised Version should spell ‘Shakespear.’ “
January 4, 2020
Dreadful. Morse is stupid and makes so many wrong guesses you wonder why he is allowed to work. Highly sexist, oggles pornography, implicitly racist and a bit thick. Plot meanders along to a wishy washy ending......hugely disappointing.
September 27, 2021
Not nearly as charming and captivating as Endeavour (the TV show).
August 31, 2022
I'm pretty sure I stumbled on this series from one of the several bargain Kindle emails I get. Morse in print is definitely not the Morse on TV. The print Morse has risque thoughts, for one thing, though he seemingly represses them. Men are men and this just makes him seem a tad more real. For the case in this installment, he has plenty of risque thoughts which he does absolutely nothing about, though he definitely wishes that weren't so.
Morse and Lewis have too many ideas in this. Did Valerie Taylor, a school girl, just leave home one afternoon for parts unknown or is she dead? If dead (assume so) then who, how, why, etc.? Together they run through a variety of theories and run around trying to prove this one and then that one. There are no clues and honestly they don't have a clue where to begin and how to progress. And that makes this all the more real.
I don't have the next one on my shelf, but I'll be keeping my eyes open. Can I keep rating mysteries 4-stars? I suspect this is a series that is good enough for that rating but maybe most of the individual installments are just very good 3-stars, as is this one.
Morse and Lewis have too many ideas in this. Did Valerie Taylor, a school girl, just leave home one afternoon for parts unknown or is she dead? If dead (assume so) then who, how, why, etc.? Together they run through a variety of theories and run around trying to prove this one and then that one. There are no clues and honestly they don't have a clue where to begin and how to progress. And that makes this all the more real.
I don't have the next one on my shelf, but I'll be keeping my eyes open. Can I keep rating mysteries 4-stars? I suspect this is a series that is good enough for that rating but maybe most of the individual installments are just very good 3-stars, as is this one.
July 13, 2024
“Con tutta la sua strampalata imprevedibilità, alla radice profonda del suo essere c’era un ardente passione per la verità, per la logica e la razionalità, e inesorabilmente i fatti, quasi tutti i fatti, portavano alla stessa conclusione: che si era sbagliato, e si era sbagliato fin dall’inizio.”
Nel secondo libro della serie conosciamo meglio lo stravagante ispettore Morse, che, lavorando a un caso, è capace di imbastire congetture perfettamente coerenti e al contempo di prendere delle solenni cantonate. Il suo cervello prolifico elabora intricate soluzioni a enigmi che tuttavia resistono a ogni tentativo di scioglimento.
Così accade in questo episodio. Dopo due anni e mezzo si riapre il caso mai risolto di una scomparsa: la giovanissima Valerie Taylor un bel giorno esce di casa e non torna più. Dovrebbe andare a scuola e invece sparisce. Di lei si perdono tracce, ma all’improvviso, dopo due anni, i suoi genitori ricevono una sua breve rassicurante comunicazione: sono a Londra, va tutto bene. Ma davvero quella lettera è stata scritta da lei?
Morse e il fedele, e sempre più attivo, sergente Lewis cominciano a indagare e a scoprire le prime inquietanti (e ambigue) relazioni della bellissima ragazza con i maschi adulti che la circondano.
A circa 90 pagine dalla fine Morse ha brillantemente risolto il mistero.
E adesso?-si chiede chi legge- che si fa?
Ma, appunto, un castello di ipotetiche certezze dietro l’altro crolla miseramente e il nostro torvo e ostinato ispettore deve ricominciare tutto da capo.
D’accordo. Ci sono sempre giovani donne provocanti e lascive, uomini incapaci di resistere alle lusinghe del sesso…insomma: un perfetto mix di luoghi comuni misogini e misantropi che fanno un po’ atmosfera torbida da romanzo d’antan … ma bisogna ammettere che il fascino di Morse e la perizia narrativa di Dexter sono irresistibili e rendono accettabili anche gli ingredienti più indigesti.
Nel secondo libro della serie conosciamo meglio lo stravagante ispettore Morse, che, lavorando a un caso, è capace di imbastire congetture perfettamente coerenti e al contempo di prendere delle solenni cantonate. Il suo cervello prolifico elabora intricate soluzioni a enigmi che tuttavia resistono a ogni tentativo di scioglimento.
Così accade in questo episodio. Dopo due anni e mezzo si riapre il caso mai risolto di una scomparsa: la giovanissima Valerie Taylor un bel giorno esce di casa e non torna più. Dovrebbe andare a scuola e invece sparisce. Di lei si perdono tracce, ma all’improvviso, dopo due anni, i suoi genitori ricevono una sua breve rassicurante comunicazione: sono a Londra, va tutto bene. Ma davvero quella lettera è stata scritta da lei?
Morse e il fedele, e sempre più attivo, sergente Lewis cominciano a indagare e a scoprire le prime inquietanti (e ambigue) relazioni della bellissima ragazza con i maschi adulti che la circondano.
A circa 90 pagine dalla fine Morse ha brillantemente risolto il mistero.
E adesso?-si chiede chi legge- che si fa?
Ma, appunto, un castello di ipotetiche certezze dietro l’altro crolla miseramente e il nostro torvo e ostinato ispettore deve ricominciare tutto da capo.
D’accordo. Ci sono sempre giovani donne provocanti e lascive, uomini incapaci di resistere alle lusinghe del sesso…insomma: un perfetto mix di luoghi comuni misogini e misantropi che fanno un po’ atmosfera torbida da romanzo d’antan … ma bisogna ammettere che il fascino di Morse e la perizia narrativa di Dexter sono irresistibili e rendono accettabili anche gli ingredienti più indigesti.
April 19, 2017
A girl disappeared and has been presumed dead for more than two years; but is she even dead?
Reading this book was like walking through a maze: so many possible ways to go and so many of them wrong. (Here's the solution; oops, no, that's not it. HERE'S what happened; nope, nope, nope. Okay, this is it...this is what happened; wrong again.) In a word, it was great fun.
I'm particularly enjoying the development of Morse's and Lewis's relationship; Morse really does think highly of Lewis, but simply doesn't communicate that to the poor sergeant.
The one aspect of Morse that I'm having trouble reconciling with the television version of Morse, however, has to do with women. Of course we know that he likes the ladies, and that liking them too much sometimes gets in the way of his objectivity, but I was a bit taken aback when in the book Morse comes across a little pornography (which he puts aside for later) and visits a strip club—all in the course of doing his duty, of course—and seems to relish these case-related activities a little more than I would have guessed. I can't picture John Thaw experiencing either of these without looking a little abashed—or maybe I should watch the series again.
Reading this book was like walking through a maze: so many possible ways to go and so many of them wrong. (Here's the solution; oops, no, that's not it. HERE'S what happened; nope, nope, nope. Okay, this is it...this is what happened; wrong again.) In a word, it was great fun.
I'm particularly enjoying the development of Morse's and Lewis's relationship; Morse really does think highly of Lewis, but simply doesn't communicate that to the poor sergeant.
The one aspect of Morse that I'm having trouble reconciling with the television version of Morse, however, has to do with women. Of course we know that he likes the ladies, and that liking them too much sometimes gets in the way of his objectivity, but I was a bit taken aback when in the book Morse comes across a little pornography (which he puts aside for later) and visits a strip club—all in the course of doing his duty, of course—and seems to relish these case-related activities a little more than I would have guessed. I can't picture John Thaw experiencing either of these without looking a little abashed—or maybe I should watch the series again.
March 26, 2017
This was a very enjoyable read again. I had been re-reading all of the books that are on kindle and Colin Dexter died with 2 days reading left in this book, So Sad. But he created a unique and memorable set of characters that are still entertaining millions of people.
March 11, 2020
Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter is the second Inspector Morse mystery. I've watched all of the episodes of the TV series based on the books and I've also enjoyed both the follow-on Lewis and the prequel, Endeavour. Having said all this, it was nice to find the the book was still fresh and as much as some of the story seemed familiar, I still had no idea where it was headed.
Morse is assigned a cold case by his chief, Superintendent Strange, because the previous inspector had been killed in a car accident. Morse doesn't want the case as it involves a missing girl; she'd been gone for two years. He wants murders, something he can sink his teeth into. However, forced to take the case, he asks for Sgt Lewis to be assigned to help him.
The case revolves around a few people, Valerie Taylor's parents, the new Head of her high school, her old French teacher and the assistant Head. The question to be answered is whether Valerie is dead or has run away? With many plodding first steps, the case begins to interest Morse. He's sure she is dead, but a letter purportedly from the girl, throws a spanner into his theory.
It was interesting to follow the investigation, the stops and starts, the threads that Morse and Lewis follow, have to backtrack, and then the new paths they lead to. I had my ideas about the case and parts came to fruition but the ultimate solution was still a nice twist and also very satisfying. Morse is an interesting inspector, smart, relying on intuition, often following the wrong path, but finding inspiration at the end. Lewis is a rock, more steady and reliable and helps keep Morse grounded. I've enjoyed both of the first two books so far and will continue to follow Dexter's stories of his great investigator (5 stars)
Morse is assigned a cold case by his chief, Superintendent Strange, because the previous inspector had been killed in a car accident. Morse doesn't want the case as it involves a missing girl; she'd been gone for two years. He wants murders, something he can sink his teeth into. However, forced to take the case, he asks for Sgt Lewis to be assigned to help him.
The case revolves around a few people, Valerie Taylor's parents, the new Head of her high school, her old French teacher and the assistant Head. The question to be answered is whether Valerie is dead or has run away? With many plodding first steps, the case begins to interest Morse. He's sure she is dead, but a letter purportedly from the girl, throws a spanner into his theory.
It was interesting to follow the investigation, the stops and starts, the threads that Morse and Lewis follow, have to backtrack, and then the new paths they lead to. I had my ideas about the case and parts came to fruition but the ultimate solution was still a nice twist and also very satisfying. Morse is an interesting inspector, smart, relying on intuition, often following the wrong path, but finding inspiration at the end. Lewis is a rock, more steady and reliable and helps keep Morse grounded. I've enjoyed both of the first two books so far and will continue to follow Dexter's stories of his great investigator (5 stars)
January 30, 2025
Another good read, picked up smoothly where the previous left off. What surprises me most is how dated this now seems, a few years gone by since the first reading.
January 25, 2025
Bafflingly enjoyable…
A man is returning from a job interview in Kidlington, just outside Oxford, to his home in London. The interview went well and he’s fully expecting to get the job, so he’s in a good mood. He meets a girl in a bus shelter, and she seems to find him attractive and, even though he suspects that she’s younger than she’s pretending, he gives in to temptation. At the end of this prologue, we learn that he came to regret that decision. Two and a bit years later, Chief Inspector Morse is handed a cold case – seventeen-year-old Valerie Taylor left home to go to school one day and has never been seen again. The case had belonged to a colleague who was killed in a road accident a couple of weeks ago, and then – coincidentally? - Valerie’s parents had received a letter purporting to be from her and assuring them she was all right…
Morse is sure that Valerie is dead and that the letter must be a forgery. His sergeant, Lewis, however, thinks she is probably alive and is just one of the many girls who run off to the bright lights of London every year. They go back over the old files of the case and begin to investigate, starting with Valerie’s parents and her school.
I’ll start by saying that I really enjoyed this one and listened to it in huge chunks, which is the audio equivalent of finding it a page-turner. But as I try to work out why I enjoyed it, I find myself a bit baffled, since frankly the plot is rather obvious, especially given that prologue, the investigation is a mess, Morse is the most unlikeable detective in the universe, and the whole thing reeks of sexism that verges on the brink of misogyny. It must be that despite all that it’s well written! Plus the narration, by Samuel West, is wonderful – I think with this one he’s proved the old cliché that I could listen to him reading the phone book and still enjoy it.
This was first published in 1976, so a lot of the sexism is of its time and I was able to just shake my head and ignore it. It certainly wasn’t as bad as in the first book, Last Bus to Woodstock, which really did tip over into misogyny, so I have hopes that as the series progresses Dexter may get better at portraying women as people rather than simply as objects of male sexual desire at best and wicked temptresses at worst. But Morse (or is it Dexter?) really is adolescent when it comes to sex, seeing every women as an extension of her breasts and judging her attractiveness on the basis of her bra size. Being made privy to one of his sex dreams was bad enough, but sadly there were more to come. (There is one moment which I found hilarious when he meets someone who might be Valerie, can’t decide based on her face, but is sure the woman’s breasts aren’t as large as Valerie’s seemed in the photo in the case files. Men – you gotta love ’em, eh?)
The investigation follows a pattern of Morse having a moment of inspiration which provides him with the solution, relating it to Lewis, ignoring any objection Lewis might raise, and then being proved spectacularly wrong and having to start again from scratch. This happens at least four times. How did such an incompetent idiot ever manage to become a Chief Inspector? The eventual solution is simply a matter of “when you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” – a quote from Sherlock Holmes which Dexter actually uses as one of his chapter headings! By then, though, we’ve been led up the garden path so often that even Dexter must have realised that this solution was no more or less convincing than all the others we’d been put through, so to prove that this is the right one, he suddenly transports us into the killer’s head – a major cop-out that felt totally like cheating. And when it was all over, I realised I still didn’t know why the murderer had killed the victim – a fairly major omission!
A lot of the action in this one happens in either London or Wales, so we don’t get much of the usual Oxford setting, and quite a lot of time is spent travelling from one place to another. The characterisation of the men is pretty good, although they all seem very easily tempted by a pretty face, and Morse/Dexter has considerably more sympathy for this weakness than I do. However again this was true of the time, I suppose, and crime novels rely on people behaving badly.
So, as I said, I’m kinda baffled as to why I enjoyed it – but I did! It flows well despite all those false solutions, and Morse is interesting even if he’s an incompetent creep. Lewis is very much secondary, more so than in the TV adaptations, and he’s shown as rather stolid and unimaginative. They are not really partners, at least not at this point in the series, and Lewis doesn’t seem to like his patronising boss much more than I do, though he admires his intellect (for some obscure reason). Have I made you want to read this book? I suspect not! But I’ve already put the third book on my wishlist, so that’s got to be some kind of recommendation!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
A man is returning from a job interview in Kidlington, just outside Oxford, to his home in London. The interview went well and he’s fully expecting to get the job, so he’s in a good mood. He meets a girl in a bus shelter, and she seems to find him attractive and, even though he suspects that she’s younger than she’s pretending, he gives in to temptation. At the end of this prologue, we learn that he came to regret that decision. Two and a bit years later, Chief Inspector Morse is handed a cold case – seventeen-year-old Valerie Taylor left home to go to school one day and has never been seen again. The case had belonged to a colleague who was killed in a road accident a couple of weeks ago, and then – coincidentally? - Valerie’s parents had received a letter purporting to be from her and assuring them she was all right…
Morse is sure that Valerie is dead and that the letter must be a forgery. His sergeant, Lewis, however, thinks she is probably alive and is just one of the many girls who run off to the bright lights of London every year. They go back over the old files of the case and begin to investigate, starting with Valerie’s parents and her school.
I’ll start by saying that I really enjoyed this one and listened to it in huge chunks, which is the audio equivalent of finding it a page-turner. But as I try to work out why I enjoyed it, I find myself a bit baffled, since frankly the plot is rather obvious, especially given that prologue, the investigation is a mess, Morse is the most unlikeable detective in the universe, and the whole thing reeks of sexism that verges on the brink of misogyny. It must be that despite all that it’s well written! Plus the narration, by Samuel West, is wonderful – I think with this one he’s proved the old cliché that I could listen to him reading the phone book and still enjoy it.
This was first published in 1976, so a lot of the sexism is of its time and I was able to just shake my head and ignore it. It certainly wasn’t as bad as in the first book, Last Bus to Woodstock, which really did tip over into misogyny, so I have hopes that as the series progresses Dexter may get better at portraying women as people rather than simply as objects of male sexual desire at best and wicked temptresses at worst. But Morse (or is it Dexter?) really is adolescent when it comes to sex, seeing every women as an extension of her breasts and judging her attractiveness on the basis of her bra size. Being made privy to one of his sex dreams was bad enough, but sadly there were more to come. (There is one moment which I found hilarious when he meets someone who might be Valerie, can’t decide based on her face, but is sure the woman’s breasts aren’t as large as Valerie’s seemed in the photo in the case files. Men – you gotta love ’em, eh?)
The investigation follows a pattern of Morse having a moment of inspiration which provides him with the solution, relating it to Lewis, ignoring any objection Lewis might raise, and then being proved spectacularly wrong and having to start again from scratch. This happens at least four times. How did such an incompetent idiot ever manage to become a Chief Inspector? The eventual solution is simply a matter of “when you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” – a quote from Sherlock Holmes which Dexter actually uses as one of his chapter headings! By then, though, we’ve been led up the garden path so often that even Dexter must have realised that this solution was no more or less convincing than all the others we’d been put through, so to prove that this is the right one, he suddenly transports us into the killer’s head – a major cop-out that felt totally like cheating. And when it was all over, I realised I still didn’t know why the murderer had killed the victim – a fairly major omission!
A lot of the action in this one happens in either London or Wales, so we don’t get much of the usual Oxford setting, and quite a lot of time is spent travelling from one place to another. The characterisation of the men is pretty good, although they all seem very easily tempted by a pretty face, and Morse/Dexter has considerably more sympathy for this weakness than I do. However again this was true of the time, I suppose, and crime novels rely on people behaving badly.
So, as I said, I’m kinda baffled as to why I enjoyed it – but I did! It flows well despite all those false solutions, and Morse is interesting even if he’s an incompetent creep. Lewis is very much secondary, more so than in the TV adaptations, and he’s shown as rather stolid and unimaginative. They are not really partners, at least not at this point in the series, and Lewis doesn’t seem to like his patronising boss much more than I do, though he admires his intellect (for some obscure reason). Have I made you want to read this book? I suspect not! But I’ve already put the third book on my wishlist, so that’s got to be some kind of recommendation!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
August 15, 2023
A good classic read and completely identical to the tv series adaptation
September 30, 2020
Morse is assigned an old missing persons case, and he is quite peeved. Murder is his thing, don’t you know, not trying to find some girl who ran off with her boyfriend two years ago. But newly-anointed Chief Superintendent Strange is adamant — Morse willinvestigate the disappearance of Valerie Taylor, age 17 when she disappeared.
Morse and Lewis uncover a clue here and a clue there. For every clue, Morse develops a theory: Valerie is alive; Valerie was murdered by a lover/teacher; Valerie was murdered by her mother; Valerie is alive in London. All his theories prove to be incorrect, and not merely wrong, but spectacularly wrong.
Of course, he finally gets there in the end, after a real, honest-to-goodness, knife-in-the-back murder.
If you like your detective novels with a tortuous plot and lots of guessing and being wrong, you should love Last Seen Wearing. For me, it was just a bit too much.
Morse and Lewis uncover a clue here and a clue there. For every clue, Morse develops a theory: Valerie is alive; Valerie was murdered by a lover/teacher; Valerie was murdered by her mother; Valerie is alive in London. All his theories prove to be incorrect, and not merely wrong, but spectacularly wrong.
Of course, he finally gets there in the end, after a real, honest-to-goodness, knife-in-the-back murder.
If you like your detective novels with a tortuous plot and lots of guessing and being wrong, you should love Last Seen Wearing. For me, it was just a bit too much.
May 31, 2023
Una novela policíaca con un inspector muy peculiar, Morse,un tipo que no sabes si abrazar o tirar por una escalera.
La trama sucede en los años setenta, tiene ese aire de novela antigua, ese toque de buscar pistas en todos los lugares, de atar cabos, y de que nada es lo que parece hasta las últimas páginas. Poco a poco se une el puzzle para saber qué pasó con Valerie, una joven que desapareció hace dos años sin dejar rastro.
Morse es un policial algo peculiar: le gusta la música clásica, la ópera, el arte y tomarse unas cervezas entre rato y rato. No es que tenga clichés como en la novela negra actual, simplemente es un hombre típico de esos años, con algunos comentarios mordaces y poco adelantado a su época. Es un hombre que no se fía del género humano,de ahí su manera de proceder ante las investigaciones y saltarse algunas normas.
Junto con Lewis, su compañero, iniciaran una investigación para resolver el caso. Ambos protagonistas son muy diferentes, el ying y el yang, y eso hace que haya momentos cómicos dentro de la historia.
Es el segundo libro de una serie policíaca de trece volúmenes. Yo lo he leído sin saberlo, y aunque siempre se recomienda leerlos en orden, tampoco he necesitado mucho del anterior, ya que no hay mención a nada de antes.
Es una novela suave, que va sumando pistas poco a poco. A veces me he perdido un poco con Morse, porque divaga demasiado y repite algunas cosas, pero por lo demás me ha resultado una lectura entretenida, algo más clásico dentro de la novela policial, para seguir leyendo sin salir del género que me gusta.
⭐3.5/5
La trama sucede en los años setenta, tiene ese aire de novela antigua, ese toque de buscar pistas en todos los lugares, de atar cabos, y de que nada es lo que parece hasta las últimas páginas. Poco a poco se une el puzzle para saber qué pasó con Valerie, una joven que desapareció hace dos años sin dejar rastro.
Morse es un policial algo peculiar: le gusta la música clásica, la ópera, el arte y tomarse unas cervezas entre rato y rato. No es que tenga clichés como en la novela negra actual, simplemente es un hombre típico de esos años, con algunos comentarios mordaces y poco adelantado a su época. Es un hombre que no se fía del género humano,de ahí su manera de proceder ante las investigaciones y saltarse algunas normas.
Junto con Lewis, su compañero, iniciaran una investigación para resolver el caso. Ambos protagonistas son muy diferentes, el ying y el yang, y eso hace que haya momentos cómicos dentro de la historia.
Es el segundo libro de una serie policíaca de trece volúmenes. Yo lo he leído sin saberlo, y aunque siempre se recomienda leerlos en orden, tampoco he necesitado mucho del anterior, ya que no hay mención a nada de antes.
Es una novela suave, que va sumando pistas poco a poco. A veces me he perdido un poco con Morse, porque divaga demasiado y repite algunas cosas, pero por lo demás me ha resultado una lectura entretenida, algo más clásico dentro de la novela policial, para seguir leyendo sin salir del género que me gusta.
⭐3.5/5
May 31, 2010
First Sentence: He felt quite pleased with himself.
More than two years ago, Valerie Taylor disappeared. Now, a letter is received saying she is alive. Inspector Morse has been assigned the case to learn the truth.
I read principally for character. When I don’t like the characters, I have a hard time getting through the book.
Other than his love of opera, there was little to like about Morse. He drinks too much, is into pornography and leaps to conclusions about the case, then trying to make the clues fit his conclusion. Sgt Lewis is strictly a side kick and given little notice at all.
Rather than real investigation being done there are a huge number of coincidences. The “procedure” of an investigation is seems disregarded at worst and is sloppy at best. A court would have a field day with the way in which evidence was, or wasn’t handled.
I found this a slog to get through. With so many other good British police procedural authors available, Dexter is one I’ll leave behind.
LAST SEEN WEARING (Pol Proc-Insp. Morse-England-Cont) – Poor
Dexter, Colin – 2nd in series
PAN Books, ©1976, UK Paperback – ISBN: 0330251481
More than two years ago, Valerie Taylor disappeared. Now, a letter is received saying she is alive. Inspector Morse has been assigned the case to learn the truth.
I read principally for character. When I don’t like the characters, I have a hard time getting through the book.
Other than his love of opera, there was little to like about Morse. He drinks too much, is into pornography and leaps to conclusions about the case, then trying to make the clues fit his conclusion. Sgt Lewis is strictly a side kick and given little notice at all.
Rather than real investigation being done there are a huge number of coincidences. The “procedure” of an investigation is seems disregarded at worst and is sloppy at best. A court would have a field day with the way in which evidence was, or wasn’t handled.
I found this a slog to get through. With so many other good British police procedural authors available, Dexter is one I’ll leave behind.
LAST SEEN WEARING (Pol Proc-Insp. Morse-England-Cont) – Poor
Dexter, Colin – 2nd in series
PAN Books, ©1976, UK Paperback – ISBN: 0330251481
May 11, 2015
Oh dear. I've come upon a series which might have been a perfectly good read were it not for seeing the TV version first. This is the 3rd Inspector Morse I've read and the second in the series. (The first I read was actually the 10th, I think. Read out of order because it was just at hand.) I have to say, I don't really like them all that much. For one thing, there is very little I find in the least appealing or interesting about Morse. He's smart, I suppose. But you don't really see the gears turning. He just has the occasional (and often unexplained) flashes of insight. He's also a bully. Now maybe he was in the TV show, too, but John Thaw made him interesting and, while somewhat morose, charming. Here he is neither. Just a bully. And how can I take pleasure in a bully getting his own way?
Perhaps they improve but it will be a while before I return, I think. There's also a persistent tawdriness about the plots that, if I thought really hard about it, I suspect I'd conclude was laced with sexism.
I'll just walk away for now.
Perhaps they improve but it will be a while before I return, I think. There's also a persistent tawdriness about the plots that, if I thought really hard about it, I suspect I'd conclude was laced with sexism.
I'll just walk away for now.
June 30, 2011
E' una piacevolissima conferma, questo Ispettore Morse. Stavolta prende ben più di una cantonata e sembra perdere le speranze ogni volta che le sue intuizioni lo portano verso l'assassino (sbagliato) e il movente (mai quello). Però è difficile chiudere il libro e fare qualcos'altro. Dalla seconda metà, dopo aver presentato caso e personaggi, ogni fine capitolo è un continuo colpo di scena e l'epilogo è una summa delle piste seguite. Forse un po' banale, rispetto al ritmo del romanzo, ma nulla toglie al fatto che Dexter sia capace di confezionare gialli intrigantissimi, davvero di grande livello. L'unica cosa che mi perplime è il comportamento di Morse con l'altro sesso, assolutamente rinunciatario e "autoarchiviante". Pur avendo i soliti pensieri alla vista di una donna, soffoca qualsiasi impulso d'iniziativa, quasi che avesse eliminato l'acchiappo dalla sua vita. Che poi sarà mica solo indagini e cadaveri. Aspetto il terzo.
October 1, 2021
2.5 like the last one, I'm afraid.
These work perfectly fine as mysteries (the plotting is actually pretty good and I do like that Morse's theories miss the mark more often than not; perfect detectives are a bit boring after all) but goodness are these books sexist. I know the early installments of the series were written in the seventies, but there are books where the publication date doesn't show quite this much.
So far, my initial verdict that the TV series are actually better than the books still stands. (I don't mind desaster humans, I do mind horny, sexist desaster humans.)
These work perfectly fine as mysteries (the plotting is actually pretty good and I do like that Morse's theories miss the mark more often than not; perfect detectives are a bit boring after all) but goodness are these books sexist. I know the early installments of the series were written in the seventies, but there are books where the publication date doesn't show quite this much.
So far, my initial verdict that the TV series are actually better than the books still stands. (I don't mind desaster humans, I do mind horny, sexist desaster humans.)
May 11, 2024
Another great Inspector Morse mystery... great mix of characters and plot with some unexpected red herrings thrown in for good measure.
(Reviewed 9/29/09)
(Reviewed 9/29/09)
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