Morse’s Greatest Mystery and Other Stories by Colin Dexter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m not usually a fan of a short story collection, but this one is outstanding. I also don’t give five stars lightly. I feel the overall book deserves them. I’ll add that not all may love this set of stories. Those who love real mysteries will love these. Those who love James Patterson or Sandra Brown are likely not to like them.

Dexter really has a flair for crafting a short mystery. No easy task. Sorry there is only one collection of short stories. Still hope for more from Dexter.

The tales in the book are all mysteries with great characters, stories and terrific writing.

Bottom line: I recommend the book!

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The Riddle of the Third Mile by Colin Dexter
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really like Dexter’s writing style and the characters he creates. This selection of the adventures of Inspector Morse provides more background of Morse’s origins and, for me , that’s the best part of the book.

The rest is a convoluted mess. Body parts, various people who are part of the college and not part of the college and are the body parts and aren’t the body parts and I just wanted to part with the whole thing.

Seems to me Dexter stretched hard to get this book to work. There were many other ways to get to solving the main mystery of who a body is. Yet, Morse and all go gallivanting off into all kinds of directions that really make little sense. A prelude to the main story is to help the reader follow some of the mechanization of the crime. But, it seems to me, that Dexter then went about trying to fit a story to the prelude. Along the way trying to make very confusing who did what and why. There should always be confusion to a reader and it’s what I love with the previous novels I’ve read. In this case, I think Dexter was being a bit too cute in his switchbacks in the story. Keeping the reader guessing is imperative, but so is clarity in the end.

In the end, I still didn’t understand the motives of all the characters in their actions. It was tricky writing to wrap up so many loose ends. All too convenient. I just don’t think the conclusions are plausible.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book.

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Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

‘Last Seen Wearing’ by Colin Dexter is a very good book of Inspector Morse that unravels the efforts it can actually take to get to the conclusion of a mystery. For that matter, the trouble to get to answers in life. False and hopeful conclusions. Deadends. Confusion. One of the most realistic in plotting of a fictional mystery I’ve read.

This book is not for those looking for a straightforward mystery with w twist or two. It will greatly frustrate those. It could be said Dexter went too far with the many bad leads to then present it to the readers out there. With that thought, I trimmed the star level. A writer should have that more in consideration when constructing a tale.

The real fun here is following Morse as he tries to figure it all out. Dexter does a tremendous job of building the character.

A note about other comments about the book I read on Goodreads and the televised version: The original book is from the 1970s without the typical censorship you find in today’s books about how people really are and think. The real contrast to time periods comes in the teleplay of the tv episode in which characters are spun into stereotypes of mean, powerful developers, sexual confusion and the like. The sensationalism of the episode is disturbing. I guess Dexter accepted it all.

Bottom line: I recommend the book – not the televised version.

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