Colin Dexter Books

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Colin Dexter was a renowned English Novelists that died in 2017 at the age of 86. Dexter created Inspector Morse, a character that entertained lovers of crime for decades.

Order of Inspector Morse Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Last Bus to Woodstock 1975 Description / Buy
2 Last Seen Wearing 1976 Description / Buy
3 The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn 1977 Description / Buy
4 Service of All the Dead 1979 Description / Buy
5 The Dead of Jericho 1981 Description / Buy
6 The Riddle of the Third Mile 1983 Description / Buy
7 The Secret of Annexe 3 1986 Description / Buy
8 The Wench Is Dead 1989 Description / Buy
9 The Jewel That Was Ours 1989 Description / Buy
10 The Way Through The Woods 1992 Description / Buy
11 The Daughters of Cain 1994 Description / Buy
12 Death Is Now My Neighbor 1996 Description / Buy
13 The Remorseful Day 1999 Description / Buy

Order of Inspector Morse Collections

# Read Title Published Details
1 Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories 1993 Description / Buy

Order of Colin Dexter Short Stories/Novellas

# Read Title Published Details
1 Evans Tries an O-Level (Short Story) 1993 Description / Buy
2 The Other Half (Short Story) 2015 Description / Buy

Order of Colin Dexter Non-Fiction Books

# Read Title Published Details
1 Chambers Morse Crosswords 2006 Description / Buy
2 Cracking Cryptic Crosswords 2009 Description / Buy

Order of Mysterious Profiles Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Elvis Cole and Joe Pike ( By: Robert Crais) 2022 Description / Buy
2 Jack Taylor ( By: Ken Bruen) 2022 Description / Buy
3 Jack Reacher ( By: Lee Child) 2022 Description / Buy
4 Charlie Parker ( By: John Connolly) 2022 Description / Buy
5 Hieronymus Bosch ( By: Michael Connelly) 2022 Description / Buy
6 Lincoln Rhyme ( By: Jeffery Deaver) 2022 Description / Buy
7 Alex Delaware ( By: Jonathan Kellerman) 2022 Description / Buy
8 Tess Monaghan ( By: Laura Lippman) 2022 Description / Buy
9 Charlie Resnick ( By: John Harvey) 2022 Description / Buy
10 Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus ( By: Faye Kellerman) 2022 Description / Buy
11 Inspector Morse 2022 Description / Buy
12 Dismas Hardy ( By: John Lescroart) 2022 Description / Buy
13 Bob Lee Swagger ( By: Stephen Hunter) 2022 Description / Buy
14 Aloysius X. L. Pendergast ( By: Douglas Preston) 2022 Description / Buy
15 Lou Boldt (Short Story) ( By: Ridley Pearson) 2022 Description / Buy
16 Spenser ( By: Robert B. Parker) 2022 Description / Buy
17 Charlotte and Thomas Pitt ( By: Anne Perry) 2022 Description / Buy
18 John Rebus ( By: Ian Rankin) 2022 Description / Buy
19 Mallory ( By: Carol O'Connell) 2022 Description / Buy
20 Jane Whitefield (Short Story) ( By: Thomas Perry) 2022 Description / Buy
21 Ian Rutledge: A Mysterious Profile (Short Story) ( By: Charles Todd) 2022 Description / Buy
22 Amos Walker (Short Story) ( By: Loren D. Estleman) 2022 Description / Buy
23 Precious Ramotswe (Short Story) ( By: Alexander McCall Smith) 2022 Description / Buy
24 Maisie Dobbs (Short Story) ( By: Jacqueline Winspear) 2022 Description / Buy
25 The Lincoln Lawyer (Short Story) ( By: Michael Connelly) 2022 Description / Buy
26 Ben Kincaid (Short Story) ( By: William Bernhardt) 2023 Description / Buy
27 Repairman Jack (Short Story) ( By: F. Paul Wilson) 2023 Description / Buy
28 Peter Diamond (Short Story) ( By: Peter Lovesey) 2024 Description / Buy
29 Nathan Heller (Short Story) ( By: Max Allan Collins) 2024 Description / Buy
+ Show All Books in this Series

Colin Dexter Anthologies

# Read Title Published Details
1 Winter's Crimes 9 1977 Description / Buy
2 Crime Story Collection 2000 Description / Buy
3 The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction 2002 Description / Buy
4 The Detection Collection 2005 Description / Buy
5 The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 7 2010 Description / Buy
+ Click to View all Anthologies
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The author’s roots can be traced back to Stamford, Lincolnshire where he was born in 1930. Dexter was lucky enough to get a scholarship to Stamford School where he studied with the likes of sports legend M.J.K. Smith.

Before finding a place at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he read classics, Dexter spent some time with the Royal Corps of Signals, completing his national service. Dexter had the pleasure of teaching at East Midlands and then Wyggeston School, Leicester.

Even though Colin Dexter contributed to the operations of the Christian Union Society while in Leicester, the author eventually admitted that he was an atheist.

Colin Dexter’s foray into mystery writing wasn’t planned. It all began in North Wales, somewhere between Pwllheli and Caernarvon. One Saturday morning in a little guesthouse, with the rain falling outside, Dexter was sitting at the kitchen table when an idea began to tickle his brain. And before he knew it, he had written the first few paragraphs in a story that eventually became Last Bus to Woodstock.

The book officially introduced Inspector Morse to the world in 1975. Morse was known for his love for English Literature and Cryptic Crosswords. He also had an affinity for cask ale and Wagner, and he was somewhat of a reflection of Colin Dexter’s own personality.

Dexter’s death was reportedly peaceful. It happened at his home in Oxford. Before he took to fiction, Dexter’s writing exploits were restricted to general studies text books.

Colin Dexter Awards

Dexter had a notable impact on the mystery genre, delivering more than a dozen novels that elicited a fervent following from book enthusiasts. For his efforts, Dexter was rewarded with accolades like the Macavity Award, Silver Daggers Awards, Gold Daggers and even a Cartier Diamond Dagger Prize.

Colin Dexter Books into Movies

The success of the Inspector Morse books was such that the series was adapted into dozens of episodes of a Television Show called Inspector Morse.

Each episode of this detective drama was two hours long, with the show airing on the ITV network. Several writers tried their hand at scripting various episodes of the show and Colin Dexter made appearances in almost all the episodes.

The show, which begun airing in 1987, finally ended in 2000. However, the show was so popular that it was followed up with a sequel that aired on ITV in 2006. The show was more of a spin-off that chronicled the adventures of Inspector Lewis.

While some Inspector Morse fans have been known to turn their noses down on Endeavor, a prequel that explored the life of a young Detective Constable Morse, others believe that the show gives even more life to the world of Inspector Morse.

Best Colin Dexter Books

Colin Dexter wrote more than a dozen books in the Inspector Morse series; though, it wasn’t until the television show was produced that Dexter elicited the popularity he deserved, with some of the best books in the author’s bibliography including the following:

The Way Through the Woods: When a young student from Sweden disappeared in Oxfordshire, the Thames Valley Police presumed the worst, though the investigation eventually stalled in the absence of a body. Now someone is writing poetry in the newspapers filled with clues about the disappearance.

Morse, who is on holiday in Dorset, decides to write a letter of his own, offsetting a series of events that will unveil a murder.

This book is driven more by Morse as a character than anything else. Morse is intrigued by a letter in The Times that he uses to locate the body of a presumably murdered girl. Now Morse, who loves puzzles, thinks he has an inkling about the identity of the murderer.

The Remorseful Day: Two years ago, Nurse Yvonne Harrington was killed. Morse and Lewis will not stop until they unveil her killer.

This book finds Morse as he realizes that his lifestyle, all the alcohol and tobacco is finally catching up to him. It didn’t help that he kept lying to his friends and even the doctors about his habits. And now his health has begun to suffer.

When this book’s mystery first starts, Morse shows no interest in the case at hand, using his health issues as an excuse. However, when Lewis is put on the case, he learns that Morse was already working the mystery.

When Does The Next Colin Dexter book come out?

Colin Dexter doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Inspector Morse and was released on May, 14th 2022. It is the newest book in the Mysterious Profiles Series.

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