The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter (1992).
My
first shot at world famous INSPECTOR
MORSE (1975-1999).
It has everything to justify GOLD DAGGERS (The best crime novel of
the year 1996 in England).
P
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layers. – E. MORSE. A senior CID (Criminal Investigation
Department) officer with the Thames Valley Police in England.
Sherlock Holmes of the 20th
century (1976) with huge appetite for art, Poetry, music, crossword and anything
containing alcohol and even bigger appreciation for beautiful women.
He
drinks everyday with every possible occasion, and probably memorizes every
location of every pub in Oxford, even possibly
entire London.
Even if he is portrayed as a
gentleman detective, he is actually quite a pervert, not like Holmes who is
stoic to the level of absurdness.
I don’t think he is fit nor a
good looking guy, but it seems that he always get the attention of the
beautiful women and quite often, very successfully get intimidate with them.
Not like other super detectives,
Morse actually makes mistakes quite often and he knows it. So he is much more
careful when he makes a final decision.
Like Holmes, he could be much
more important person in the police force, but his lack of ambition and
cynicism toward the bureaucrats in the force creates enemy and probably prevent
his promotion.
In his spare time, he sometime
reads pornographic novels too but keeps it secret except for his sidekick and
an only friend Lewis. His other
friend Dr. Maximilian Bryn(Max) passed away in 1992.
Contrary to all those images,
Morse actually has a brilliant mind (intuition) and most sophisticated brain (memory)
in entire police force. Not to mention, wild imagination, too.
And this contradiction in his
character apparently appear to women, too.
By the way, E stands for Endeavour which is finally revealed at
the end of the book called “Death Is Now My Neighbour (1996).” Second from the
last inspector Morse novel. Morse passed away at the end of his last book
called “Remorseful Day (1999)” with heart failure.
LEWIS. Very
typical sidekick guy. Faithful, supportive, dedicated and honorable just like
good old Watson.
Lewis himself is not a bad
investigator. Probably the only person Morse is actually caring.
Married. No children.
STRANGE. Chief Superintendent in
Kidlington Police HQ. Boss.
A big chubby guy who is not
nearly as smart as Morse or even Lewis, but smart enough to leave everything to
Morse when things going tough.
He is only one year order than
Morse, but talks like an old man when he is talking about something other than
case itself like life or anything else for that matter.
Like all the good bosses, he
knows how/when to push the button to motivate his detectives.
He is a good friend of Morse,
too.
He is fully aware of that his job
is totally depends on Morse’s performance.
P
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lace. – Morse is Chief Inspector of Thames Valley CID, Oxford (one and half hour bus ride from London). Therefore his main action takes place
around this area. However, because of
reputation, whenever complex case emerges from other area, he is somehow get
involved with the scene regardless of the location.
For this book, he is in Lyme
Regis, Dorset (about 3 hour drive from Oxford),
one of the most beautiful town in the South with a harbour, a forest, an
old church and the beautiful hotel
called The Bay Hotel.
P
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lot. – In this book, Morse is after A Swedish Maiden
who disappeared out of thin air about a year ago. Due to the lack of any kinds
evidence, the case is totally stalled since then.
The case comes back to life when
some anonymous person sends the letter (poem) to the Times, daily newspaper, to
provoke the case and kind of make fun of the police. Inevitably, Morse has to
cut short of his rare vacation and start the case with help of Lewis and his
colleague/rival (?) Johnson.
From here on, Morse has to deal
with all the regular things that all the great detectives have to go through.
1. lying suspects/witnesses
2. incompetent colleague
3. motives hidden so well, it takes
endless speculation/imagination to peel off all the covers
While taking care of his personal
needs,=Drinking and dating.
Collin Dexter knows how to carry
the story with proper pace and how to put on the twist and when to pull out
golden rabbits from his brilliant hat.
You don’ win Gold Daggers for
just being great. You have to be awesomely GREAT!!
V
|
erdict. –A Very solid detective book.
Nothing too flashy or exciting
but NEVER boring. More like Agatha Christie kind of novel with its plot, pace
and characters.
Believe or not, TV show adapted
from Inspector Morse book is actually as good as his books or even better.
What’s even more amazing is when
the main actor, John Thaw, who played
Morse passed away in 2002, instead of finding other actor for Inspector
Morse, show’s producers promote Lewis (sidekick) to Chief Inspector and make
him divorced, so that he will be in the similar situation like good old Morse,
and broadcast a few show under the name of LEWIS!! (Like, who needs BATMAN when ROBIN
is young and kicking!!).
One more thing to add. Every
chapter starts with quote from other books/poems and this kind of
dedication/playfulness to detail make this series quite popular, I think.
Like all the great British
writers, P.D. James, Christie, very very solid, satisfying book.
