This collection features some of the greatest fictional detectives ever, including: Sherlock Holmes, Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, Father Brown, Morris Klaw, and Inspector Morse, amongst others. Reader Edward Hardwicke, who played Watson to Jeremy Brett's Holmes in the early 1990s, makes an ideal reader for the genre.
The unabridged stories here are:
"The Green Mamba" by Edgar Wallace
"The Poetical Policeman" by Edgar Wallace
"The Dying Detective" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Burglar" by Colin Dexter
"The Man in the Passage" by G.K. Chesterton
"The Assassins' Club" by C. Day Lewis writing as Nicholas Blake
"The Case of the Tragedles of the Greek Room" by Sax Rohmer
"Chimes" by Muriel Spark
Death is Now My Neighbour is the twelfth novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
As he drove his chief down to Kidlington, Lewis returned the conversation to where it had begun.
'You haven't told me what you think about this fellow Owens - the dead woman's next-door neighbour.'
'Death is always the next-door neighbour,' said Morse sombrely.
The murder of a young woman . . . A cryptic 'seventeenth-century' love poem . . . And a photograph of a mystery grey-haired man . . .
More than enough to set Chief Inspector E. Morse on the trail of a killer.
And it's a trail that leads him to Lonsdale College, where the contest between Julian Storrs and Dr Denis Cornford for the coveted position of Master is hotting up.
But then Morse faces a greater, far more personal crisis . . .
Death is Now My Neighbour is followed by the thirteenth Inspector Morse book, The Remorseful Day.
Death is Now My Neighbour is the twelfth novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
As he drove his chief down to Kidlington, Lewis returned the conversation to where it had begun.
'You haven't told me what you think about this fellow Owens - the dead woman's next-door neighbour.'
'Death is always the next-door neighbour,' said Morse sombrely.
The murder of a young woman . . . A cryptic 'seventeenth-century' love poem . . . And a photograph of a mystery grey-haired man . . .
More than enough to set Chief Inspector E. Morse on the trail of a killer.
And it's a trail that leads him to Lonsdale College, where the contest between Julian Storrs and Dr Denis Cornford for the coveted position of Master is hotting up.
But then Morse faces a greater, far more personal crisis . . .
Death is Now My Neighbour is followed by the thirteenth Inspector Morse book, The Remorseful Day.
Three BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations starring John Shrapnel as Morse and Robert Glenister as Lewis, plus a bonus reading by Colin Dexter of one of his short stories.
In Last Seen Wearing, Inspector Morse is reluctant to take over an old missing person case from a dead colleague. But two years, three months and two days after teenager Valerie Taylor
's disappearance, somebody decides to supply some surprising new evidence. . .
In The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn Inspector Morse tackles the murder of an exam invigilator. The newly appointed member of the Oxford foreign exam syndicate was deaf, and he wasn
't from the insular world of the Oxford colleges. Now he is dead.
After he
's rushed into hospital, Inspector Morse becomes intrigued by an old crime in The Wench is Dead. Could the wrong men have been hanged for the murder of Joanna Franks?
Plus Colin Dexter reads his own short story, The Double Crossing, in which it is a good first day for a certain detective named Lewis.
Gripping, suspenseful and entertaining, these BBC dramatisations were adapted by Guy Meredith from the original Inspector Morse novels by Colin Dexter.
Last Bus to Woodstock is the novel that began Colin Dexter's phenomenally successful Inspector Morse series.
'Do you think I'm wasting your time, Lewis?'
Lewis was nobody's fool and was a man of some honesty and integrity.
'Yes, sir.'
An engaging smile crept across Morse's mouth. He thought they could get on well together . . .'
The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man - facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape.
But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key . . .
Last Bus to Woodstock is followed by the second Inspector Morse book, Last Seen Wearing.
Last Seen Wearing is the second novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
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 . . .
Last Seen Wearing is followed by the third Inspector Morse book, The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn.
Morse had solved so many mysteries in his life. Was he now, he wondered, beginning to glimpse the solution to the greatest mystery of them all . . . ?
How can the discovery of a short story by a beautiful Oxford graduate lead Chief Inspector Morse to her murderer? What awaits Morse and Lewis in Room 231 of the Randolph Hotel? Why does a theft at Christmas lead the detective to look upon the festive season with uncharacteristic goodwill? And what happens when Morse himself falls victim to a brilliantly executed crime?
Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories is a dazzling collection of short stories from Inspector Morse's creator, Colin Dexter. It includes six ingenious cases for the world's most popular fictional detective - plus five other tantalizingly original tales to delight all lovers of classic crime fiction.
Colin Dexter’s Chief Inspector Morse—the cranky, heavy-drinking, and exasperatingly brilliant sleuth of the Thames Valley Police—has become one of the most beloved detectives in fiction. Now, with this collection of eleven short stories, we can savor choice examples of his dry wit, devious cunning, and psychological insight at its best.
Colin Dexter tantalizes us with six Inspector Morse adventures, ranging from bite-size morsels of intrigue to longer stories for listeners to sink their teeth into. Then, for added variety, Dexter shows his range with five mysteries featuring new characters and some familiar ones: one story features that other great English detective, Sherlock Holmes, in a tale that rivals those of Conan Doyle himself. “Morse’s Greatest Mystery” and the other stories in this collection are a banquet for the mystery lover—rich, varied, and satisfying. Stories included are:
As Good As Gold
Morse’s Greatest Mystery
Evans Tries an O-Level
Dead As a Dodo
At the Lulu-Bar Motel
Neighbourhood Watch
A Case of Mis-identity
The Inside Story
Monty’s Revolver
The Carpet-Bagger
Last Call
“Delightful.”—Wall Street Journal
Service of All the Dead is the fourth novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
The sweet countenance of Reason greeted Morse serenely when he woke, and told him that it would be no bad idea to have a quiet look at the problem itself before galloping off to a solution.
Chief Inspector Morse was alone among the congregation in suspecting continued unrest in the quiet parish of St Frideswide's.
Most people could still remember the churchwarden's murder. A few could still recall the murderer's suicide. Now even the police had closed the case.
Until a chance meeting among the tombstones reveals startling new evidence of a conspiracy to deceive . . .
Service of All the Dead is followed by the fifth Inspector Morse book, The Dead of Jericho.
Service of All the Dead is the fourth novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
The sweet countenance of Reason greeted Morse serenely when he woke, and told him that it would be no bad idea to have a quiet look at the problem itself before galloping off to a solution.
Chief Inspector Morse was alone among the congregation in suspecting continued unrest in the quiet parish of St Frideswide's.
Most people could still remember the churchwarden's murder. A few could still recall the murderer's suicide. Now even the police had closed the case.
Until a chance meeting among the tombstones reveals startling new evidence of a conspiracy to deceive . . .
Service of All the Dead is followed by the fifth Inspector Morse book, The Dead of Jericho.
Little progress had been made by the Thames Valley Police since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The police had no weapon, no suspect, and no motive. But within days of taking over the investigation, Chief Inspector Morse and Detective Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of the victim, Dr. Felix McClure, late of Woolsey College, Oxford.
The trail leads to a staircase in Woolsey College and a former “Scout” there, one Edward Brooks, who disappears following the theft of a knife from the Pitt Rivers Museum. Then another body is discovered, and suddenly Morse finds himself with too many suspects, including Brooks’s wife, a prostitute, and an enigmatic schoolmistress. As Morse finds himself attracted to one of the possible killers, he may be too involved for success.
“The best book yet in this deservedly celebrated series.”—Wall Street Journal
The Daughters of Cain is the eleventh novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
Bizarre and bewildering - that's what so many murder investigations in the past had proved to be . . . In this respect, at least, Lewis was correct in his thinking. What he could not have known was what unprecedented anguish the present case would cause to Morse's soul.
Chief Superintendent Strange's opinion was that too little progress had been made since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. Yet the police had no weapon, no suspect, no motive.
Within days of taking over the case Chief Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of Dr Felix McClure. When another body is discovered Morse suddenly finds himself with rather too many suspects. For once, he can see no solution. But then he receives a letter containing a declaration of love . . .
The Daughters of Cain is followed by the twelfth Inspector Morse book, Death is Now My Neighbour.
