The starting-point of the Morseverse — a series of thirteen novels (and various short stories) written by Colin Dexter about the investigations of the Oxford-based Detective Chief Inspector E. Morse, and his loyal assistant Detective Sergeant Robbie Lewis.
The books were adapted into the hit TV series Inspector Morse (1987-2000), which in turn produced two equally successful spin-offs: Lewis (2006-2015) and Endeavour (2012-2023). In addition, the characters have been the subject of several BBC Radio adaptations, and a stage play Morse: House of Ghosts.
In order of publication, the books are:
- Last Bus to Woodstock (1975)
- Last Seen Wearing (1976)
- The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1977)
- Service of All the Dead (1979) — won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger award
- The Dead of Jericho (1981) — won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger award; also the first Morse novel to be adapted for TV
- The Riddle of the Third Mile (1983)
- The Secret of Annexe 3 (1986)
- The Wench is Dead (1989) — won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger award
- The Jewel That Was Ours (1991) — based on the TV episode "The Wolvercote Tongue"
- The Way Through the Woods (1992) — won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger award
- Morse's Greatest Mystery (1993) — short story collection
- The amount of short stories in it varies as several different versions were published, one of them under an alternative title, As Good as Gold.
- Dexter also wrote several other short stories featuring Morse that appeared in crime anthologies, newspapers and magazines and were not published anywhere else. Some of these can be found on the Internet.
- The Daughters of Cain (1994)
- Death is Now My Neighbour (1996) — the one in which Morse's first name is finally revealed, albeit in somewhat different circumstances to the TV adaptation
- The Remorseful Day (1999) — the one in which Morse dies
The following tropes appear in the books:
- Badass Boast: Morse does a few of these. For example, he refers to a colleague, DCI Bell, as being the best detective on the force, but then adds: "Except for me, obviously".
- Badass Driver: Lewis's only vice is that he loves driving fast. More than once, Morse allows him to indulge this.
- Bait-and-Switch: In the prelude to Death is Now My Neighbour, Lewis is doing a quiz in a police newsletter which is intended to determine how "wise and cultured" he is by his answers to a series of questions. A seemingly indifferent Morse is coerced into playing along ... only for it to emerge that he wrote it.
- Blackface: The Secret of Annexe 3 is about a murder that happened during a fancy dress party in a hotel; a key plot point is that one of the guests blacked-up and went as a Rastafarian. This is probably why this particular book was never adapted for the TV series.
- Brand X: For The Riddle of the Third Mile, Dexter wanted to include the goings-on in an Oxford college. Mindful of not wanting to offend any actual colleges by portraying them as hotbeds of murderous intrigue (especially given that he was still working for Oxford University at the time), he invented a college — Lonsdale. This was later retconned to be Morse's old college. Thus began the Morseverse's tradition of using invented college names, to the point where there are now over twenty of them
. - Brick Joke: In The Secret of Annexe 3, one hotel guest that Morse and Lewis can't trace is Doris Arkwright, whom Morse confidently predicts must be an elderly woman. However, she's soon ruled out of their enquiries, and no-one thinks any more of her. She finally puts in a brief appearance at the very end of the book, proving Morse wrong: she's not an old woman, but a young one.
- Canon Immigrant: The later novels depicted Morse as driving the Jaguar Mark 2 from the TV series.
- Celebrity Paradox: The bar at Oxford's Randolph Hotel, a favoured hang-out of Morse's, has since been named the Inspector Morse Bar. Additionally, several Oxford pubs that featured in the show have pictures of John Thaw and Kevin Whately on their walls.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Morse, so very much.
Word of God had it that this was Adapted Out of the TV series at the insistence of John Thaw, who played Morse. - Christmas Episode: The short story "Morse's Greatest Mystery" is set at Christmas.
- Climbing Climax: Lampshade Hanging in Service of all the Dead, where Morse pursues the murderer up a church tower. The narration notes that afterwards, Lewis pointed out he could just have waited at the bottom and called for backup, rather than try to take the man on single-handed and nearly get killed.
- Confirmed Bachelor: Morse, of the 'lost love' variation.
- Crossword Puzzle: Morse loves cryptic crosswords — a trait 'inherited' from his creator. These feature regularly in the books; sometimes, the clues relate to the plot.
- Dating Catwoman: Morse is not averse to getting (or trying to get) romantically involved with female suspects.
- Dead Man Writing: As with Poirot in Curtain, Morse leaves a mystery-explaining letter for Lewis which the latter reads after the former's death in The Remorseful Day.
- Dismembering the Body: In The Riddle of the Third Mile a body is found in the river with the head, arms and legs removed, making identification almost impossible. The missing parts are gradually found over the course of the book.
- Embarrassing First Name: The reason why Morse is only ever known as "Morse". Even to his lovers — in Service of All the Dead, he tells his love interest that he will only tell her his first name after they've had sex; the novel ends with him unzipping her dress. His first name was not revealed until the end of the penultimate novel, Death is Now My Neighbour (Morse, having revealed his first name to his latest lover, is persuaded by her to tell Lewis, which he does on a postcard — the only time in the entire series that it is actually mentioned).
- Exact Words: Morse and Lewis have a laugh at the expense of a colleague who ordered a video called "Housewives on the Job" expecting it to be pornographic, only to find he'd been tricked into paying for a video of (fully-clothed) women doing innocuous housework.
- Historical Domain Character: In Death is Now My Neighbour, it is revealed that Morse is an old friend of Sir Paul Condon, who was the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at the time of the novel's publication.
- Hospital Hottie: Morse occasionally finds himself attracted to nurses. Sometimes, they reciprocate.
- Hypocritical Humor: In The Secret of Annexe 3, Morse criticises Sarah Jonstone for smoking — a habit he's repeatedly failed to kick himself.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Morse claims that drinking beer helps him to think, hence his insistence on making his way to the nearest available pub during investigations. He has even been known to go so far as to help himself to any unopened cans of beer that he might find at a murder scene (in the deceased's fridge, for example).
- Insufferable Genius: Morse.
- Kudzu Plot: Some of the books, notably The Riddle of the Third Mile and The Secret of Annexe 3, are like this.
- Last-Minute Hookup: At the end of The Secret of Annexe 3, Service of all the Dead and The Wench is Dead, Morse is embarking on a relationship with a character from the just-concluded book. The relationships never last until the next book, though.
- Likes Older Men: A minor character in Service of all the Dead is Carole, a teenage schoolgirl with a crush on her thirtysomething teacher — to the point where they probably would have slept together, had circumstances not intervened. When the teacher disappears and Morse investigates, she reflects that she seems to have a preference for older men; she finds Morse attractive, too.
- Murder by Mistake: Death is Now My Neighbour sees Morse investigating two murders of people who lived next door to each other. He works out that the first victim was in fact an example of this trope, with the second victim being the intended victim — the murderer had committed the crime by shooting the victim from a path running behind the back gardens, but (due to the street in question not having a house numbered 13) she had miscounted the houses when doing the first murder.
- My Local: Many of the pubs Morse goes to (and he goes to a lot of pubs) are Real Life ones in Oxford.
- Not So Above It All: Although he's a senior police officer, Morse is not above occasionally employing the services of petty criminals to get what he wants.
- Oxbridge: Of course.
- Retcon: Morse was originally said to have attended the real-life St. John's College, but after Dexter created the fictional Lonsdale College, Morse became a former student of that one instead.
- Once the TV series got going, Dexter changed a few more details...
- He started writing with John Thaw and Kevin Whateley (the actors who played Morse and Lewis) in mind, to the point of retconning Lewis, who was originally older than Morse, and Welsh.
- Morse switched from driving a Lancia to a Jaguar.
- Once the TV series got going, Dexter changed a few more details...
- Running Gag: The goings-on surrounding Lewis's (very) extended family never cease to amaze Morse.
- Skeleton Key Card: In The Dead of Jericho, Morse (who has no official standing in the case) makes a surreptitious investigation of the crime scene, and is caught by Detective Constable Walters. Once Morse has satisfied him about his motives for being there, Walters asks him how he got in. Unwilling to reveal the real answer (which involves bribery) Morse attempts to use this trope as an explanation:"You see, the lock on the back door there's a Yale, and with a Yale the bevel's always facing you when you're on the outside. So if you take a credit card and slip it in, you'll find it's just strong enough and just flexible enough to—"
"I know, sir. I've seen it done on the telly."
"Oh."
"And the lock on the back door there isn't a Yale, is it? Goodnight, sir." - Smart People Wear Glasses: In The Secret of Annexe 3, Sarah Jonstone, the receptionist of the Haworth Hotel, has "almost comically large" spectacles, and ticks the boxes for being pleasant, smart and clever. By the end of the book, she and Morse are dating.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Lewis loves fried egg and chips. His wife cooks it for him on a regular basis, and he prefers it when she does not extend her repertoire. Occasionally, Morse joins him for dinner, and seems to enjoy it.
- Villainesses Want Heroes: It's not just Morse who is occasionally susceptible to female suspects — quite a few of them seem to lust after him.
- Write What You Know: Like his creator, Morse loves cryptic crosswords, English literature, classical music and real ale.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: In The Dead of Jericho, Morse espouses the elaborate theory that the killer was Sophocles, on the grounds that the whole scenario — a woman dead, a young man blinded — is a re-enactment of Oedipus the King. Turns out, he's wrong.
- Would Hurt a Child: The murderer in Service of All the Dead, whose victims include a schoolboy.
