The Wench Is Dead

By Colin Dexter

Inspector Morse is laid up in the hospital with serious stomach problems. To help him pass the time, Sergeant Lewis brings him a book about a murder that took place in the 1800s. Morse finds himself completely caught up in the story of a young woman who was traveling to join her husband and was attacked by the crew of the canal boat on which she was traveling. Two of the men were hanged for the crime and one was "transported" to Australia.
On the face of it, it seems a pretty straight-forward case, a pretty young woman traveling alone on a boat with a crew of men who have been over-indulging in alcohol. But this is an Inspector Morse novel, so of course, things are not as they seem, as Morse dives deep into this old mystery.

This was an OK read. Morse is in the hospital for most of it and all of his investigations are just reading old accounts dating from that time. Not the most action-packed story, for sure.

The Riddle of the Third Mile

By Colin Dexter

A body is found in the water. It is only a torso. The head, hands and legs are missing, obviously a ploy to keep the dead man's identity disguised.
Together Inspector Morse and Lewis will unravel the clues that will lead them to their killer. The complicated path they will travel will take them into the past and through the halls of academe and even into the effects of terminal illness on the human psyche. For Morse, much of this path will be familiar, given his relationship with Oxford University, and the reader will learn a bit more about why Morse became a policeman.

As a non-British person, much of this plot was obscure to me, as it rests upon how students and professors are promoted in their university systems. There is talk of greats and vivas and masters other such stuff. I think if I had at least the tiniest bit of a grasp on that subject that the plot would have made more sense to me. Instead it was like trying to understand the arcane practices of some ancient and obscure culture and it just went over my head.
Also, the victim (SPOILER) turns out to be a man who is, if I remember correctly, only briefly mentioned in the first part of the book. If you were reading too fast, you might have missed it.
And further, Morse comes off as a bit of a fat head with his snotty condescension to his assistant, Lewis, and to other "lower class" people he encounters.
So, all in all, the book was a tiny bit of a disappointment but I did quite enjoy the complicated plot despite the obscurity of the victim. A fascinating  construction, and an enjoyable read even though some parts of it were outside my frame of reference.

For another review, see: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/colin-dexter-4/the-riddle-of-the-third-mile/.

The Last Bus to Woodstock

By Colin Dexter

I first became acquainted with Inspector Morse on PBS. I grew to be very fond of Morse, as played by John Thaw, and didn't much care for it when they killed him off. So now Morse is gone from TV and if I want to spend time with him it has to be in a book. While a book doesn't have the wonderful visual impact that a TV show does, it does give you a better insight to the thoughts and personality of
the character and contains a lot of detail that is just not possible in a one hour TV show. The Last Bus to Woodstock was the first of Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series. In it Morse has to investigate the murder of a woman who is found dead in a parking lot. It's interesting to meet Morse in his first
appearance and compare him to the Morse from the TV show. If you are a fan of the show, then this novel is a must read.