Colin Dexter Books in Order

Two young women miss the last bus from Oxford to Woodstock and decide to hitch a ride; by night’s end one is dead in a pub car park. Inspector Morse picks through jealous lovers, gossip, and tangled alibis to uncover the truth.

Two years after schoolgirl Valerie Taylor vanished on her walk back to class, a new letter in her handwriting and the death of the original investigator put the case on Morse’s desk. He reopens the file and finds secrets festering at home and school.

When deaf examinations officer Nicholas Quinn is found poisoned in his Oxford flat, Morse suspects the killing is tied to leaked exam papers and private affairs inside the Foreign Examinations Syndicate. Every alibi rests on what Quinn might, or might not, have seen.

A churchwarden is murdered and his vicar apparently commits suicide at St Frideswide’s, an Oxford church already riddled with gossip and grudges. On leave but bored, Morse digs into the congregation’s affairs and uncovers a carefully staged pattern of identity, greed, and betrayal.

After a brief meeting, Morse cannot forget Anne Scott, and months later he is called to her Oxford neighborhood when she is found hanged in her kitchen. Was it suicide or murder, and what did her quiet life in Jericho really conceal?

A mutilated body is pulled from the Oxford Canal, and Morse believes it may belong to a missing don who recently left his college without a word. His search leads through wartime resentments, academic rivalries, and a sinister trip to London’s seedier streets.

At a New Year’s Eve fancy dress party in an Oxford hotel, a guest in Rastafarian costume wins the prize then is discovered dead in his room the next morning. Snowbound grounds and false identities leave Morse to untangle who the victim really was.

An American tour group arrives in Oxford carrying a priceless Anglo Saxon jewel destined for the Ashmolean Museum. When the donor dies suddenly and the jewel vanishes, then a curator is found dead, Morse must sift rival stories from tourists and academics to find the link.

Laid up in hospital with a perforated ulcer, Morse becomes obsessed with a thin booklet about an 1859 canal murder. Convinced that the men hanged for the crime may have been innocent, he re-investigates from his bed using documents, maps, and a few stubborn hunches.

A year after Swedish tourist Karin Eriksson disappeared near an Oxford nature reserve, police receive an anonymous poem that seems to describe her fate. Morse follows the riddle into dense woodland, discovering a web of voyeurism, buried bodies, and dangerous loyalties.

In this short, twisty tale, cheerful prisoner James Evans signs up for an O-Level German exam inside Oxford Prison. Behind the dictionaries and question papers, he and unseen accomplices hide an audacious escape plan that tests the governor’s pride as much as the prison’s security.

Ancient history don Felix McClure is stabbed in his Oxford flat, and the only real clue is a museum knife stolen by a rough ex-college employee. As Morse traces the weapon, he is drawn into the lives of sex workers, abused families, and women determined to strike back.

A young woman is shot through her kitchen window in a quiet Oxford suburb, apparently by a rare antique pistol. The trail leads Morse into a bitter contest between two senior academics for a coveted college post, where blackmail, old scandals, and his own failing health collide.

Two years after nurse Yvonne Harrison was murdered, her case still sits unsolved when new pressure forces Morse to look at it again. As he quietly conducts his own side investigation, long buried connections surface and the inquiry becomes a test of both conscience and strength.

This collection gathers cryptic crosswords themed around Inspector Morse, blending clues about Oxford, classical music, and crime with Colin Dexter’s love of wordplay. It offers fans a way to tackle intricate puzzles in the same spirit as Morse himself.

A practical guide to understanding and solving cryptic crosswords, this book walks readers through common clue types, indicators, and strategies. Drawing on Dexter’s puzzle setting experience, it aims to help beginners and seasoned solvers sharpen their skills and enjoyment.

In this standalone mystery, a freelance private investigator is hired by elegant Isobel Rodgers to confirm her suspicion that her husband is having an affair. A torn letter and a simple surveillance job soon raise unsettling questions about truth, motive, and what people choose to reveal.

Written by Colin Dexter, this companion piece looks closely at the character of Inspector Morse, his Oxford world, and the themes that run through the novels. It offers background, anecdotes, and reflections for readers who want to understand the detective beyond the individual cases.