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Inspector Morse Books in Order

Part ofColin Dexter Books in Order

Explore the Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter with all the novels in order, plot summaries, series background, and tips on the best book to start with.

Last updated: December 26, 2025

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13 books

1

The Remorseful Day

by Colin Dexter

1999

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.

2

Death Is Now My Neighbor

by Colin Dexter

1996

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.

3

The Daughters of Cain

by Colin Dexter

1994

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.

4

The Way Through The Woods

by Colin Dexter

1992

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.

5

The Wench Is Dead

by Colin Dexter

1989

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.

6

The Jewel That Was Ours

by Colin Dexter

1989

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.

7

The Secret of Annexe 3

by Colin Dexter

1986

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.

8

The Riddle of the Third Mile

by Colin Dexter

1983

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.

9

The Dead of Jericho

by Colin Dexter

1981

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?

10

Service of All the Dead

by Colin Dexter

1979

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.

11

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn

by Colin Dexter

1977

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.

12

Last Seen Wearing

by Colin Dexter

1976

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.

13

Last Bus to Woodstock

by Colin Dexter

1975

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.

Series background & context

Inspector Morse is Colin Dexter's long running series about a middle aged detective working in and around Oxford, a city of grand colleges, busy pubs, and quiet residential streets. Each book follows a single major case, but together they chart years of Morse's career and his uneasy partnership with Sergeant Lewis.

Morse is clever, impatient, and often irritable. He loves opera, English poetry, real ale, and cryptic crosswords, and he is just as likely to be brooding over a misquoted line of verse as a bloodstain. Lewis brings a steadier, more practical eye to the work, asking the questions that Morse's leaps of logic sometimes skip past.

Most of the investigations begin with a sudden death that looks straightforward, then grows steadily more tangled. Dexter builds his stories out of small discrepancies, half truths, and the quiet lies people tell to protect their marriages, reputations, or jobs. By the time Morse reaches the truth, his first theory has usually been proved wrong several times over.

Oxford itself is central to the series. The novels move between cloistered college quads and the estates beyond the ring road, slipping from high tables and choirs to towpaths, canal boats, and terraced streets. That mix of privilege and ordinary life gives the books their tension, as murders in elegant settings turn out to be rooted in very human weaknesses.

Readers can expect layered, puzzle like plots, but the tone is grounded rather than flashy. Dexter lets conversations run long, pays attention to routine police work, and gives room to the private regrets of suspects and detectives alike. The result is crime fiction that feels patient and talkative, with the occasional jolt of violence or revelation.

Over the course of the thirteen novels, Morse ages, his health falters, and his relationship with Lewis deepens from testy to quietly loyal. Later books look back on earlier cases, and themes of guilt, missed chances, and the cost of obsession become more pronounced, even as each mystery still stands on its own.

The books sit alongside the television adaptations but are worth reading in their own right. Dexter's Oxford is a little more abrasive, Morse is more difficult, and the clues are built for readers who enjoy being challenged rather than simply watching the detective glide to the answer.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 13 Inspector Morse Books in Order (Complete List 2026)