The first Inspector Morse omnibus - Colin Dexter

The Dead of Jericho

'Morse switched on the gramaphone to "play", and sought to switch his mind away from all the terrestrial troubles. Sometimes, this way, he almost managed to forget. But not tonight...'

Anne Scott's address was scribbled on a crumpled note in the pocket of Morse's smartest suit. He turned the corner of Canal Street, Jericho, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 3rd October. He hadn't planned a second visit. But he was back later the same day - as the officer in charge of a suicide investigation...

Service of all the Dead

'The sweet countenance of Reason greeted Morse serenely when he woke, and told him that it wouldj 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...

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn

'Morse had never ceased to wonder why, with the staggering advances in medical science, all pronouncements concerning times of death seemed so disconcertingly vague.'

The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead. And his murder, in his North Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford colleges.

'Colin Dexter is the crime writer of perfect pitch and perfect pace' Jonathan Gash

'Dexter has created a giant among fictional detectives' The Times