The fourth Inspector Morse omnibus - Colin Dexter

The Way Through the Woods

Quietly, rather movingly, Strange was making his plea: "Christ knows why, Lewis, but Morse will always put himself out for you." As he put the phone down, Lewis knew that Strange had been right... in the case of the Swedish Maiden, the pair of them were in business again . . .

They called her the Swedish Maiden - the beautiful young tourist who disappeared on a hot summer's day somewhere in North Oxford. Twelve months later the case remained unsolved - pending further developments. On holiday in Lyme Regis, Chief Inspector Morse is startled to read a tantalizing article in The Times about the missing woman. An article which lures him back to Wytham Woods near Oxford... and straight into the most extraordinary murder investigation of his career.

'Morse is as enjoyable as Sherlock Holmes . . . enthralling' Mail on Sunday

The Daughters of Cain

Bizarre and bewildering - that's what so many murder investigations in the past had proved to be . . . In this respect, at least, Lewis was correct in his thinking. What he could not have known was what unprecedented anguish the present case would cause to Morse's soul.

Chief Superintendent Strange's opinion was that too little progress had been made since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. Yet the police had now weapon, no suspect, no motive.

Within days of taking over the case Chief Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of Dr Felix McClure. When another body is discovered Morse suddenly finds himself with rather too many suspects. For once, he can see no solution. But then he receives a letter containing a declaration of love . . .

Death is Now My Neighbour

As he drove his chief down to Kidlington, Lewis returned the conversation to where it had begun.

"You haven't told me what you think about this fellow Owens - the dead woman's next-door neighbour."

"Death is always the next-door neighbour," said Morse sombrely.

The murder of a young woman. . . A cryptic 'seventeenth-century' love poem . . . And a photograph of a mystery grey-haired man . . . More than enough to set Chief Inspector E. Morse on the trail of a killer. And it's a trail that leads him to Lonsdale College, where the contest between Julian Storrs and Dr Denis Cornford for the coveted position of Master is hotting up. But then Morse faces a greater, far more personal crisis . . .