Colin Dexter

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Colin Dexter
Born September 29, 1930 (1930-09-29) (age 77)
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Occupation Novelist
Genres Crime fiction
Influences

Norman Colin Dexter, OBE, (born 29 September 1930 in Stamford, Lincolnshire) is the English author of the Inspector Morse novels.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Dexter was educated at Stamford School. After National Service with the Royal Corps of Signals he read classics at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1953.

In 1954, he started his teaching career in the East Midlands, becoming assistant classics master at Wyggeston School, Leicester. A post at Loughborough Grammar School followed, before he took up the position of senior classics teacher at Corby Grammar School, Northamptonshire, in 1959.

In 1966, he was forced by the onset of deafness to retire from teaching, and took up the post of Senior Assistant Secretary at the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) in Oxford - a job he held until his retirement in 1988.

[edit] Writing career

He started writing mysteries in 1972 during a family holiday: "We were in a little guest house halfway between Caernarfon and Pwllheli. It was a Saturday and it was raining - it's not unknown for it to rain in North Wales. The children were moaning ... I was sitting at the kitchen table with nothing else to do, and I wrote the first few paragraphs of a potential detective novel." Last Bus to Woodstock was published in 1975 and introduced the world to the character of Inspector Morse, the irascible detective whose penchants for cryptic crosswords, English literature, cask ale and Wagner reflect Dexter's own enthusiasms.

The success of the 33 episodes of the TV series Inspector Morse, produced between 1987 and 2001, brought further acclaim for Dexter. In the manner of Alfred Hitchcock, he also makes a cameo appearance in almost all episodes.[1]

Dexter suggested the English poet A E Housman as his "great life" on the BBC Radio 4 programme of that name in May 2008. Dexter and Housman were both classicists who found a popular audience for another genre of writing.

[edit] Awards

Dexter has been the recipient of several Crime Writers' Association "Gold Dagger" awards, and in 2000 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to literature.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Last Bus to Woodstock (1975) #
  • Last Seen Wearing (1976) #
  • The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1977) #
  • Service of All the Dead (1979) #
  • The Dead of Jericho (1981) #
  • The Riddle of the Third Mile (1983) [filmed as The Last Enemy] #
  • The Secret of Annexe 3 (1986) #
  • The Wench is Dead (1989) #
  • The Jewel That Was Ours (1991) [filmed as The Wolvercote Tongue] #
  • The Way Through the Woods (1992) #
  • The Inside Story (1993)
  • Morse's Greatest Mystery [Short stories] (1993)
    1. "Morse's Greatest Mystery"
    2. "Evans Tries an O-Level"
    3. "Dead as a Dodo
    4. "At The Lulu-Bar Motel"
    5. "Neighbourhood Watch"
    6. "A Case of Mis-Identity"
    7. "The Inside Story"
    8. "Monty's Revolver"
    9. "The Carpet-Bagger"
    10. "Last Call"
  • Neighbourhood Watch (1993)
  • The Daughters of Cain (1994) #
  • As Good as Gold [Short stories] (1994)
    1. "As Good as Gold"
    2. "Morse's Greatest Mystery"
    3. "Evans Tries an O-Level"
    4. "Dead as a Dodo
    5. "At The Lulu-Bar Motel"
    6. "Neighbourhood Watch"
    7. "A Case of Mis-Identity"
    8. "The Inside Story"
    9. "Monty's Revolver"
    10. "The Carpet-Bagger"
    11. "Last Call"
  • Death is Now My Neighbour (1996) #
  • The Remorseful Day (1999) #
  • The Double Crossing (2005) [short story published in The Best British Mysteries 2005]

# Inspector Morse series

Note: Neighbourhood Watch and The Inside Story were published both as separate books and in Morse's Greatest Mystery. As Good as Gold includes all the stories in Morse's Greatest Mystery plus the story "As Good as Gold". A free promotional version of Morse's Greatest Mystery, omitting the stories featuring Inspector Morse (apart from the title story) was also produced. "Neighbourhood Watch" was published as a special, extremely limited edition, The Inside Story and As Good as Gold were published as advertisements for American Express and Kodak, respectively.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0223294/bio. Retrieved 5 January 2006.

[edit] External links