Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV television series, ''

'', from 1987 to 2000. His characters have spawned a sequel series, '' Lewis'', from 2006 to 2015, and a prequel series, '' Endeavour'', from 2012 to 2023.

Early life and career

Dexter was born in

Stamford, Lincolnshire Stamford is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701 and estimated at 20,645 in 2019. The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber ...

, to Alfred and Dorothy Dexter. He had an elder brother, John, a fellow classicist, who taught

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

at The King's School, Peterborough, and a sister, Avril. Alfred ran a small garage and taxi company from premises in Scotgate, Stamford. Dexter was educated at St John's Infants School and Bluecoat Junior School, from which he gained a scholarship to Stamford School, a boys'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

, where a younger contemporary was England cricket captain and England rugby player, M. J. K. Smith. After leaving school, Dexter completed his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

with the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

and then read classics at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

, graduating in 1953 and receiving a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1958. In 1954, Dexter began his teaching career as assistant Classics master at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. There he helped the school's Christian Union. However, in 2000 he stated that he shared the same views on politics and religion as Inspector Morse, who was portrayed in the final Morse novel, '' The Remorseful Day'', as an atheist. A post at

Loughborough Grammar School Loughborough Grammar School is a 10–18 Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boys' school in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1495 with money left in the will of Thomas Burton (merchant), Thomas Burton. To ...

followed in 1957, then he took up the position of senior Classics teacher at Corby Grammar School,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, 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 The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, a job he held until his retirement in 1988. In November 2008, Dexter featured prominently in the

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

programme "How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword", as part of the ''Timeshift'' series, in which he recounted some of the crossword clues solved by Morse.

Writing career

The initial books written by Dexter were general studies textbooks. He began writing mysteries in 1972 during a family holiday. ''

Last Bus to Woodstock ''Last Bus to Woodstock'' is a Crime fiction, crime novel by Colin Dexter, the first of 13 novels in his ''Inspector Morse'' series. Plot summary Two young women are waiting in Oxford for a bus to the nearby town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Woo ...

'' was published in 1975 and introduced the character of

, the irascible detective whose penchants for

cryptic crossword A cryptic crossword is a crossword, crossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where they originated, as well as Ireland, the Netherlands, and in several Commonwealth ...

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

cask ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for ale that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous ca ...

, and music by

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

reflected Dexter's own enthusiasms. Dexter's plots used false leads and other

red herring A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentiona ...

s, "presenting Morse, and his readers, with fiendishly difficult puzzles to solve". The success of the 33 two-hour episodes of the ITV television series ''

'', produced between 1987 and 2000, brought further attention to Dexter's writings. The show featured Inspector Morse, played by

John Thaw John Edward Thaw (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor in television, stage and cinema, best known for his television roles starring as Detective Inspector Jack Regan in '' The Sweeney'' (1975—78) and as Detective Chief ...

, and his assistant Sergeant Robert Lewis, played by Kevin Whately. In the manner of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

, Dexter made a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in almost all episodes. From 2006 to 2015, Morse's assistant Lewis was featured in a 33-episode ITV series titled '' Lewis'' (''Inspector Lewis'' in the United States). Lewis is assisted by DS James Hathaway, played by Laurence Fox. A prequel series, '' Endeavour'', features a young Morse and stars Shaun Evans and

Roger Allam Roger William Allam (born 26 October 1953) is a British actor who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio. He played Inspector Javert in the original London production of the stage musical ''Les Misérables'', First Officer D ...

. ''Endeavour'' was first broadcast on the ITV network in 2012, ending with the ninth series in 2023, taking young Morse's career into 1972. Dexter was a consultant for ''Lewis'' and the first few years of ''Endeavour''. As with ''Morse'', Dexter occasionally made cameo appearances in both ''Lewis'' and ''Endeavour''. Including both Morse and Lewis, many of the characters in Dexter's books were taken from the names of other cruciverbalists. For example, although Dexter's military service was as a

Morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...

operator in the

, the character was named after his friend Sir

Jeremy Morse Sir Christopher Jeremy Morse KCMG (10 December 1928 – 4 February 2016) was an English banker, cruciverbalist and chess composer who was Chancellor of the University of Bristol from 1989 to 2003, and was chairman of Lloyds Bank. Early life ...

, a crossword devotee like Dexter. The music for the television series, written by Barrington Pheloung, used a motif based on the Morse code for Morse's name.

Awards and honours

Dexter received several

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

awards: two Silver Daggers for '' Service of All the Dead'' in 1979 and ''

The Dead of Jericho ''The Dead of Jericho'', published in 1981, is a work of English detective fiction by Colin Dexter. It is the fifth novel in the Inspector Morse series. In 1987 it was adapted as the first episode of the highly successful television series insp ...

'' in 1981; two

Gold Dagger The CWA Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. ...

s for '' The Wench is Dead'' in 1989 and '' The Way Through the Woods'' in 1992; and a Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in 1997. In 1996, Dexter received a

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a group of literary awards presented annually to mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "Macavity, mystery cat ...

for his short story "Evans Tries an O-Level". In 1980, he was elected a member of the by-invitation-only

Detection Club The Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, Hugh Walpole, John Rhode, Jessie Louisa Rickard, Baroness Orczy, ...

. In 2005 Dexter became a Fellow by Special Election of St Cross College, Oxford. In the

2000 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours were announced on 19 June 2000 to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: Australia (12 June), New Zealand (13 June),New ZealandThe Queen's Birthday Honours 2000(13 June 2000), ' ...

Dexter was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for services to literature. In 2001 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Oxford. In September 2011, the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

awarded Dexter an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

degree.

Personal life

In 1956, he married Dorothy Cooper. They had a daughter, Sally, and a son, Jeremy.

Death

On 21 March 2017 Dexter's publisher, Macmillan, said in a statement "With immense sadness, Macmillan announces the death of Colin Dexter who died peacefully at his home in Oxford this morning".

Bibliography

Inspector Morse novels

# ''

'' (1975) # '' Last Seen Wearing'' (1976) # '' The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn'' (1977) # '' Service of All the Dead'' (1979) # ''

'' (1981) # '' The Riddle of the Third Mile'' (1983) # '' The Secret of Annexe 3'' (1986) # '' The Wench is Dead'' (1989) # '' The Jewel That Was Ours'' (1991) # '' The Way Through the Woods'' (1992) # '' The Daughters of Cain'' (1994) # '' Death Is Now My Neighbour'' (1996) # '' The Remorseful Day'' (1999)

Novellas and short story collections

* ''The Inside Story'' (1993) * ''Neighbourhood Watch'' (1993) * '' Morse's Greatest Mystery'' (1993); also published as ''As Good as Gold'' *# "As Good as Gold" (Morse) *# "Morse's Greatest Mystery" (Morse) *# "Evans Tries an O-Level" *# "Dead as a Dodo" (Morse) *# "At the Lulu-Bar Motel" *# "Neighbourhood Watch" (Morse) *# "A Case of Mis-Identity" (a Sherlock Holmes pastiche) *# "The Inside Story" (Morse) *# "Monty's Revolver" *# "The Carpet-Bagger" *# "Last Call" (Morse)

Uncollected short stories

* "The Burglar" in ''You,

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

'' (1994) * "The Double Crossing" in ''Mysterious Pleasures'' (2003) * "Between the Lines" in ''The Detection Collection'' (2005) * "The Case of the Curious Quorum" (featuring Inspector Lewis) in ''The Verdict of Us All'' (2006) * "The Other Half" in ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' (February–May 2007) * "Morse and the Mystery of the Drunken Driver" in ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' (December 2008) * "Clued Up" (a 4-page story featuring Lewis and Morse solving a crossword) in ''Cracking Cryptic Crosswords'' (2009)

Other

* Foreword to ''Chambers Crossword Manual'' by Don Manley (5th edition, 2014) * ''Chambers Book of Morse Crosswords'' (2006) * Foreword to ''Oxford: A Cultural and Literary Companion'' by David Horan (1999; new edition 2007) * ''Cracking Cryptic Crosswords: A Guide to Solving Cryptic Crosswords'' (2010) * Foreword to ''Oxford Through the Lens'' by Douglas Vernimmen (2016)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dexter, Colin 1930 births 2017 deaths Military personnel from Lincolnshire People from Stamford, Lincolnshire People educated at Stamford School Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Cartier Diamond Dagger winners English crime fiction writers English male novelists English mystery writers English detective fiction writers Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford Writers from Oxford Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches Inspector Morse Macavity Award winners Members of the Detection Club Officers of the Order of the British Empire Crossword creators Royal Corps of Signals soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel