 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Colin Dexter |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Inspector Morse series, #1 |
| Genre | Crime |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
Publication date | January 1975 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 0-333-17929-3 |
| OCLC | 2983850 |
| 823/.9/14 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.D5265 Las PR6054.E96 |
| Followed by | Last Seen Wearing |
Last Bus to Woodstock is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the first of 13 novels in his Inspector Morse series.
Two young women are waiting in Oxford for a bus to the nearby town of Woodstock, and they decide to hitch a lift. Later that night, one of them, Sylvia Kaye, is found murdered and apparently raped in the car park of the Black Prince pub in Woodstock.
Suspicion falls on various characters. The body is reported found by John Sanders, a young man who, it later transpires, is addicted to pornography and sometimes paid Sylvia for sex. He admits to waiting for her on the night of her murder but found her dead. It turns out he interfered with the body but did not murder her.
Inspector Morse discovers the lift was offered in a red car and guesses various bits of information about the owner. His discoveries lead him to calculate the chances of finding a red car in North Oxford which meets all the criteria. There is only one, and it belongs to Bernard Crowther, a don at the university who lives on Southdown Road. Crowther admits that, although married, he is having an affair with another woman. He admits to giving a lift to two women and dropping them in Woodstock while on the way to meet his mistress.
Crowther's wife kills herself, mistakenly thinking that her husband is the murderer; Crowther himself dies shortly afterwards from a heart attack, thinking that she is the killer. In the end, it turns out it was neither of them but rather the other woman at the bus stop, Sue Widdowson, who was Crowther's mistress. Crowther had dropped her off and had sex with Sylvia. Widdowson became insanely jealous, crept up behind Sylvia in the car, and hit her on the back of the head with a tyre lever lying in the car park.
A further complication involves Jennifer Coleby who worked with Sylvia in an insurance office. Jennifer is having an affair with her boss, Palmer, and shares a flat with Sue Widdowson. Crowther types coded messages to Widdowson, who is his girlfriend. He leaves the messages with Coleby at her work, and she delivers them to Widdowson.
This is the first Inspector Morse novel, and is more carefully plotted than many subsequent books in the series. The reader is not deliberately led astray. Colin Dexter started writing what would become Last Bus to Woodstock on a 1972 family holiday in North Wales. Sitting in the kitchen on a rainy Saturday afternoon he committed to paper a few paragraphs regarding a detective named Morse. Knowing where it would be set, Oxford, and how the story would end, he spent the next 18 months writing the novel. [1]
The novel was adapted for television as part of Inspector Morse and was first aired on 22 March 1988. The character of Sue Widdowson was renamed Mary, and Sylvia's last name was changed to Kane. [2] There were several amendments to the plot in the television adaptation: e.g. the red car was identified through the observations of another woman waiting for the bus and her smart deductions; Crowther did not die of the heart attack, and his wife did not commit suicide; Crowther and Sylvia didn't have sex after he picked her up at the bus stop; the "murder" turned out to be more of an accident—Widdowson confronted Sylvia in the car park, knocked her to the ground, and Crowther unwittingly reversed over her in the car and drove off not knowing; and there was no sexual attack on the corpse by Sanders, only theft. The cast included John Thaw as Morse, Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, Peter Woodthorpe as Max, Ingrid Lacey as Mary Widdowson, Jill Baker as Jennifer Coleby, Anthony Bate as Bernard Crowther, Terrence Hardiman as Clive Palmer, Shirley Dixon as Margaret Crowther, Fabia Drake as Mrs Jarman, Paul Geoffrey as Peter Newlove, Ian Sears as John Sanders, Holly Aird as Angie Hartman Shirley Stelfox as Mrs. Kane and Jenny Jay as Sylvia Kane.
The book was first dramatised as a radio play by the BBC on Radio 4 in 1975. The announcer reading the end credits attributes the authorship of the original book to Colin Dempster. [3]
In 1984, a BBC Radio 4 adaptation was released that was dramatised by Melvyn Jones and directed by Brian Miller. [4] The radio play featured Andrew Burt as Inspector Morse and Christopher Douglas as Sergeant Lewis.
Norman Colin Dexter was an English crime writer known for his Inspector Morse series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV television series, Inspector Morse, 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.
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series Inspector Morse (1987–2000), in which John Thaw played the character, as well as the (2012–2023) prequel series Endeavour, portrayed by Shaun Evans. The older Morse is a senior Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer with the Thames Valley Police in Oxford in England and, in the prequel, Morse is a young detective constable rising through the ranks with the Oxford City Police and, in later series, the Thames Valley Police.
Kevin Whately is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Neville "Nev" Hope in the comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet; Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the British crime drama Inspector Morse (1987–2000) and Lewis (2006–2015); and Jack Kerruish in the drama series Peak Practice (1993–1995), although he has appeared in numerous other roles.
Lewis is a British television detective drama produced for ITV, first airing in 2006 (pilot) then 2007. It is a spin-off from Inspector Morse and, like that series, it is set in Oxford. Kevin Whately reprises his character Robert "Robbie" Lewis, who was Morse's sergeant in the original series. Lewis has now been promoted to detective inspector and is assisted by DS James Hathaway, portrayed by Laurence Fox, who was promoted to inspector before the eighth series. The series also stars Clare Holman as forensic pathologist Dr. Laura Hobson, likewise reprising her role from Inspector Morse; and, from the eighth season, Angela Griffin as DS Lizzie Maddox.
Detective Sergeant/Detective Inspector Robert "Robbie" Lewis is a fictional character in the Inspector Morse crime novels by Colin Dexter. The "sidekick" to Morse, Lewis is a detective sergeant in the Thames Valley Police, and appears in all 13 Morse novels. In the television adaptation, Inspector Morse, he is played by Kevin Whately. Following the conclusion of the series, Whately reprised the role as the lead character in Lewis, in which the character has been promoted to the rank of inspector.
Inspector Morse is a British detective drama television series based on a series of novels by Colin Dexter. It starred John Thaw as Detective Chief Inspector Morse, and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. The series comprises 33 two-hour episodes produced between 6 January 1987 and 15 November 2000. Dexter made uncredited cameo appearances in all but three of the episodes.
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 inspired by the novels, also called Inspector Morse.
The Remorseful Day is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the last novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel was adapted as the final episode in the Inspector Morse television series.
The Wench Is Dead is a historical crime novel by Colin Dexter, the eighth novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel received the Gold Dagger Award in 1989.
The Secret of Annexe 3 is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the seventh novel in Inspector Morse series.
The Jewel That Was Ours is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the ninth novel in Inspector Morse series. This novel was written by Dexter after he wrote a screenplay for an episode titled The Wolvercote Tongue in series 2 of the television programme Inspector Morse.
Last Seen Wearing is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the second novel in the Inspector Morse series.
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the third novel in Inspector Morse series.
Service of All the Dead is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the fourth novel in his Inspector Morse series.
The Daughters of Cain is a crime novel by Colin Dexter. It is the eleventh novel in the Inspector Morse series.
The Way Through the Woods is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series. It received the Gold Dagger Award in 1992.
Endeavour is a British television detective drama series on ITV. It is a prequel to the long-running Inspector Morse series. Shaun Evans portrays the young Endeavour Morse beginning his career as a detective constable, and later as a detective sergeant, with the Oxford City Police CID. Endeavour is the third of the Inspector Morse series, following the original Inspector Morse (1987–2000) and its spin-off, Lewis (2006–2015).
