Death is now my Neighbor; An Inspector Morse Novel

ix, [5], 347, [5] pages. Signed by the author on the title page. Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 - 21 March 2017) 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 spawned a sequel series, Lewis, from 2006 to 2015, and a prequel series, Endeavour, from 2012 to 2023. He also set crosswords for The Oxford Times. Dexter did his national service with the Royal Corps of Signals and then read Classics at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1953 and receiving a master's degree in 1958. He began writing mysteries in 1972 during a family holiday. Last Bus to Woodstock was published in 1975 and introduced the character of Inspector Morse, the irascible detective whose penchants for cryptic crosswords, English literature, and Wagner operas reflected Dexter's own enthusiasms. Dexter's plots used red herrings, "presenting Morse, and his readers, with fiendishly difficult puzzles to solve". Dexter received several Crime Writers' Association awards: two Silver Daggers for Service of All the Dead and The Dead of Jericho; two Gold Daggers for The Wench is Dead and The Way Through the Woods; and a Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. In 1996, Dexter received a Macavity Award for his short story "Evans Tries an O-Level". In 1980, he was elected a member of the by-invitation-only Detection Club. In the 2000 Birthday Honours Dexter was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. Oxford, England. A shot rings out in the early morning on Bloxham Drive. A young woman is murdered while having breakfast in her apartment. At nearby Lonsdale College, the peaceful quadrangle seems insulated from the everyday realities of the entire outside world, let alone this recent murder. Yet Lonsdale is not as tranquil as it appears. The Master of the college is about to retire, and two senior dons, Denis Cornford and Julian Storrs, are discreetly competing to succeed him. Meanwhile, their wives are involved in a more openly venomous competition of their own. For Chief Inspector Morse and his partner, Sergeant Lewis, the murder investigation leads to a tabloid journalist, to the strip clubs of Soho, and, eventually, back to the university. A disturbing question rises to the surface: Is the Mastership of Lonsdale worth killing for? Death Is Now My Neighbour is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the 12th novel in the Inspector Morse series. At 17 Bloxham Drive, Kidlington, Oxfordshire, a pretty 29-year-old physiotherapist named Rachel James is shot almost point blank through the closed blind of her kitchen window early in the morning of 19 February 1996. The shooting took place between 7:00 and 7:30 with a .577 caliber howdah or Lancaster pistol as the pony-tailed young woman was getting breakfast prior to heading to work, her head and upper body silhouetted in the window, as her assailant stood in her backyard. Unfortunately, none of the other residents of Bloxham Drive can recall seeing anything suspicious that morning, including her immediate neighbor Geoffrey Owens at number 15, a newspaper reporter desperate for the scoop on this breaking news story that happened so close to his home. Chief Inspector Morse, aided by Detective Sergeant (DS) Lewis, soon discovers a cryptic 'seventeenth-century' love poem by John Wilmot and a photograph of Rachel with a mysterious grey-haired man, clues which lead them to the prestigious Lonsdale College, where the rivalry between Julian Storrs and Dr. Denis Cornford for the position of Master, to replace Sir Clixby Bream, is about to turn deadly. Morse goes to the extreme of employing a known house burglar and lock expert to learn more about Owens. Morse also diagnoses himself with diabetes, and, after going to the local clinic to confirm his condition, is immediately placed in John Radcliffe Hospital for five days. …