The Riddle of the Third Mile (1983)

I suspect a lot of mystery buffs are similar to me, in that the long-running television series of Inspector Morse, starring John Thaw, eclipsed the book version. I know I've seen every Morse episode but I certainly haven't read every Morse book. And there are far less books than episodes.

It's time to catch up. Dexter's Morse is actually pricklier and far boozier than Thaw's version, and his mysteries tend to unfold like complex crossword puzzles (not surprising since Dexter is a long-time crossword puzzle champ). I loved this particular book for about two thirds. An Oxford Don goes missing and a few days later a headless, limbless corpse shows up in the river wearing the same man's suit. As Morse (and Lewis) begin to pick away at the narrative it gets increasingly convoluted (and corpse-ridden) so that by the end I had lost a little interest. I just didn't quite buy the number of coincidences and some of the character's motivations. Still, Dexter is a witty writer and Morse is a good protagonist. I just felt this one took it a little far.