Colin Dexter, 86, writer of the Inspector Morse series . Associated
Press . LONDON - Writer Colin Dexter, who created music-loving,
poetry-quoting, Oxford detective Inspector Morse, has died. He was 86.
Publisher Pan Macmillan said Mr. Dexter died Tuesday at his home in
Oxford, England. Born in Stamford, central England, Mr. Dexter studied
classics at Cambridge University and became a teacher and author of
textbooks before turning to fiction. He began writing a detective novel
to help pass the time during a wet vacation in Wales. "Last Bus to
Woodstock," published in 1975, introduced Morse, a curmudgeonly
detective with a love of ale, classical music, and crosswords - and for
a long time, no first name, at least not one disclosed to readers. In
the 1996 novel "Death is Now My Neighbor" his given name was revealed
to be Endeavour. Morse, accompanied by the trustworthy Sergeant Lewis,
solved murders and mysteries in the ancient university city in more
than a dozen novels until Mr. Dexter killed him off in "The Remorseful
Day" in 1999. Morse was played by the late John Thaw in a TV version
that ran from 1987 to 2000.
