Colin Dexter was a prolific writer and he remain ever associated with the Inspector Morse books died on Tuesday (March 21), according to the BBC. Dexter’s publisher said in a statement which runs: “With immense sadness, MacMillan announces the death of Colin Dexter who died peacefully at his home in Oxford this morning.”
Ian Rankin stated: “Sad news – a gentle man with a steel mind; and the creator of such an iconic character…”
Val McDermid wrote: “Deeply sorry to hear of the death of my good friend Colin Dexter. He brought pleasure to millions and joy to his friends.”
Born Norman Colin Dexter in 1930, Dexter was an English crime writer. He wrote his most famous books, about Inspector Morse between 1975 and 1999. These novels were adapted as a television series, Inspector Morse, which ran from 1987 to 2000. His characters later spawned a sequel series called Lewis, and a prequel series, Endeavour. However it was Morse that captured the imagination of the public, played on television by the late actor John Thaw.
The character of Morse was, in a sense, quintessentially English. A senior CID (Criminal Investigation Department) officer with the Thames Valley Police force in Oxford, England, Morse was sometimes sympathetic, often sullen and snobbish temperament. He drove a Jaguar car; liked to drink English real ale; listened to opera and indulged in the “arts”, taking in poetry, art, classics, together with cryptic crossword puzzles. On screen and in the novels the character was assisted by Sergeant Robert “Robbie” Lewis.
Dexter began his career at a private school, starting as an assistant Classics master at Wyggeston School, Leicester. Due to an onset of deafness Dexter retired from teaching in 1966. He became an exam marker and began to write novels. By the 1970s his success as a crime novelist allowed his new career to take off. He wrote his first Morse novel, Last Bus to Woodstock, in 1975. An avid crossword solver, Dexter chose the name for Morse, and for all the others in the novel, except for the murderer, from a crossword. The final novel featuring the character was thirtieth, titled The Remorseful Day.
Such was his place in British culture Dexter was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (the “OBE”) for services to literature. Dexter also won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Silver Dagger for Service of All The Dead in 1979 and The Dead of Jericho in 1981.
He died peacefully in his sleep. Many tributes have been paid, including Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV (which produced the Morse television series), who said to Sky News: “Through 33 feature length stories, the casebook of Morse and Lewis changed the landscape of detective drama.”
