Colin Dexter was born in 1930 and, over the course of his writing career, has won CWA Gold Dagger and Silver Dagger awards. “Last Bus to Woostock” was his debut novel, was first published in 1975 and introduced the world to the famous Inspector Morse.

However, the book’s victim is introduced before the hero. Sylvia Kaye and a friend are travelling into Ocford city centre for a night out – unfortunately, believing they had missed the last bus, the pair had hitched into town. Several hours later, Sylvia’s body is found in the car park at the back of the Black Prince, with the murder weapon – a heavy tyre spanner – conveniently lying beside her. The case sees Morse paired up with Sergeant Lewis for the first time. The pair seem to have little in common : where Lewis is married and reads the Daily Mirror, Morse is single, lives alone and enjoys the cryptic crosswords in the Times. Morse is fussy about spelling and grammar, enjoys classical music and is partial to a few drinks. The crime scene, being a pub, would appear to be a case of the Inspector mixing work and pleasure – and, although he isn’t supposed to drink on the job, he happily bends that rule once in a while. (He also seems to take great pleasure in refusing to allow Lewis do the same). When the investigation gets up and running, Morse is very curious about two people in particular : Sylvia’s friend – who, strangely, remains anonymous and doesn’t come forward – and whoever it was picked the pair up.

“Last Bus to Woodstock” is quite possibly the politest murder-mystery book I have ever read – for example, Morse’s arrival at the scene of the crime is announced with the exclamation “How he hated sex murders !”. There didn’t really seem to be much method to the investigation – it’s built on assumptions and leaps of faith – while I found it a little odd there was no apparent lab work. (The murder weapon, which was found at the scene, was roundly ignored !). I realise the book was written in the 1970s, but surely some fingerprinting and forensics work would have been available – even in Oxford? Overall, the book is a little slow and plodding, and by the time the book reached its climax – where Morse revealed all – I really didn’t care all that much. Based on Morse’s popularity, I can only assume the series improves drastically as it goes along.