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Hello fellow Morsonians and welcome to my fourth Morse book review. I hope this post finds you all well.
I hope you enjoy the review. Be aware that there will be SPOILERS within this post. However I will make NO mention of who is the murderer or murderers.
Fourth of thirteen Morse novels.
My edition was published by Pan Macmillan Ltd.
First Published in 1979.
My edition 324 pages.
Novel was first televised on 20 January 1987. (Series 1, Episode 3).
First Lines of the Novel.
“Limply the Reverend Lionel Lawson shook the last smoothly gloved hand, the slim hand of Mrs Emily-Atkins.”
REVIEW.
CHARACTERS. (Pictures from TV episode).
Revered Lionel Lawson.
In the TV episode he is not Lionel Lawson but, Lionel Pawlen.
Mrs Emily Walsh-Atkins.
This character is not in the TV episode.
Paul Morris.
Brenda Josephs.
Peter Morris.
Harry Josephs.
Ruth Rawlinson.
Carole Jones. A pupil of Paul Morris.
Not mentioned in the TV episode.
Chief Inspector Morse.
Reverend Keith Meiklejohn.
Vicar who replaced the dead Lionel Lawson.
Not mentioned or shown in the TV episode.
Mr Sharpe.
Deputy organist.
Not mentioned or shown in the TV episode.
Mrs Alice Rawlinson.
Chief Inspector Bell.
Not mentioned or shown in the TV episode. His character did appear in the episode, Dead of Jericho.
Mrs Lewis.
Not mentioned or shown in the episode.
Robert Lewis.
Mrs Clarke, School secretary.
Not mentioned or shown in the episode.
Doctor Meyer. Ex headmaster of Lawson’s school.
Not mentioned or shown in the episode. However, the ex headmaster of Lawson’s school is called Doctor Starkie and is played by Michael Hordern.
Phillip Edward Lawson. Brother of Lionel Lawson.
Mentioned but not shown in the episode. Well, his body is shown stabbed near the beginning of the episode.
Constable Dickson.
Not mentioned or shown in the episode.
Hump Backed Police Surgeon.
Not mentioned or shown in the episode. However, Max is in the episode.
Descriptions of Morse and Lewis.
Morse is forty-seven years old.
Morse, as a schoolboy, bought a book on architecture and “traipsed around a good many churches.”
Morse is described by Ruth Rawlinson as “bluey-grey, cold – yet somehow vulnerable and lost.”
Ruth Rawlinson looks up Morse’s phone number in the directory. It reads , “Morse, E.” Ruth wonders what the ‘E’ stands for.
“The inspector’s pale-blue eyes.”
Ruth again describes Morse, “Sad eyes, though, as if they were always looking for something and never quite finding it.”
Music Mentioned in the Novel.
Richard Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder.
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Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Mikado.
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Faure’s Requiem.
Pubs mentioned in the Novel.
Bulldog opposite Christ Church.
The Golden Cross.
The Friar Bacon.
Literary References.
Quote ate the beginning of the novel; “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God: than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.” (Psalm 84, v, 10).
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‘And ghastly thro’ the drizzling rain
On the bald street breaks the blank day.’
In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: 7
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
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Robert Southey’s The Cataract of Lodore.
“How does the water
Come down at Lodore?”
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Charles Baudelaire‘s Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil.
“riche mais impuissant, jeune et pourtant tres vieux…” (Wealthy but powerless, both young and very old).
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Morse mentions to Lewis that, “Coleridge was very interested in candles.” Though he never gets to explain to Lewis why he must have been referring to Coleridge’s connection to candles through various symbolic and personal contexts. His writings, particularly in works like “Kubla Khan,” and his biographical details reflect a fascination with light, darkness, and the ephemeral nature of existence, which are often linked to the imagery of candles.
Differences Between Novel and TV Episode.
Morse drives a Lancia not a Jaguar.
Morse watches TV in the novel. In the TV episodes Morse doesn’t own a TV.
He watches, on the TV, horse-racing. Morse in the TV show showed no interest in any sport.
In the novel, Morse reads not only the Times newspaper but also The News of the World. Morse of the TV series would NEVER read that (thankfully defunct) rag.
Alice Rawlinson, Ruth’s mother, is a horrible, belligerent, bitter woman in the novel. In the TV episode she is a lonely sad character.
In the novel Morse rides on the bus. In the TV series Morse would never contemplate riding a bus.
Morse is a gambler, betting on horse in the novel.
Morse mentions to Lewis a s he does in the episode that he is afraid of heights.
Lewis has two teenage daughters.
Chief Inspector Bell was originally involved in the case in the novel. Bell is not seen or mentioned in the episode.
Mrs Lewis makes Morse breakfast. We don’t Mrs Lewis in the episode. In the TV series we barely saw Morse eat.
Lewis reads the Sunday Express newspaper.
Morse, as a young boy, had always been afraid of the dark.
The Morse of the novel uses contractions like ’em instead of ‘them.’ He also in the novel calls a woman ‘luv.’
harry Josephs has a beard in the novel.
Latin Phrases.
Déjà vu – a common experience where one feels like they have already experienced something before, even if it’s a new situation.
Missa est ecclesia – “Go, it is sent,” and is the concluding announcement at the end of a Mass in the Catholic Church. The “Missa” part of the phrase refers to the dismissal or the sending forth of the faithful.
COLIN DEXTER EXPANDING OUR VOCABULARY.
Piscina – a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church
Chasuble – the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergy for the celebration of the Eucharist in Western-tradition Christian churches that use full vestments
Brachycephalic – having a relatively broad, short skull.
Boustrophedon – from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines or written from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines.
Irenic – a part of Christian theology concerned with reconciling different denominations and sects.
Real Oxford Locations Mentioned in the Novel.
St Giles, Martyr’s Memorial, Carfax, High Street, Wolvercote, Woodstock Road, Radcliffe Infirmary, Kidlington Road, Cornmarket, Beaumont Street, Queen Street, St Ebbe’s, Brasenose Lane, Bonn Square, Banbury Road, St Aldates, Summertown, Marston Ferry Road, Broad Street, Carfax Tower, Randolph Hotel, Oxford Playhouse, Sandfield Road, Manor Road, St John’s College, Linton Road, Belbroughton Road.
I hope you enjoyed the review and information regarding the novel. Take care everyone.
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Extremely detailed & comprehensive, Chris, as always. I’m not, as you may know, a “super fan” of the Morse/Lewis/Endeavour world as you are, & as are some, but I appreciate the amount of research, dedication, energy, acumen & love you put into each & everything you pertaining to this world. Bravo!
Thank you, Alana, for your lovely, thoughtful comment.
Thank you, Chris, for another thoughtful and informative review. Long a fan of the TV Morse, I’ve not read the books, but you’ve made me decide that now’s the time to start. When Colin Dexter began to write, he probably never thought he was going to create a character who would be so beloved by so many. So I’m curious to meet the Morse as he first appeared.
Hi Francis. Thank you for the lovely comment. I hope you enjoy the novels. Let me know what you think of them.
Reading the comparisons, I SO prefer the TV Morse and Lewis.
So do I! I’ve only read one of the novels, ‘Last Bus to Woodstock,’ and that was for my book group.
But thanks Chris for the detailed review. I especially like the bit about having our vocabularies expanded:-)
Fascinating – I love that line about sad eyes as though always looking for something and never quite finding it, it’s quite beautiful. One thing though – Bell does appear in this episode, he’s in that little scene where Morse twigs that Swanpole is an anagram.
That is a beautiful line and seems to describe Morse perfectly
“Déjà vu” is not a Latin phrase; it’s French.
“Missa est ecclesia” is Latin, but it is not what is said at the end of a Mass. What is said is “Ite, missa est”, which does mean “Go, it has been sent.”
Apart from that, Chris, a very thorough exposition of the novel.
Hi Bert,
So it is, Bert. Mea culpa. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Chris
Sorry this is blank! Pressed the wrong button.
I have rewatched all of Morse on ITV3 over the last year and find this episode one of the least plausible and therefore least enjoyable. There are too many deaths and it’s an overcomplicated plot in my opinion.
I think the best episodes are “Way through the woods” and “Last bus to Woodstock”.
I haven’t read all the books.
First Lines of the Novel.
“Limply the Reverend Lionel Lawson shook the last smoothly gloved hand, the slim hand of Mrs Emily-Atkins.” Not quite right, Chris. The first line is, “Limply the Reverend Lionel Lawson shook the last smoothly gloved hand, the slim hand of Mrs Emily Walsh-Atkins.”
Please delete my comment if you correct your text.
Colin liked big words, didn’t he? Chris has given us a brief selection. Here are a few more that I would like to add to his list:
discassocked – no such word in my dictionary.
sedulously – so good, he used it twice (Chapters 3 and 7). It means ‘painstaking’.
hebdomadal – means ‘weekly’.
Melismatic – a vocal style where a single syllable of text is sung by moving between multiple notes in succession.
locomotor ataxia – the inability to precisely control one’s own bodily movements.
a long-handled spatulate instrument – Come on, Colin! You can call a spade a spade.
cerebrations – not a typo for ‘celebrations’. It means ‘the working of the brain’, ‘thinking’.
antepenultimate – the one before the one before the last one.
Dexter used some odd similes in this novel. I picked these:
his eyes as unmoving as an alligator’s (alligators’ eyes do move); like the tongue of some leering gargoyle; white-skinned as a fish’s underbelly; as effortlessly as a kittiwake keeling over the cliffs (which gets points for alliteration); the urgent two-toned siren of an ambulance, like some demented mother wailing for her children.
Did you understand these references?
‘Up with the lark —’
‘And to bed with the wren.’
This is an old joke referring to members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) as Wrens. ‘Wren’ is still used informally to refer to female sailors.
‘We’re in, Meredith,’ shouted Lewis … – How old is Lewis? The origin of the expression is a music-hall sketch ‘The Bailiffs’, performed by Fred Kitchen, first produced in 1907. The expression is on Kitchen’s gravestone. It’s later popularity could be due to a 1932 British comedy film starring Flanagan and Allen, called ‘The Bailiffs’, based on Kitchen’s sketch.
Wikipedia tells me that Lewis in the novels is Welsh and in his early sixties. The novel was published in 1979, so Lewis might have heard the expression in his youth.
a bit of Egyptian P.T. – means sleep or rest.
Thank you Bert for your great, enlightening comments. Good to see you cranial cerebrations are fully functional. 😉😜
Colin would not have done very well on ‘Just a Minute’:
Chapter Five
… she wiped her pale forehead with the back of her wrist and brushed back a wisp of straggling hair.
Chapter Seven
She wiped her pale forehead with the back of her wrist and blew away a stray hair.
Repetition!
Latin Phrases. Some that Chris omitted:
post hoc, propter hoc (Chapter Eight) – (properly: post hoc ergo propter hoc) meaning “after this, therefore because of this.” It describes a logical fallacy where it’s assumed that because one event follows another, the first event must have caused the second.
Iste Confessor – “This confessor” or “He, the confessor”. [In Christian tradition, a confessor is someone who has died for their faith but not as a result of direct execution (martyrdom).]
per diem – per day
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Morse put his hands beneath the bars of the grille and lifted it aside easily and lightly.” – For a start, he would have told Lewis to do this. Secondly, an iron grille, six feet by three feet, strong enough to take the weight of up to two people standing on it would weigh more than one person could lift at all, never mind “easily and lightly”
The Miracle of St Frideswide.
Morse’s eyes change colour! We were told several times in the previous three novels that Morse’s eyes were grey, pale-grey or light-grey. But:
Chapter Seventeen
Morse … his blue eyes looking straight into hers.
Chapter Thirty-One
Meiklejohn was aware of the Inspector’s blue eyes upon him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
…and the light-blue eyes that fixed the Vicar
At the beginning of Chapter Twenty-Two, the post-mortem report on the corpse found on the tower is reproduced. It includes the information that the dead man (Paul Morris) had good teeth, “with only one filling (posterior left six).” I have made enquiries at the British Dental Association. There are three systems for identification of teeth. None of them uses ‘posterior’ in a description. The most likely system used in the late 70s/early 80s would be the Palmer system, which was the standard system in use in the UK for many years until the introduction of computer-based systems. In this system, there are two teeth on the left side of the owner’s mouth numbered ‘6’, one in the upper jaw, one in the lower jaw. The upper tooth would be referred to as ‘maxillary’, while the lower one would be referred to as ‘mandibular’.
You might think that Colin would have done more research into a subject he knew nothing about before giving us information we didn’t need.