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The Best & Worst Of Morse

Patricia Buchanan
 

Thus far this has been the only entry received in our reader’s survey of the best and worst of Morse, both written and televised. Members are still invited to submit their entries for the competition which carries a prize for the person who matches Colin Dexter’s own selections to be published in a future issue.

In the second edition of Endeavour readers were invited to write about the Morse stories and their television adaptations. I must write about NEIG. Like all of Colin Dexter’s novels, NEIG contains a plot complex enough to challenge the best of those who like to match wits with Morse.

For me what is most important is the fine character development that Dexter employs. Morse has always been irascible, and Lewis, the one nearest him, has borne the brunt of the brute. On occasion Morse has made peace gestures towards Lewis. Each is aware of a friendship that has developed over the years. But for the most part this is an unspoken friendship. As Morse comes face-to-face with his own mortality, he comes to understand friendship in a different way. He realizes he treasures Lewis much more than he had ever admitted to even himself.

The book, NEIG contains a most important character, Sister Janet McQueen. She helps Morse express these feelings, probably unlike any expressed since Morse’s engagement to Susan ended so unhappily many years ago. Quite a few females have been attracted to Morse. But Sister Janet McQueen is different. She took care of Morse in hospital as his body fought to stabilize blood sugar levels. But, she cared for him beyond her professional responsibilities. With a bit of detective work of her own, she tracked down the Chief Inspector’s most closely guarded secret - his Christian name. She also encouraged Morse to share this secret with Lewis. She understood their friendship, and that this bond would be greatly strengthened when Morse shared his secret. Morse needed this little nudge from Janet. She gave it with the gentle firmness the situation required. And so Lewis received that infamous postcard from Bath.

By eliminating the character of Sister McQueen, and downplaying Morse’s health problems I feel the television adaptation did a disservice to both author and main character. Also I find it so out of character that Morse would, after so many years of saying, “Morse, they just call me Morse”, to divulge his secret to someone, whom he just met, by giving her an anagram to solve! It takes all the meaning out of the revelation.

In the book the disclosure of Morse’s name tells more than something one would find in a census form. It tells us about the character of Morse, and McQueen, and of Morse’s ever deepening friendship with Lewis. Dorothy L. Sayers successfully initiated the idea that a mystery can be more than a puzzle. Colin Dexter’s books, like those of P. D. James, are also novels that contain mysteries, not novels limited to mystery.

As of this writing I have read NEIG four times. Each time I have read it, I have discovered something new. I am sure as I reread it many more times I will not only discover things in the book that I had missed before, but will find even more cause to love the words of Colin Dexter, and be thankful that I have discovered his work.