Sidste bus til Woodstock

by Colin Dexter

Paperback, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

813

Library's review

England, Woodstock, ca 1970
Den første bog med Lewis og Morse.
En ung kvinde, Sylvia Keyes, bliver fundet brutalt myrdet på parkeringspladsen ved den lokale pub "The Black Prince" i Woodstock. Hun havde aftalt at mødes med en ung mand, John Sanders, på pubben og det er ham, der finder hende.
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Morse og Lewis bliver sat til at opklare sagen. Lewis laver benarbejdet og Morse er glimrende til at gætte på hvor de skal lede. Sylvia arbejdede som maskinskriverske på forsikringsselskabet Town & Gown. Sylvia var i følgeskab med en anden pige fra kontoret, men vedkommende melder sig ikke frivilligt. De stod og ventede på en bus til Woodstock, men endte med at tage på stop i stedet. Morse forhører en af de andre piger på kontoret, Jennifer Coleby og tror ikke på hendes historie. Morse falder ned af en stige og må sidde stille et par dage. Det får ham til at tænke over hvordan man finder den mand, der gav pigerne et lift og det får en Bernard Michael Crowther til at melde sig. Morse tror heller ikke helt på hans forklaring og han mangler stadig navnet på den anden pige. Han tager på sygehuset for at bytte sine krykker til en stok og kommer i snak med en sygeplejerske, Sue Widdowson, som boede sammen med Sylvia og et par andre piger. Bernard er konen utro, men vil ikke fortælle Morse med hvem. Og Jennifer har også en fyr, men heller ikke hun er ret meddelsom. Dog vil hun gerne fortælle at hun har en bil, så hun var altså ikke med til at blaffe. Hun har dagen efter mordet fået et brev om at hun ikke fik et job, men ifølge hende selv var det et job, hun ikke havde søgt og brevet så også lidt pudsigt ud. Morse går på jagt efter brevskriveren, måske er det Bernard? Det viser sig at være rigtigt, men Jennifer er ganske fuld af løgn, så det lykkes langt hen ad vejen at føre Morse på vildspor. Undervejs begår Bernards kone Margaret selvmord og i afskedsbrevet tilstår hun mordet. Bernard bliver slået helt ud, får et hjerteanfald og dør også, men først har han også tilstået mordet. Imens stykker Morse begivenhederne sammen: Bernard og Sue kom sammen. Når han havde et hul i skemaet, gav han besked via Jennifer, så derfor var brevet sendt til hende. Hans skrivemaskine var i stykker, så derfor blev brevet skrevet på vennen Peter Newloves maskine. Jennifer havde tilsvarende en affære med sin chef, mr. Palmer. Bernard tog Sue og Sylvia op at køre den dag. Sue ville ikke røbe overfor Sylvia at hun kendte Bernard og lod sig sætte af busstoppestedet før The Black Prince, men hun kunne ikke lide at Sylvia flirtede kraftigt med Bernard, så hun fulgte efter i den bus, der kom lige bagefter og ganske rigtigt så hun Bernard knalde Sylvia. Margaret så det også, så da hun næste dag hører at Sylvia er fundet myrdet, er hun overbevist om at Bernard er skyldig. Han har det på samme måde med hende. John Sanders er lidt syg i hovedet, så han har flyttet på liget inden han meldte det. Faktisk er Sue morderen, for hun blev vældigt rasende på Sylvia over at hun var ved at kapre Bernard.
Det er synd for Morse, for han havde fattet mere end sympati for Sue.

Glimrende krimi, men det er lidt urealistisk at Morse løser ting pr intuition mens han bæller øl og/eller whisky. Her gennemskuer han dog to falske tilståelser og det er godt gået.
I denne bog er Morse yngre end Lewis og han drikker stort set hele tiden med en enkelt rygepause ind imellem. Tidsbilledet er også sjovt, Morse kører i en Lancia, man kommenterer på at mænd kan have langt hår som piger, man bruger skrivemaskiner og skrivestuer, telefonsamtaler foregår via omstillingsborde osv.
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Publication

[Kbh.] : Superpocket, 2001.

Description

Last Bus to Woodstock is the novel that began Colin Dexter's phenomenally successful Inspector Morse series. 'Do you think I'm wasting your time, Lewis?' Lewis was nobody's fool and was a man of some honesty and integrity. 'Yes, sir.' An engaging smile crept across Morse's mouth. He thought they could get on well together . . . The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man - facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key . . . Last Bus to Woodstock is followed by the second Inspector Morse book, Last Seen Wearing.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Wombat
I came to the Inspector Morse novels by a round-about route. We visited my in-laws over Labor Day weekend, and on Sunday evening wound up watching a bit of TV. Usually I do my best to ignore the television---engrossing myself in a crossword or a good book. But this particular evening a show called
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Inspector Lewis was on. At first I didn't pay too much attention but I wound up getting sucked in. It had interesting characters, and the setting---in and around Oxford, England was a familiar blend of the urban and the academic. The final plot twists were a bit of a stretch, but overall, the show was enjoyable---high praise from someone who usually does his best to ignore the television!

Over the next few Sundays, Lady Wombat and I watched additional episodes of Inspactor Lewis until PBS's Mystery! rotated off to some other series of whodunits. Being curious, I did a bit of poking around on the web and discovered that Inspector Lewis was a spin-off of an earlier PBS/BBC series called Inspector Morse, where the Lewis character appeared as Sgt. Lewis. Furthermore Inspector Morse was based an a series of mystery novels by Colin Dexter, the first of which was Last Bus to Woodstock. A quick trip to the library, and I had another book to read...

Overall, it was a pleasant read---with a well-crafted mystery and good writing. It is firmly in the "hardboiled" school of detective fiction, presenting a gritty and ugly picture of humanity, focusing in particular on the sexual foibles of nearly every character---having affairs, buying pornography, engaged to people they don't love, looking for no-strings-attached sex, an so on. Morse, himself, is unlucky in love, drinks a lot, and is generally painted as a brilliant intuitive detective who is not leading a happy life. While I think this was a pretty good book in the abstract, the bleak picture of humanity it presented wasn't really my cup of tea.

An odd aspect of reading this book was how old it made me feel. Characters rely on regular telephones, and even the postal service to communicate with each other! Facts have to be gathered via legwork; there is no internet. Reports are typed, and papers left at the office can't be retrieved electronically. Women are still pretty much confined to traditional gender stereo-typed roles---housewife, secretary, barmaid, and nurse. This is clearly a relic of an earlier age. Yet it was written in 1975---when I was ten years old---reminding me that I, too, am a relic of a much different age.

I may pick up one or two later books in the series to see how Dexter and his characters develop over time, but I probably won't read the entire series.
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LibraryThing member cajela
The first Inspector Morse book, and the central character is established already. Here Morse is a younger version of the hard drinking, rather anti-social, grammatically pedantic policeman that we know from the later books. "Woodstock" here is a small town near Oxford, not a music festival
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reference.

But man, is it ever dated! 1975 was another world. The oddities of post and phones and secretaries and typewriters are fine, and it's amusing to realise how utterly impossible the plot would be, if only the characters could have just texted each other. But the sexism is very jarring. Rape is not a joke. Grown women are not girls. Three cheers for "women's lib"! I shall rush off and burn a bra in tribute.
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LibraryThing member mstrust
Inspector Morse takes on the case of a young woman found raped and murdered in a pub parking lot. The list of suspects gets longer as Morse and Sergeant Lewis, working together for the first time, discover that the victim was far from innocent.

This is the first of the Inspector Morse series, and
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the second that I've read (The Dead of Jericho a few months ago). The mystery here is done really well and is hard to figure out. The cons:the romance between Morse and a suspect's roommate is sudden and melodramatic, and the attitude towards rape victims is so outdated that it's jarring and reminds the reader that this was written in 1975. If it weren't for those flaws, this would read like a modern book set in those pre-DNA days. I enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member ishtahar
The one with the girls at the bus stop, the extra-marital affairs, the suicides, the pub car park and where Morse falls in love.
LibraryThing member Noisy
First of the Morse novels, and I've forgotten the TV version, so it is interesting to see the genesis of the character and series. I'll be working my way through the set over the coming year or so.

The first impression is that this is nothing like how I imagine a murder investigation to be. There
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are no briefings, and Morse has next to nothing to do with the hoi poloi of the plod, apart from one constable who makes an impression. The relationship with Lewis is interesting (Lewis is older than Morse in this book) with a large gulf in experience between the two, and seemingly little in the way of common understanding. How Morse attained the rank of Chief Inspector I'll never know.

The plot is suitably convoluted, and the pace is just right. There is a slight feeling that the work is a little lightweight, and the writing is a little raw: I'm not sure that I'd have continued with the book series if I didn't like the TV series so much.
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LibraryThing member kaulsu
Chief Inspector Morse was to Sargent Lewis as Chief Inspector Lewis is to Sargent Hathaway.

But this was a pretty boring book. Really, a grown man, a chief inspector, falls in love at first sight with a pretty face? The actual mystery plot was convoluted, and like many Agatha Christie's, only
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reveals the murder through clues never introduced in real time. Any way, I will read two more in the series...this was the first one. Perhaps they will improve!
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LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
Most of my beloved Reginald Hill books have joined Agatha Christie's in the state of knowledge similar to that of a wife of many years, warm and welcoming, but in possession of few surprises. I therefore needed another author to put the spark back into my regular meander through the whodunnit
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genre. Colin Dexter seemed to fit the bill rather well and, after, somewhat perversely, having commenced with, "Remorseful Day", the last in the series, I decided to continue in a more rational chronological order.
Last Bus to Woodstock is the first Inspector Morse and sees the initial meeting of the great detective with Lewis. As is often the case with first outings, the story is a little strained in places but a fair yarn non the less. It revolves around sad men using casual affairs to provide the excitement that had left their marriages (hence my earlier quip). When fate throws a small spanner in the works, the fallout is both unforeseen and unfortunate, not just for the participants, but also for those in their orbits.
I had been concerned that, having watched many of the excellent television dramatizations, the books would read as old friends, rather than the sought for new experience. I need not have worried; the needs of the 'box in the corner', had seen enough changes to the storyline to ensure that the book was fresh. Indeed, I was surprised to find that, not only were the characters of the two detectives somewhat different to their screen versions, but that even Morse's car was not the beloved Jaguar, but a Lancia (whatever one of those may look like!).
The writing style, whilst very different to Hill's, maintains the easy knowledge of the English language and my dictionary was needed on a couple of occasions but, not enough to become an irritation. Not a replacement to my regular fall backs, but a new series to stretch their number.
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LibraryThing member jburlinson
Would it be fair to call this the grittiest of the Morse's? Each Morse novel has to be the most something; for this one, I plump for most gritty, or grittiest (which I believe is the correct [or most correct?] superlative version of this particular word). I think that works.
LibraryThing member elwyne
Decent mystery but much too "cute" about keeping the reader in the dark, which I found frustrating. None of the characters particularly likable or admirable. Also, being a present-day mystery, much too unpleasantly real for my taste. I won't be reading any more Dexter or Morse.
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
This was the first in the Inspector Morse series that spawned a successful television series (and a spin-off for his sidekick Lewis). The setting in Oxford is well-done, and the plot interesting, but I'm not particularly keen on Morse as a character.
LibraryThing member nmele
The plot is great, Dexter plays fair, the recurring characters are in the early stages of their development but recognizable, and Dexter's sense of humor adds a touch of levity, but this novel left me wondering whether I would read any more in the series--can't really say why that it, but that's my
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reaction.
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LibraryThing member Carol420
[Last Bus To Woodstock] by Colin Dexter
Inspector Morse series Book #1
3.5 ★'s

From The Book:
Beautiful Sylvia Kaye and another young woman had been seen hitching a ride not long before Sylvia's bludgeoned body is found outside a pub in Woodstock, near Oxford. Morse is sure the other hitchhiker can
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tell him much of what he needs to know. But his confidence is shaken by the cool inscrutability of the girl he's certain was Sylvia's companion on that ill-fated September evening. Shrewd as Morse is, he's also distracted by the complex scenarios that the murder set in motion among Sylvia's girlfriends and their Oxford playmates. To grasp the painful truth, and act upon it, requires from Morse the last atom of his professional discipline.

My Views:
Well I have to say that Inspector Morse is a better detective than "Yours Truly". As a police procedural it was okay. If I had not already been a fan of the TV series and if this book had not been the selection for a group read...and said group was one that I am very fond of...I more than likely would not have even rated it more than 2.5 stars. However...to its credit, the plot was sufficiently complex to keep me guessing...incorrectly I might add...until the very end.

I know that this was Colin Dexter's first novel in the Inspector Morse series and that the book was written in 1975, but the callous way that the author had the characters of Morse and Lewis deal with some gender issues just rubbed me the wrong way. Hopefully the Morse and Lewis characters will be better developed in the future books....but I don't think the next in this series will be a priority choice for reading materials for me.
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LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
It's very much of his time - there are some appalling views on rape expressed throughout the book, including three solid pages at the end of Part One that almost made me stop reading - but I've been bitten by the Inspector Morse bug and laughing at Morse is more than enough of a pleasure to keep me
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reading.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
3 1/2 stars. Morse seems a bit more scattered and unsure than I had pictured him from the dramatizations with John Thaw. The mystery is well-done and there was no "cheating" (when the author hides important clues from the reader). Looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
LibraryThing member ramrak
Woeful. Dated and sexist.
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Last Bus to Woodstock introduced the world to Oxford's Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis. Before I read this book, my knowledge of Morse and Lewis was based solely on the popular ITV series. I wanted to read at least one of the books that inspired three television series. I didn't expect to love
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this book as much as I did. While the book differs from the series in the physical descriptions of the characters (Lewis is actually older than Morse!), the characters' personalities and habits had a familiar feel. Morse is an unorthodox policeman, and the even-tempered Lewis is a perfect foil for him. I thought I might be satisfied to stop with just one book from the series, but I enjoyed this one so much that I'll likely read them all.
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LibraryThing member hobbitprincess
I am a big fan of the Inspector Morse TV series, so of course I had to try a book about the same man. This is the first book in the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was not disappointed at all. The book reads quickly without a lot of detail, which suits this series well. The writing style
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seems to reflect on Inspector Morse himself, being much like he is. I will definitely be reading more of these.
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LibraryThing member Bridgey
As most people will already know this is the first Morse book to have been released. Like me, I think most people will have discovered the books via the brilliant TV series with John Thaw.

I think I was lucky when I started as I couldn't remember the exact details of the story-line which meant I
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wasn't prepared for any of the twists and turns.

The plot is a fairly simple one, Sylvia Kaye and a friend are hitching a lift home from Oxford to Woodstock. Later in the evening Sylvia is found murdered in a pub car park. Morse is asked to investigate and soon discovers that not much is as it seems and a number of illicit affairs complicate the case even more.

The book was written in 1975 and the language is exactly as you would expect from a realistic police drama of that time. Morse is a proper mans man and not shy when it comes to sexist remarks, this may turn some people away from the book, especially given today's ultra PC generation, but I love it. It adds to the realism and also gives a portal into how things actually were back then.

Well worth a read and I will definitely read the next in the series.
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LibraryThing member Unkletom
The first book in the series that brought us the great television series starring John Thaw as the irascible yet brilliant Inspector Morse, a spin-off with Inspector Lewis and a prequel series, Endeavour, leaves me, well, underwhelmed. As a police procedural it is okay but not something that will
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remain long in my memory. To its credit, the plot was sufficiently complex to keep me guessing, incorrectly, until the very end.

I expected Morse to be quirky yet brilliant. I guess he was that but there were times when I was tempted to replace the word quirky with something more along the lines of unhinged.

What struck me, and other readers that I talked to, most about the book is that Dexter's treatment of gender issues is far from enlightened. Granted, it was written in the 1970s but I came of age back then and I don't remember the people I encountered being quite so -neanderthal - as the characters in this book are. Their thoughts about rape are frightening and the old idea that women who act or dress in a certain manner deserve what they get is, if not said outright, at least inferred more than once. One can make certain allowances for when a book was written but there are limits.

And if all that isn't enough, Morse doesn't even drive his signature burgundy Jaguar! He drives a beat-up old Lancia, whatever the heck that is.

I'm not sure at this point if I will read more Morse books. If I do, I will probably skip forward to a point where Collins writing, and Morse's character, are better developed.

My thanks to M.L. and the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group at Goodreads for creating the opportunity to read and discuss this book with other readers.
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LibraryThing member sarahlh
A great beginning to a stellar series. It's interesting to read Morse and Lewis meet for the first time and see their partnership develop over the course of a case. I felt bad for Morse's love life at the end - poor Chief Inspector!

Awards

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1975

Physical description

265 p.; 17.6 cm

ISBN

8779660266 / 9788779660267

Local notes

Omslag: Imperiet/Nete Banke
Omslaget viser kommisær Morse i skikkelse af skuespilleren John Thaw
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "Last bus to Woodstock" af Gerd Have
Morse, bind 1
Side 97: Nogle mennesker var fede fra naturens hånd - noget med stofskiftet, eller sådan noget. Men der var ingen fede mennesker i Belsen ...

Other editions

Pages

265

Library's rating

Rating

½ (389 ratings; 3.6)

DDC/MDS

813
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