From Publishers Weekly
One of Britain's most inventive and honored crime writers, Dexter ( The Jewel That Was Ours ) offers another tale in a justly acclaimed series. Again it's a story packed with nuance, wayward angles and bewildering layers of coincidence, all explicated in masterful style. When Oxford-based Inspector Morse sets out to find Karin Eriksson, a young Swedish woman who disappeared while vacationing in England, he opens a Pandora's box of clues and culpability. The missing woman's need for money, four men's need for pornography, and photographs, blackmail and multiple disappearances all play their part in this deliberately baffling mystery, in which virtually every chapter ends on an enigmatic note. Dexter even manages to cunningly subvert the narrative's basic framework toward the end, when Karin Eriksson's identity comes into question. The erudite, irascible Morse remains a delightful character, with his shambling existence, his love for music, his obvious appeal to lonely women despite his slovenly appearance. His pedestrian, loyal subordinate, Sgt. Lewis, buys most of the beers Morse consumes en route to the ultimate solution. Publication of this stunning work will coincide with the broadcast of another Morse adventure on the PBS Mystery! series. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


...Colin Dexter's playful wink at one of the English mystery story's cherished conceits: The detective, on holiday, finds himself mixed up in business as usual. On vacation at a seaside hotel, the ever grumbling Inspector Morse can't resist matching wits with the clue-dropping kidnapper (and possible killer) of a missing Swedish exchange student.


From AudioFile
Winner of the Crime Writers' Association (UK) Gold Dagger Award, this entry in the Inspector Morse series offers clues to the disappearance of a Swedish student through a riddle in verse. Lovers of crosswords and literary quotations will relish this complex case. "Morse" comes alive through Michael Pennington's presentation of the wry police inspector. His speech patterns perfectly capture Morse--that "conceited, civilized, boozy, sensitive man." Touches of bitterness, sarcasm and impatience are wonderfully conveyed through tone and inflection. Pennington seems to neatly capture the author's voice. The dialogue is lively, and Morse and Sergeant Lewis could entertain the listener indefinitely. R.F.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Vacationing Chief Inspector Morse's eye is caught by a Times story about an anonymous poem evidently referring to the year-old disappearance of Swedish student Karin Eriksson. A lively, densely allusive correspondence analyzing hints in the poem eventually takes Morse (The Jewel That Was Ours, 1992, etc.) to the Oxford town of Wytham, where a body is indeed discovered. But then the real surprises in this captivating tale begin, as the evidence of the corpse, a telltale roll of film found nearby, and the ring of amateur pornographers implicated in the murder obstinately refuse to confirm Morse's most elementary assumptions. Honest detection, illicit sex, puns and anagrams galore, Morse's trademark drinking and dour byplay with colleagues and suspects, plus a plot as agile as Dexter's best--in short, everything you could possibly want in an English detective story. Bolt the door and enjoy. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
"Cunning...Your imagination will be frenetically flapping its wings until the very last chapter."THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLDMorse is enjoying a rare if unsatisfying holiday in Dorset when the first letter appears in THE TIMES. A year before, a stunning Swedish student disappeared from Oxfordshire, leaving behind a rucksack with her identification. As the lady was dishy, young, and traveling alone, the Thames Valley Police suspected foul play. But without a body, and with precious few clues, the investigation ground to a halt. Now it seems that someone who can hold back no longer is composing clue-laden poetry that begins an enthusiastic correspondence among England's news-reading public. Not one to be left behind, Morse writes a letter of his own--and follows a twisting path through the Wytham Woods that leads to a most shocking murder.


From the Inside Flap
"Cunning...Your imagination will be frenetically flapping its wings until the very last chapter."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
Morse is enjoying a rare if unsatisfying holiday in Dorset when the first letter appears in THE TIMES. A year before, a stunning Swedish student disappeared from Oxfordshire, leaving behind a rucksack with her identification. As the lady was dishy, young, and traveling alone, the Thames Valley Police suspected foul play. But without a body, and with precious few clues, the investigation ground to a halt. Now it seems that someone who can hold back no longer is composing clue-laden poetry that begins an enthusiastic correspondence among England's news-reading public. Not one to be left behind, Morse writes a letter of his own--and follows a twisting path through the Wytham Woods that leads to a most shocking murder.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Already a bestseller in Britain, and winner of the Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year, The Way Through the Woods is the tenth Inspector Morse novel by Colin Dexter, and his finest so far. It displays all of Dexter's gifts for matching the taut plotting of classic British mystery with rich characterization and witty prose. As always, the central figure is Morse, the cranky, introverted, and intuitive detective whom critics have called the most intriguing sleuth at work today. When a young girl disappears on a hot summer's day just north of Oxford, Morse - to the irritation of his fellow policemen - insists she has been murdered. But without a corpse, how can he prove it? Twelve months later, the case remains unsolved. Then an anonymous letter appears at Thames Valley Police headquarters, containing a cryptic poem that the writer says is the key to the mystery. Morse is on a rare (and stressful) holiday in Dorset when he reads of the letter in the London Times. And so begins the most astonishing investigation even of Morse's unorthodox career. It will surprise no one that only Morse can solve the riddle of the poem. But even the closest reader will be startled by the twists and turns that lead The Way Through the Woods to its resolution.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

One of Britain's most inventive and honored crime writers, Dexter ( The Jewel That Was Ours ) offers another tale in a justly acclaimed series. Again it's a story packed with nuance, wayward angles and bewildering layers of coincidence, all explicated in masterful style. When Oxford-based Inspector Morse sets out to find Karin Eriksson, a young Swedish woman who disappeared while vacationing in England, he opens a Pandora's box of clues and culpability. The missing woman's need for money, four men's need for pornography, and photographs, blackmail and multiple disappearances all play their part in this deliberately baffling mystery, in which virtually every chapter ends on an enigmatic note. Dexter even manages to cunningly subvert the narrative's basic framework toward the end, when Karin Eriksson's identity comes into question. The erudite, irascible Morse remains a delightful character, with his shambling existence, his love for music, his obvious appeal to lonely women despite his slovenly appearance. His pedestrian, loyal subordinate, Sgt. Lewis, buys most of the beers Morse consumes en route to the ultimate solution. Publication of this stunning work will coincide with the broadcast of another Morse adventure on the PBS Mystery! series. ( Apr. )

AudioFile - Robin F. Whitten

Winner of the Crime Writers￯﾿ﾽ Association (UK) Gold Dagger Award, this entry in the Inspector Morse series offers clues to the disappearance of a Swedish student through a riddle in verse. Lovers of crosswords and literary quotations will relish this complex case. Morse comes alive through Michael Pennington￯﾿ﾽs presentation of the wry police inspector. His speech patterns perfectly capture Morse that conceited, civilized, boozy, sensitive man. Touches of bitterness, sarcasm and impatience are wonderfully conveyed through tone and inflection. Pennington seems to neatly capture the author￯﾿ﾽs voice. The dialogue is lively, and Morse and Sergeant Lewis could entertain the listener indefinitely. R.F.W. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Vacationing Chief Inspector Morse's eye is caught by a Times story about an anonymous poem evidently referring to the year-old disappearance of Swedish student Karin Eriksson. A lively, densely allusive correspondence analyzing hints in the poem eventually takes Morse (The Jewel That Was Ours, 1992, etc.) to the Oxford town of Wytham, where a body is indeed discovered. But then the real surprises in this captivating tale begin, as the evidence of the corpse, a telltale roll of film found nearby, and the ring of amateur pornographers implicated in the murder obstinately refuse to confirm Morse's most elementary assumptions. Honest detection, illicit sex, puns and anagrams galore, Morse's trademark drinking and dour byplay with colleagues and suspects, plus a plot as agile as Dexter's best—in short, everything you could possibly want in an English detective story. Bolt the door and enjoy.