The Way Through the Woods
Cover of the first edition
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| Author | Colin Dexter |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Inspector Morse series, #10 |
| Genre | crime novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
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Publication date
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9 October 1992 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 288p. |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 29430663 |
| 823/.914 20 | |
| LC Class | PR6054.E96 W3 1992 |
| Preceded by | The Jewel That Was Ours |
| Followed by | The Daughters of Cain |
The Way Through the Woods is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series. It received the Gold Dagger Award in 1992.
The plot deals with the search for a beautiful young Swedish woman who went missing a year earlier. An anonymous riddle, in the form of a five-stanza poem, is sent to the police and the case is reopened. The police ask The Times for help with the poem. Morse and Sergeant Lewis are put in charge of the new investigation.
The novel was adapted for television in 1995, as an episode of the Inspector Morse series.
Morse is intrigued by a cryptic clue relating to missing Karin Eriksson, which is taken to mean she has been murdered. He is given the case and notes that the clue seems to include a reference to Wytham Woods, where he believed the police should have searched in the first place. The police search the area with help from head forester David Michaels and a body is found but it's a man.
Morse and Lewis talk to George Daley, who found Karin's bag. His wife Margaret gives them some photos developed from Karin's camera, showing a young man and a house, but tears up some more showing Karin naked. Morse identifies the house in the photo but the tenant, McBryde, disappears before he can be questioned. Morse and Lewis find the house was being used to make pornographic films and the client list includes Daley and a local lecturer, Alan Hardinge. Daley is found dead in the woods. Michaels is suspected but was showing some RSPB representatives around at the time, since the gatewarden recalls when Daley entered the woods.
The first body turns out to be Doctor Myton, the man in the photographs. Hardinge admits that Myton was taking photographs of Karin in private at the house but when the others in the house checked on them they were both dead. He, McBryde, Daley and Michaels conspired to hide the bodies. Morse, however, realises this is a lie and Karin is still alive.
Daley's son Phillip commits suicide but has an alibi for his father's murder. Morse and Lewis speak to Michaels' wife Cathy and realise she is Karin. She killed Myton when he tried to rape her and was sheltered by Michaels, who persuaded the others to cover the matter up. Morse realises Michaels killed Daley and then had Cathy dress up as him and drive to the woods to hide the body, in order to give himself an alibi. Lewis learns Morse sent the cryptic clue in the first place.
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