Last Seen Wearing
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
‘A giant among fictional detectives’ – The Times
Last Seen Wearing is the second Inspector Morse novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series.
Why now? Why Friday 12th September – two years, three months and two days after Valerie Taylor had left home to return to afternoon school?
He frowned. ‘Something’s turned up, I suppose.’
Strange nodded. ‘Yes.’
After leaving her home in Oxford to return to school in London, seventeen-year-old Valerie Taylor completely vanished. Despite the efforts of the police and Chief Inspector Ainley, the trail went cold and she was never found.
Two years on, Ainley is dead, and Inspector Morse is handed the case. But now, someone has decided to supply some surprising new evidence . . .
Last Seen Wearing is followed by the third Inspector Morse book, The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally published in 1952, this entry in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series from MWA Grand Master Waugh (1920 2008) stands as one of the first and best police procedurals. On Mar. 3, 1950, 18-year-old Lowell Mitchell, a freshman at Parker College in Bristol, Mass., vanishes. The police investigation unfolds over five weeks, from Lowell's disappearance to the case's resolution. Though there's not much action, Waugh builds suspense by raising doubts about motive and character. Did Lowell run away? Is she dead? The search for answers to these and other questions will keep readers turning the pages, though some will be put off by the cruelly casual sexism: "girls" only go to college to find a husband, and the "only reasonable explanation" for a teenage girl's disappearance is her sneaking off to have an illegal abortion. Series editor Leslie Klinger's annotations offer fascinating insights into the postwar milieu. Those looking for a period mystery where ordinary cops are the good guys will be rewarded.
