Last Seen Wearing (Dexter novel)
Encyclopedia
Last Seen Wearing is a crime
novel
by Colin Dexter
, the second novel in Inspector Morse
series.
Two years after that Inspector Morse picks up the case following a road accident in which Chief Inspector Ainley was killed. A mysterious letter arrives apparently from Valerie, but Morse is convinced Valerie must be dead and tries to find out what happened on the day she disappeared. She went home from school for lunch and was last seen by a lollipop man carrying a bag. Morse discovers she was pregnant and suspects she had been sent off for an abortion.
The plot thickens when Reginald Baines, another teacher at the school, is found murdered at his house near Oxford Station. Three suspicious characters had been near his house—Mrs Phillipson, Valerie Taylor’s mum, seen wearing her distinctive cherry coloured coat, and David Acum, a French teacher who had taught Valerie’s last lesson. Morse also suspects Acum’s wife, but rejects this when he discovers she is living in North Wales and does not drive.
play Last Seen Wearing dramatised from the novel by Guy Meredith had John Shrapnel
playing Morse and Robert Glenister
as Lewis, with Miles Anderson
as Donald Phillipson, Melinda Walker as Sheila Phillipson, Donald Sumpter
as George Taylor, Frances Jeater as Gwen Taylor, Terence Edmond
as Reginald Baines, Tamsin Greig
as Valerie Taylor, John Hartley as Chief Supt. Strange, and Emily Woof
as Versatile Vera. The play was directed by Ned Chaillet
.
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Colin Dexter
Colin Dexter
Norman Colin Dexter, OBE, is an English crime writer, known for his Inspector Morse novels which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as a television series from 1987 to 2000.-Early life and career:...
, the second novel in Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse is a fictional character in the eponymous series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, as well as the 33-episode 1987–2000 television adaptation of the same name, in which the character was portrayed by John Thaw. Morse is a senior CID officer with the Thames Valley...
series.
Synopsis
A man, later known to be Donald Phillipson, goes for an interview in Oxford to be headmaster of a school, later known to be the Roger Bacon Comprehensive School in Oxford. At the bus stop a girl gets into conversation with him and later seduces him. She turns out to be a girl from the school, Valerie Taylor, and a year later she goes missing.Two years after that Inspector Morse picks up the case following a road accident in which Chief Inspector Ainley was killed. A mysterious letter arrives apparently from Valerie, but Morse is convinced Valerie must be dead and tries to find out what happened on the day she disappeared. She went home from school for lunch and was last seen by a lollipop man carrying a bag. Morse discovers she was pregnant and suspects she had been sent off for an abortion.
The plot thickens when Reginald Baines, another teacher at the school, is found murdered at his house near Oxford Station. Three suspicious characters had been near his house—Mrs Phillipson, Valerie Taylor’s mum, seen wearing her distinctive cherry coloured coat, and David Acum, a French teacher who had taught Valerie’s last lesson. Morse also suspects Acum’s wife, but rejects this when he discovers she is living in North Wales and does not drive.
Radio play
In 1994 the BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
play Last Seen Wearing dramatised from the novel by Guy Meredith had John Shrapnel
John Shrapnel
John Shrapnel is an English actor.Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel....
playing Morse and Robert Glenister
Robert Glenister
Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...
as Lewis, with Miles Anderson
Miles Anderson
Miles Anderson is a Zimbabwean actor. He has lived in England and America for the last 40 years.He was born in 1947 in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Educated at Prince Edward school, his father commanded the Rhodesian Army until dismissed by Premier Ian Smith for his stance against racism and a...
as Donald Phillipson, Melinda Walker as Sheila Phillipson, Donald Sumpter
Donald Sumpter
Donald Sumpter is a British actor. He has appeared in film and television since the mid 1960s.-Life and work:One of his early television appearances was the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Wheel in Space with Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. He appeared in Doctor Who again in the 1972 serial The Sea...
as George Taylor, Frances Jeater as Gwen Taylor, Terence Edmond
Terence Edmond
Terence Edmond was an English actor, who played PC Ian Sweet in 78 episodes of Z-Cars between 1962 and 1964....
as Reginald Baines, Tamsin Greig
Tamsin Greig
Tamsin Greig is an English actress principally known for two Channel 4 television comedy parts: Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books and Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing...
as Valerie Taylor, John Hartley as Chief Supt. Strange, and Emily Woof
Emily Woof
Emily Woof , is an English actress and author, known for her roles in such films as The Full Monty, The Woodlanders, Velvet Goldmine, Wondrous Oblivion, Silent Cry and The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse....
as Versatile Vera. The play was directed by Ned Chaillet
Ned Chaillet
Edward William "Ned" Chaillet, III is a radio drama producer and director, writer and journalist.Ned Chaillet, American by birth, was born in Boston, Mass. but is a "native of Washington" according to the New York Times. He has lived in Britain since 1973.His newspaper career began at the...
.
Sources, references, external links
- Bishop, David, The Complete Inspector Morse: From the Original Novels to the TV Series London: Reynolds & Hearn (2006) ISBN 1905287135
- Bird, Christopher, The World of Inspector Morse: A Complete A-Z Reference for the Morse Enthusiast Foreword by Colin Dexter, London: Boxtree (1998) ISBN 0752221175