Last Seen Wearing

Colin Dexter

Valerie Taylor left her home and her parents over two years ago. The missing person case has not been closed, although nothing new had occurred until recently. The police detective following up on her dies in an automobile accident. A letter to her parents tells them not to worry, she is alive. She also does not want to be found.

Inspector Morse is called onto the case after the other detective is killed. He follows the leads and suspects that Valerie is not alive, but dead. Someone has forged the letter, in his opinion, to allay suspicion. Three men from her old school seemed to know Valerie better than a schoolmaster/student relationship should be. There are secrets being hidden. Valerie's parents are an odd pair. Her mother seems to be living above their means. Her stepfather had always liked her. As she grew older, his attraction became more than father/daughter.

Valerie developed a sense of her own sensuality and sexuality. Morse is able to discover that she used both traits. Had those traits led to her death? Or is she alive and hiding? He has just enough facts to create plausible hypotheses, not enough to prove anything.

Unsettling, intriguing, earthy, attention grabbing - these are all good adjectives to describe this novel. Morse is no prim and proper detective, but a man like any other who happens to have a mind that can make intuitive leaps. This mystery is solved, then ravels apart again. The reader follows along and agrees. The only reason the reader knows the solution is not complete is because there is still a good portion of the book left. Yet even at the end, there is still more of the story that is left untold. The mystery is the story - Morse is the person who defines it as one to relay to us.

Notice: Non-graphic violence, Strong indecent language, Suggestive dialogue or situations

The Last Bus to Woodstock
Last Seen Wearing
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
Service of All the Dead
The Dead of Jericho
The Riddle of the Third Mile
The Secret of Annexe 3
The Wench is Dead
The Jewel that Was Ours
The Way Through the Woods
The Daughters of Cain
Death is Now My Neighbor
The Remorseful Day