‘Service Of All The Dead’ by Colin Dexter is a crime mystery and a thriller involving investigation along with Morse as a lead inspector. Inspector Morse is a protagonist in many of Dexter’s novels. The story begins with the introduction of our characters with slow progress in paving the way for the plot, but it is when the second part begins, we have a sneak peek into the author's mind. Harry Josephs is married to a beautiful lady, Brenda Josephs, who has now developed feelings for the organ player of the church St Frideswide- Paul Morris. Paul Morris had lost his wife and lived with his only son, Peter Morris. Paul is also a teacher, and one of his pupils is into him; her name is Carole. Harry Josephs has retired and his license has been withdrawn by the county; he seems to be prone to gambling. Harry knows about his wife’s affair. Lionel Lawson, the reverend of St. Frideswide, has a brother, Philip Lawson, who is almost built like him. Part one slowly builds up the motives of certain individuals that will be clarified later in the story. Part one ends with Morris waiting for Carole but gets an unexpected emergency visit from Lionel.
The second part introduces us to our Inspector Morse, who seems to be planning for a vacation from his hectic schedule, but visits St. Frideswide, and there he learns about the death of Lionel, the reverend. Mrs Rawlinson, the help present at the church, gives him the paper cuttings of the case, which speak about the murder of Harry Joseph and Lawson, who committed suicide by jumping off the tower in the vicinity. The weapon used to kill Harry was the paper knife that belonged to Lionel. Bell, who had investigated the case, was Morse’s old friend. When Morse gets to know about the happenings of the case, he realizes that something is fishy and wants to look over those case files. He believes that his old friend had overlooked some detail. The new mystery sets in when Morse with his another old friend, Lewis, discovers a body which might belong to Paul Morris, but there is a possibility that there has been a change of clothes, to mislead the evidence to buy some time; but for what does the murderer need time? If Paul is dead, what happened with Brenda? What about Peter, who is not present in his school? What about that incident between Paul and Philip Lawson mentioned in the first part?
The story takes a slow start. Many paragraphs end abruptly in the first part, which is probably because the author didn’t want to educate us about the characters and desired to keep the suspense intact, which will guide the plot move ahead. I believe those abrupt endings could have been avoided or framed in a better way, but then after reading the climax carefully, the author offers clarity. Possibly, you might suspect that this book is not worth reading, but you should know that every author rewards that reader who keeps reading. There is always something around the corner, even if empty, it leads to something. Such is this story. Dexter has taken a hell lot of time to set in the story, and even the climax is quite lengthy, but it seems to be the demand of the plot. The time will come when you suspect the name, but you will find a twist that will lead to another twist and to confirm your doubts, you will have to read the climax where you will find your peace. The sentence formation is impeccable. The story is fascinating, but the compilation could have been better. These are solely my thoughts, and maybe you find it awesome. If compared with the thrillers of Agatha Christie, she writes smooth and better thrillers, but on the aspects of suspense, Dexter has done a remarkable job. There are more books in Inspector Morse's mystery. In this one, Morse is forty-seven and a bachelor.
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