Death Is Now My Neighbour

Death is Now My Neighbour
Cover of the first edition
Author(s)	Colin Dexter
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Inspector Morse (#12)
Genre(s)	crime novel
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	24 September 1996
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	349
ISBN	0333675703
OCLC Number	35774113
Preceded by	The Daughters of Cain
Followed by	The Remorseful Day

Death is Now My Neighbour is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the twelfth novel in the Inspector Morse series.

Synopsis

At 17 Bloxham Drive, Kidlington, Oxfordshire, a pretty 29-year old physiotherapist named Rachel James is shot almost point blank through the closed shade of her kitchen window early in the morning of 19 February 1996. The shooting took place between 7:00 and 7:30 with a .577 caliber howdah or Lancaster pistol as the pony-tailed young woman was getting breakfast prior to heading to work, her head and upper body silhouetted in the window, as her assailant stood in her backyard.

Unfortunately, none of the other residents of Bloxham Drive can recall seeing anything suspicious that morning, including her immediate neighbour Geoffrey Owens at number 15, a newspaper reporter desperate for the scoop on this breaking news story that happened so close to his home.

Chief Inspector Morse, aided by Detective Sergent (DS) Lewis, soon discovers a cryptic 'seventeenth-century' love poem by John Wilmot and a photograph of Rachel with a mysterious grey-haired man, clues which lead them to the prestigious Lonsdale College, where the rivalry between Julian Storrs and Dr. Dennis Cornford for the position of Master, to replace Sir Clixby Bream, is about to turn deadly.

Morse goes to the extreme of employing a known house burglar and lock expert to learn more about Owens. Morse also diagnoses himself with diabetes, and, after he going to the local clinic to confirm his condition, is immediately placed in John Radcliffe Hospital for five days. He also divulges his Christian name, Endeavour (named after Captain James Cook's ship), for the first time in the series. At the conclusion of the novel, Morse's new love interest, Sister Janet McQueen (a nurse from the hospital), insists that he let Lewis know of his first name and convinces Morse to send Lewis a postcard, which he signs with his full name.

Publication history

• 1996, London: Macmillan ISBN 0333675703, Pub date 24 September 1996, Hardback

See also

Novels portal

• Death Is Now My Neighbour (TV) the TV episode

Sources, references, external links

• Bishop, David, The Complete Inspector Morse: From the Original Novels to the TV Series London: Reynolds & Hearn (2006) ISBN 1905287135