An extra-marital affair with a twist - Rated 
This is probably the funniest Inspector Morse mystery I have read so far.
What do you do if you are caught with your pants or your knickers down in an extra-marital affair?
Well, you have really two options. You can either kill your partner or you can kill your lover. This is roughly the story of this book in a nutshell. The actual murder takes place in the annexe of an Oxford Hotel but the option chosen is only revealed towards the end of the book. Although the people involved in the plot stay at the hotel under assumed names, Chief Inspector Morse works out the real name of the person at the centre of the plot and even though he explains his line of argument to Sergeant Lewis I found that argument a bit hard to follow. But the identification of that person does help him a lot towards solving this mystery.
A third option would of course have been for the person at the centre of the plot to get rid of both partner and lover and the book gives the impression that that is an option which may have been seriously entertained but whether this is indeed the case is again not revealed until the very end of this book.
Similarly to his other Inspector Morse novels I found this book a real page turner. I would assume that the purpose of these novels is not to write them in such a way that they can easily be adapted to television but rather to serve as enjoyment to the reader and I think Colin Dexter has again done an excellent job.
Revenge is best served Cold! - Rated
This is my second Morse novel, having recently read 'The Way through the Woods', and loving every bit of it. I bought 'The Second Inspector Morse Omnibus' and this was one of the novels in it. Well, basically, this novel is fantastic.
The murder is fast-paced and the action is swift and efficent. Dexter's skill with naration allows the reader to delve into the mind sof the characters (written realistically) and really feel part of the situation. The individual chapters even have their own specific date!
This novel is truely enthrawling and unputdownable. When the final revelation comes, the truth is enthrawling and amazing. Even if the final solution is a bit far-fetched, it's absolutely fantastic all the same. A fantastic couple of days reading. Sheer pleasure!
Dear oh, dear...what was he thinking? - Rated 
Having read a few of the 'Inspector Morse' books ,I was amazed/horrified that Dexter got this one past the publisher. It must be because his work is now such a surefire moneymaker that no one dare tells him when he churns out rubbish.This book goes to show you that in this day, this age, the author clearly reckons all black people look alike. NOONE who's ever looked at black/multiracial faces would try to get away with the premise that a white man blacking up as a Rasta(what else?) would fool everybody. The whole premise of this story rests on this. Black people in Oxford are obviously so rare in Oxford that the inhabitants don't know the difference. If you want to see where I think Dexter seems to have got his idea, watch Dan Ackroyd's performance in 'Trading Places'...or Al Jolson in 'The Jazz Singer'.This story is THAT bad- Slack, sloppy ,and deeply insulting. Why bother read any of his others? Rendell does a better job (most of the time).What's disturbing is that other reviewers should've and didn't pick up on this,clearly thinking it's just fine to praise ignorant nonsense because it's Colin Dexter slurry. A lesser known author would surely have been shot down in flames. The book IS a handy bathroom read...you'll never have to worry about running out of...essentials again if it's placed by the cistern.
Unfilmable early work - Rated 
You may have wondered why The Secret of Annexe 3 was never adapted for television. Almost certainly this was because it hinges on an unfilmable and ludicrously unbelievable situation of mistaken identity (obviously I can't say what) that no viewer would swallow - and yet the reader is expected to. In later Morse books, Dexter's style acquired some of the gloss and subtlety of the TV series; but this is an early work, its contrived plot padded out with pompous description and lengthy half-page asides about Oxford geography. Unless you're a Morse completist, ignore it.
Classic English Detective Novel - Rated 
A classic Inspector Morse mystery concerning the murder of a guest staying in the annexe of an Oxford hotel over the New Year period. The fact that all the guests were in fancy dress for the party on the night of the murder only complicates matters considerably. This novel could almost be used as a text-book on how-to-write-a-whodunnit by budding crime writers. Once again Colin Dexter's legendary skill in planting clues for the reader is on display to the full - he loves using clues planted in lists and in incongruous looking letters. By using a fancy dress ball he reverts to the old dictum of the Father of Crime, Edgar Allan Poe - Q. How do you hide something best? A. By placing it right before your eyes. A brilliant and hellishly devious criminal puzzle, outsmarting all but the great detective (of course!).
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