Inspector Morse writer Colin Dexter dies age 86

Colin Dexter, the author of the hugely popular Inspector Morse novels, has died.

The 86-year-old died peacefully in Oxford, England, on Tuesday morning, his publisher Macmillan said, in a statement that paid tribute to the beloved writer.

“His is loyalty, modesty and self-deprecating humour gave joy to many,” his editor Maria Rejt wrote.  “His was the sharpest mind and the biggest heart, and his wonderful novels and stories will remain a testament to both.”

Everyone at Pan Macmillan is immensely saddened by the passing of the great Colin Dexter. pic.twitter.com/KHqBR8VAAu

— Pan Macmillan (@panmacmillan) March 21, 2017

 Morse wrote 13 best-selling novels about British detective Inspector Endeavour Morse, starting with Last Bus to Woodstock in 1975 and ending with the inspector’s death in The Remorseful Day in 1999.

 The books were turned into a long-running UK television series, with the fictional detective famously played by the late actor John Thaw, that proved to be one of the most popular TV detective series ever made.

Dexter himself had cameo appearances in all but three of the 33 episodes made between 1987 and 2000, according to Wikipedia.

In one episode, Promised Land,  Morse and his sidekick Sergeant Robbie Lewis, played by Kevin Whately, go to Australia to locate an informant. Filming for the 1990 episode was done in Canowindra, Cowra and Sydney in New South Wales.

 Speaking to the BBC after Dexter’s death was announced, Whately described author as “impish and bubbly and always fascinated with everybody and everything.”

 “We used to give him a little role, give him the odd line to say, but he was so awful at speaking and acting that we only let him walk through the shot,” Whately joked affectionately to BBC Oxford.

Dexter worked was a Cambridge University classics graduate who worked as a Latin and Greek teacher before becoming a full-time writer.

Like his character Morse, Dexter had type 2 diabetes, the BBC reported.

Did you love the Inspector Morse series? Which episode was your favourite?