Morse is a thoroughly convincing detective and a very humane one too. --The New York Times Book Review Valerie Taylor has been missing since she was a sexy seventeen more than two years ago. Inspector Morse is sure she s dead. But if she is who forged the letter to her parents saying I am alright so don t worry ? Never has a woman provided Morse with such a challenge for each time the pieces of the jigsaw start falling into place someone scatters them again. So Valerie remains as tantalizingly elusive as ever. Morse prefers a body--a body dead from unnatural causes. And very soon he gets one. . . . You don t really know Morse until you ve read him. . . . Viewers who have enjoyed British actor John Thaw as Morse in the PBS Mystery! anthology series should welcome the deeper character development in Dexter s novels. --Chicago Sun-Times Fascinating . . . Very satisfying. --Book Sellers