Valerie Taylor went missing 2 years ago. When what purports to be a letter from her arrives, Morse is assigned to re-open the cold case and if possible find her.

Lewis gets increasingly exasperated as Morse leaps from conclusion to conclusion based on little or no evidence. I knew how he felt. It does rather give the impression that Morse eventually stumbles across the truth by sheer chance rather than any powers of ratiocination. ( )

Overall I felt the writing was better and more engaging than the first book, however the ending of this is just abrupt, messy and unsatisfying. It felt less like Dexter finished the story and more like he just stopped writing. The characters were interesting, the mystery compelling and then it just stops with a sudden deluge of information in the last chapter that doesn't really resolve anything. I'm rating it 3 stars ("I liked it") because while it lasted it was good but I feel more like it's a 4 star book with a 1 star ending. ( )

A really solid detective novel. The mystery itself is entertaining, with enough red herrings and blind alleys to keep anyone guessing, but what really shines is the characterisation of Morse. Desperate, morose, not all that likeable but utterly believable he's a wonderfully readable character. ( )

I enjoyed this second of the Inspector Morse books almost as much as I enjoyed the first. I like that Morse is somewhat a flawed character - much like all of us. I did get a little lost in all the misconceptions that Morse had during the course of the investigation, so I was confused at times. I think Lewis and Morse make a good pair, and I look forward to reading the remainder of these books. ( )

I read most of the Morse novels over 30 years ago and then followed them up by watching the Morse TV series. I really hadn't realised, until I listened to this particular book, the extent of differences between the original books and what was done for television.

I got a little confused towards the end (or did I momentarily drop off to sleep?) with the result that I had to listen to the last hour again to be sure that I knew the way it all finished up.

LAST SEEN WEARING is #2 in the series and is full of red herrings and false threads. Morse leaps from one idea to another, often operating on a few dodgy facts, and drawing some shaky conclusions from them. He becomes very despondent after one theory after another bites the dust, but in the end he does get it right. It is a very wasteful way of doing detective work, and there is not much logic to it. All of this does make reading the novel a very academic exercise, and I guess that's what sets Colin Dexter apart from the rest.

But don't go away thinking that this Morse is the one you've seen John Thaw play.
He is a much coarser person, but I think by the time we get to later in the series some of these cruder bits have been toned down. ( )