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Bionic Jean's Reviews > The Jewel That Was Ours
The Jewel That Was Ours (Inspector Morse, #9)
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A unique episode in the "Inspector Morse" canon The Jewel That Was Ours started out as an episode for television written by Julian Mitchell, entitled "The Wolvercote Tongue." "Inspector Morse" was a very popular TV series starring John Thaw as Morse and Kevin Whately as Lewis, who by the time of this episode were both well established in their character roles. "The Wolvercote Tongue" went to air in season 2 on 25th December 1987, and was only developed into a novel, his ninth in the "Inspector Morse" series, by Colin Dexter in 1991.
Writers, especially of detective fiction, often say that when a well-loved character is portrayed on television, the visual image of the actor, their familiar mannerisms and way the character is depicted then "feed into" subsequent books which they might write. But it must be a rare case where not only the actors' versions are well-established enough in the public's mind to influence the author, but an actual plot too! It is not clear who had the idea initially, but it says a lot for the skill of Julian Mitchell, who wrote and adapted several episodes in the TV series, that he should have captured the feel of the novels so well that Colin Dexter paid him the compliment of developing the idea in this way. The endings of the two stories, though, are quite different.
It has to be said that the first third of the novel falls a little flat, especially coming straight on the heels of the excellent "The Wench is Dead" which had won a gold dagger award. It starts with three hosts who are preparing to welcome an exclusive tour group of Americans to the elegant Randolph Hotel in Oxford. Sheila Williams is a liaison and event organiser for the university. She has been having an affair with another of the organisers, Dr. Theodore Kemp, who is the curator of the Ashmolean Museum. We enter the story at the point where it looks as if Kemp has broken this off. The third host is the tour's leader, John Ashendon. Among the tourists in the exclusive party are Eddie Stratton and his wife, Laura, Phil Aldrich, Janet Roscoe, a vociferous and opinionated woman, Howard and Shirley Brown, Sam and Vera Kronquist and Nancy Wiseman.
The first part of the novel revolves around the death of Laura Stratton, who is found dead in her room at the Randolph Hotel, shortly after the group has arrived. Her handbag, in which she has been keeping the Wolvercote Tongue, has been stolen. The "Wolvercote Tongue" forms part of a jewelled Saxon belt buckle, and Laura had been intending to donate it to the Ashmolean museum during the tour, thereby fulfilling her late husband's wishes. Her first husband had been fairly wealthy, a "middle-bracket philanthropist" who had willed much of his precious collection to museums. The high point of the group's tour of Oxford was to be Laura Stratton's presentation of the Wolvercote Tongue, which obviously now had to be cancelled. In the meantime Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis investigate the theft as rifts, rivalries and resentments reveal themselves between the organisers.
In part two of the book, (view spoiler)
The banter between Morse and the pathologist Max is a joy to read. The reader gets a sense that both men are committed professionals in their own field, and equally disparaging of the foolish ambition of the younger pathologist who had originally been assigned to the case. They are comfortable in their curmudgeonly companionship, pretending to disparage the other's work at every opportunity, and competing for excellence, although they function in different spheres. In fact, of course, they secretly have a high mutual regard for each other, and since we are also aware of this, the sections involving both Max and Morse prove very entertaining.
This is also true of the dynamics of how Morse and Lewis relate to each other. Dexter shows their dependence on one another on many occasions. Morse makes the deductions that lead to the real solution of the case, but Lewis, through his dogged persistence, gets some important evidence. They work as a very effective team as they conduct interviews with all the key figures, track down leads, and follow the investigation. We see how much Morse relies on Lewis. As Morse says,
"We've seldom had so many clues, have we? But I can't help feeling we've missed out all the really vital ones..."
Yet again we witness how inspired and brilliant Morse is, through Lewis's admiration, when he,
"wondered about what was going on in Morse's mind at that moment; the reading of the clues, those clues to which no one else could see the answers; those glimpses of motive that no one else could ever have suspected; those answers to the sort of questions that no one else had even begun to ask...."
but we can also see Morse's flaws. Yet again, Morse soon finds himself very much attracted to one of the people he is investigating - the slightly boozy and blowsy Sheila Williams. In this case it is a little different, as his feelings are reciprocated. At first, he resists her very blatant invitation, but clearly feels a conflict between his feelings for her and his sense of duty to investigate her as a murder suspect. This is a very human side to Morse's character, which is becoming increasingly evident in the novels. We also observe Morse's surge of jealousy and disappointment in the final scene of the novel, when he sees Sheila openly flirting with another man. Yet women are still continually attracted to him. One minor female character observes with approval, "the man spoke more like a don than a detective." It has to be said however, that this does conflict somewhat with the coarse style of flirting Morse indulges in with Sheila Williams in the taxi, which would be more in keeping with a different kind of personality.
We are repeatedly told that Lewis gets a kick out of working alongside Morse, admiring his intellectual prowess despite all his personality flaws,
"That was one of the big things he admired most about the man, that ability to leap ahead of the field almost from the starting-stalls. albeit occasionally finding himself on completely the wrong race-course... Morse appeared to believe... that Lewis could sometimes spot something in the stretches ahead that Morse himself had missed... It was ridiculous of course..."
It is almost par for the course now that Morse follows a line of reasoning that leads him to the wrong conclusion. He is so convinced that he has identified the killer that will not listen to the suspect's protestations of innocence - to the great surprise of the new WPC who is taking notes. It is Lewis who phones him with the conclusive evidence that Morse's theory is wrong, and Lewis who is given credit by Morse at the end, when Morse has all his suspects gathered together to tell them (and his readers) the explanation.
For collectors of Morse trivia, the author says Morse is 55 years old in this novel, and it is clear at one point that he has been heavily involved in betting on the horses when he was younger, and since he is now vehemently opposed to the activity, the reader supposes it did not end well. We also learn that Lewis did a fair amount of boxing in his younger days, and was quite good at it.
(view spoiler) Every character on the tour seems to be not only hiding something, but to have a secret ulterior motive for being on the tour, rather than mere literary interest! This part of the story demands rather too much credulity on the part of the reader.
Morse and Lewis slowly unravel the tissue of lies, deceptions and faked alibis and finally uncover a complex plot (view spoiler)
As the novel progresses we do find that some of the characters become more fleshed out and believable. One relationship was not as it seemed, and at least one character was acting a part, and was not the "perpetually belly-aching little lady from California" she appeared to be.
The creative explanation of this jigsaw puzzle in the final third of the book is the most fascinating part of the story. The original title of "The Wolvercote Tongue" had seemed the more distinctive of the two, but by the end of the book it is clear that "The Jewel That Was Ours" is far better. There is the first, obvious reference, to the Wolvercote Tongue. Then there is another, very poignant one. And right at the end of the book, a third meaning, a secret known to only one character, which is sneakily slipped in by the author. Colin Dexter often seems to like to do this, either an ambiguity to tease the reader, or a final little twist, or here as a kind of triple entendre. It is one of the stylistic touches of this series, such as the apt literary quotation which each chapter is headed by. The chapters are then grouped into three or four "parts" comprising the entire novel.
So by the end of the book, this novel has redeemed itself, offering us a satisfying intellectual puzzle to solve. As is often the case in Inspector Morse novels, trivial conversations, misheard words and seemingly insignificant facts turn out to be very important. Characters turn out to be more interesting than they had at first appeared, a few more tidbits are revealed in the back story and always intriguing is the continuing developing interaction between Morse and Lewis. The best compliment is probably to say that as the story progresses it does take on a life of its own, and the reader forgets that it has been rewritten from a television episode, because it has metamorphosed into something else, something different and satisfying on its own terms.
Writers, especially of detective fiction, often say that when a well-loved character is portrayed on television, the visual image of the actor, their familiar mannerisms and way the character is depicted then "feed into" subsequent books which they might write. But it must be a rare case where not only the actors' versions are well-established enough in the public's mind to influence the author, but an actual plot too! It is not clear who had the idea initially, but it says a lot for the skill of Julian Mitchell, who wrote and adapted several episodes in the TV series, that he should have captured the feel of the novels so well that Colin Dexter paid him the compliment of developing the idea in this way. The endings of the two stories, though, are quite different.
It has to be said that the first third of the novel falls a little flat, especially coming straight on the heels of the excellent "The Wench is Dead" which had won a gold dagger award. It starts with three hosts who are preparing to welcome an exclusive tour group of Americans to the elegant Randolph Hotel in Oxford. Sheila Williams is a liaison and event organiser for the university. She has been having an affair with another of the organisers, Dr. Theodore Kemp, who is the curator of the Ashmolean Museum. We enter the story at the point where it looks as if Kemp has broken this off. The third host is the tour's leader, John Ashendon. Among the tourists in the exclusive party are Eddie Stratton and his wife, Laura, Phil Aldrich, Janet Roscoe, a vociferous and opinionated woman, Howard and Shirley Brown, Sam and Vera Kronquist and Nancy Wiseman.
The first part of the novel revolves around the death of Laura Stratton, who is found dead in her room at the Randolph Hotel, shortly after the group has arrived. Her handbag, in which she has been keeping the Wolvercote Tongue, has been stolen. The "Wolvercote Tongue" forms part of a jewelled Saxon belt buckle, and Laura had been intending to donate it to the Ashmolean museum during the tour, thereby fulfilling her late husband's wishes. Her first husband had been fairly wealthy, a "middle-bracket philanthropist" who had willed much of his precious collection to museums. The high point of the group's tour of Oxford was to be Laura Stratton's presentation of the Wolvercote Tongue, which obviously now had to be cancelled. In the meantime Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis investigate the theft as rifts, rivalries and resentments reveal themselves between the organisers.
In part two of the book, (view spoiler)
The banter between Morse and the pathologist Max is a joy to read. The reader gets a sense that both men are committed professionals in their own field, and equally disparaging of the foolish ambition of the younger pathologist who had originally been assigned to the case. They are comfortable in their curmudgeonly companionship, pretending to disparage the other's work at every opportunity, and competing for excellence, although they function in different spheres. In fact, of course, they secretly have a high mutual regard for each other, and since we are also aware of this, the sections involving both Max and Morse prove very entertaining.
This is also true of the dynamics of how Morse and Lewis relate to each other. Dexter shows their dependence on one another on many occasions. Morse makes the deductions that lead to the real solution of the case, but Lewis, through his dogged persistence, gets some important evidence. They work as a very effective team as they conduct interviews with all the key figures, track down leads, and follow the investigation. We see how much Morse relies on Lewis. As Morse says,
"We've seldom had so many clues, have we? But I can't help feeling we've missed out all the really vital ones..."
Yet again we witness how inspired and brilliant Morse is, through Lewis's admiration, when he,
"wondered about what was going on in Morse's mind at that moment; the reading of the clues, those clues to which no one else could see the answers; those glimpses of motive that no one else could ever have suspected; those answers to the sort of questions that no one else had even begun to ask...."
but we can also see Morse's flaws. Yet again, Morse soon finds himself very much attracted to one of the people he is investigating - the slightly boozy and blowsy Sheila Williams. In this case it is a little different, as his feelings are reciprocated. At first, he resists her very blatant invitation, but clearly feels a conflict between his feelings for her and his sense of duty to investigate her as a murder suspect. This is a very human side to Morse's character, which is becoming increasingly evident in the novels. We also observe Morse's surge of jealousy and disappointment in the final scene of the novel, when he sees Sheila openly flirting with another man. Yet women are still continually attracted to him. One minor female character observes with approval, "the man spoke more like a don than a detective." It has to be said however, that this does conflict somewhat with the coarse style of flirting Morse indulges in with Sheila Williams in the taxi, which would be more in keeping with a different kind of personality.
We are repeatedly told that Lewis gets a kick out of working alongside Morse, admiring his intellectual prowess despite all his personality flaws,
"That was one of the big things he admired most about the man, that ability to leap ahead of the field almost from the starting-stalls. albeit occasionally finding himself on completely the wrong race-course... Morse appeared to believe... that Lewis could sometimes spot something in the stretches ahead that Morse himself had missed... It was ridiculous of course..."
It is almost par for the course now that Morse follows a line of reasoning that leads him to the wrong conclusion. He is so convinced that he has identified the killer that will not listen to the suspect's protestations of innocence - to the great surprise of the new WPC who is taking notes. It is Lewis who phones him with the conclusive evidence that Morse's theory is wrong, and Lewis who is given credit by Morse at the end, when Morse has all his suspects gathered together to tell them (and his readers) the explanation.
For collectors of Morse trivia, the author says Morse is 55 years old in this novel, and it is clear at one point that he has been heavily involved in betting on the horses when he was younger, and since he is now vehemently opposed to the activity, the reader supposes it did not end well. We also learn that Lewis did a fair amount of boxing in his younger days, and was quite good at it.
(view spoiler) Every character on the tour seems to be not only hiding something, but to have a secret ulterior motive for being on the tour, rather than mere literary interest! This part of the story demands rather too much credulity on the part of the reader.
Morse and Lewis slowly unravel the tissue of lies, deceptions and faked alibis and finally uncover a complex plot (view spoiler)
As the novel progresses we do find that some of the characters become more fleshed out and believable. One relationship was not as it seemed, and at least one character was acting a part, and was not the "perpetually belly-aching little lady from California" she appeared to be.
The creative explanation of this jigsaw puzzle in the final third of the book is the most fascinating part of the story. The original title of "The Wolvercote Tongue" had seemed the more distinctive of the two, but by the end of the book it is clear that "The Jewel That Was Ours" is far better. There is the first, obvious reference, to the Wolvercote Tongue. Then there is another, very poignant one. And right at the end of the book, a third meaning, a secret known to only one character, which is sneakily slipped in by the author. Colin Dexter often seems to like to do this, either an ambiguity to tease the reader, or a final little twist, or here as a kind of triple entendre. It is one of the stylistic touches of this series, such as the apt literary quotation which each chapter is headed by. The chapters are then grouped into three or four "parts" comprising the entire novel.
So by the end of the book, this novel has redeemed itself, offering us a satisfying intellectual puzzle to solve. As is often the case in Inspector Morse novels, trivial conversations, misheard words and seemingly insignificant facts turn out to be very important. Characters turn out to be more interesting than they had at first appeared, a few more tidbits are revealed in the back story and always intriguing is the continuing developing interaction between Morse and Lewis. The best compliment is probably to say that as the story progresses it does take on a life of its own, and the reader forgets that it has been rewritten from a television episode, because it has metamorphosed into something else, something different and satisfying on its own terms.
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It surprised me too, Pat! And thank you very much :)
An absolutely brilliant review, Jean. I loved all that you shared with us.
Thank you so much, H :)
Excellent review that deserves more attention.
Thank you so much, Mark and James!
The comment of a televised version of a character feeding into the the author's imagination of the character is fascinating. Never thought of that, but the written and visual images definitely feed into a reader's imagination.
Jen wrote: "The comment of a televised version of a character feeding into the the author's imagination of the character is fascinating. Never thought of that, but the written and visual images definitely feed..."Yes, it must be similar to that. It's not often that an author will "admit" to it, but Colin Dexter did. And in any modern dramatised series it could be a possibility.
Pat