Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993                   TAG: 9305220049
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by Nan Seamans
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TWISTS AND TURNS MAKE MYSTERY A TREAT

"The Way Through the Woods" is like working through a tough crossword puzzle: A good dictionary comes in handy, and it can be fun even when you understand only two-thirds of the clues.

A poem sent anonymously to the Thames Valley police, employer of the Inspector Morse of PBS "Mystery" fame, generates renewed interest in a year-old unsolved missing-person case; foul play is suspected. Morse, on vacation, follows the correspondence that results when the letter is published in The Times, and provides his own interpretations once he returns to Oxford and is assigned the case.

The information needed to solve the case is, of course, all there. Morse's intelligence and introspection, along with his quirkily comprehensive knowledge of a variety of topics, make for a tale that is literate and entertaining. Any reader like myself will frequently be stretched to understand the given clue, even when it's staring you in the face.

I love it! Author Dexter makes me feel I know Oxford, and Inspector Morse makes me feel like I don't know anything! The story is wrapped up nicely with several excellent - and, once Morse explains, completely understandable - twists and turns.

This one is among the best of Dexter's Inspector Morse novels to date.

Nan Seamans is director of the Learning Resources Center at the College of Health Sciences.