The Wench is Dead

The Wench is Dead

Infobox Book |
name = The Wench is Dead


image_caption = The cover of 1st edition
author = Colin Dexter
illustrator =
cover_artist = Matthew Cook
country = UK
language = English
series = Inspector Morse series, #8
genre = crime novel
publisher = Macmillan
pub_date = 26 October 1989 (1st edition)
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 200p. (hardcover edition)
isbn = ISBN 0333517873 (hardcover edition)
preceded_by = The Secret of Annexe 3
followed_by = The Jewel That Was Ours

"The Wench is Dead" is a historical crime novel by Colin Dexter, the eighth novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel received the Gold Dagger Award in 1989.

Plot introduction

In 1859, the body of a young woman was found floating in the Oxford Canal; her death led to a sensational murder trial and two men eventually hanged for the murder.

In 1989, Inspector Morse is recovering from a bleeding ulcer in Oxford's Radcliffe Hospital. To entertain himself, Morse browses through the books in the hospital's library and comes across an account of the investigation. The little book called "Murder on the Oxford Canal" tells the story of the murder of Joanna Franks aboard the canal boat "Barbara Bray". Morse is soon convinced that the two men hanged for the crime were innocent and sets out to prove it from the confines of his bed.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title of the novel comes from Christopher Marlowe's play "The Jew of Malta", the following quotation serves as the epigraph to the novel:

:FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed--:BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country;:And besides, the wench is dead.

References to actual events

Colin Dexter based the novel on the 1839 murder of Christina Collins as she travelled the Trent and Mersey Canal at Rugeley, Staffordshire. According to the dedication to the novel, it was Harry Judge, a "lover of canals", who introduced Dexter to the small book "The Murder of Christina Collins" by John Godwin, a local historian and former headteacher in Rugeley. The booklet gives many details of Christina’s early life and the criminal trial that followed her murder. Two boatmen were hung for the murder and a further boatman transported for his involvement.

Much of the research for the novel was carried out at the Willaim Salt Library. Dexter recalls that he spent "a good many fruitful hours in the library" consulting contemporary newspaper reports of Christina's murder. [http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/williamsalt/ColinDexter.htm]

Awards and nominations

"The Wench is Dead" won the British Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for the best crime novel of the year in 1989.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The novel was filmed as an episode in Inspector Morse (TV series) which was first aired on 11 November 1998.

Publication history

*1989, London: Macmillan ISBN 0333517873, Pub date 26 October 1990, Hardback
*1990, New York: St. Martin's Press ISBN 0312044445, Pub date May 1990, Hardback
*1991, New York: Bantam ISBN 0553291203, Pub date 1 May 1991, Paperback
*1991, London: Pan ISBN 0330313363, Pub date 12 July 1991, Paperback

ources, references, external links

* [http://www.crime4u.com/morwenchisdead.html The Real Life Murder of Christina Collins] at [http://www.crime4u.com/morsehompage.html The Inspector Morse Society]
* Bishop, David, "The Complete Inspector Morse: From the Original Novels to the TV Series" London: Reynolds & Hearn (2006) ISBN 1905287135
* Bird, Christopher, "The World of Inspector Morse: A Complete A-Z Reference for the Morse Enthusiast" Foreword by Colin Dexter, London: Boxtree (1998) ISBN 0752221175
* Mary Jean DeMarr (ed.), "In the Beginning", USA: Bowling Green University Popular Press (1995) ISBN 0879726733


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