Way Through the Woods

London: Pan Books Ltd, 1993. Very Good. One of Britain's most inventive and honored crime writers, Dexter ( The Jew el That Was Ours ) offers another tale in a justly acclaimed series. Again it's a story packed with nuance, wayward angles and bewildering layers of c oincidence, all explicated in masterful style. When Oxford-based Inspector Morse sets out to find Karin Eriksson, a young Swedish woman who disappeare d while vacationing in England, he opens a Pandora's box of clues and culpa bility. The missing woman's need for money, four men's need for pornography , and photographs, blackmail and multiple disappearances all play their par t in this deliberately baffling mystery, in which virtually every chapter e nds on an enigmatic note. Dexter even manages to cunningly subvert the narr ative's basic framework toward the end, when Karin Eriksson's identity come s into question. The erudite, irascible Morse remains a delightful characte r, with his shambling existence, his love for music, his obvious appeal to lonely women despite his slovenly appearance. His pedestrian, loyal subordi nate, Sgt. Lewis, buys most of the beers Morse consumes en route to the ult imate solution.