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April 30

Who killed Theodore Kemp

Hi, I'm trying to solve a puzzle that involves the Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter. The question I need answering is, who killed Theodore Kemp in Dexter's ninth Inspector Morse book, "The Jewel That Was Ours"? I understand the plot is significantly different from the televised version of the same story. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks. 86.149.62.139 (talk) 01:55, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is an analysis of this story in the book Mayhem and Murder: Narrative And Moral Problems in the Detective Story by Heta Pyrhnen (Google Books link) – see page 105 in the chapter "Fitting the Solution to the Mystery". --Canley (talk) 11:56, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The OP's question sounds familiar. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:16, 1 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This is the only Morse story where the TV version (aired 1987) preceded the book (published 1991.) When Dexter decided to write the novel he changed the murderer and a few other plot points so as not to have the book be just an adaptation of the TV episode. MarnetteD | Talk 22:45, 1 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

But having TV episodes be adaptations of books is OK. Why the different attitudes depending on the direction? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 08:14, 2 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well one guess is that anyone can write an adaptation. Dexter, as a life long crossword lover, liked the intricacies of plot development and might have wanted to change things so that you still had to try and solve the murder as you read the book. Maybe he thought where is the challenge in reading a about a murder where you already know who the killer is. Now this is just WP:SPECULATION on my part and it is based on interviews I have read/heard with Dexter over the years. One other possibility is that he would have had to pay Julian Mitchell some kind of rights and/or royalties fees if he had done a straight retelling of his story. As I say this is all guesswork and the real reason could be something else entirely. MarnetteD | Talk 23:44, 2 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have the book right here, but I don't have access to the episode, so I have no idea how they differ. In any case, in the book Kemp is killed by Phil Aldrich or Janet Roscoe (who turns out to be his wife), with it being unclear who actually dealt the fatal blow. In addition, there are several accomplices. 84.106.222.101 (talk) 19:41, 4 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Academy Award for Best Picture

Academy Award for Best Picture may need a lot of work. An IP on the talk page says it is very wrong. I don't have time to check all the sources going back to 1927. Should we each take a decade and check them?--Canoe1967 (talk) 20:46, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This would be something better discussed on the article's talk page instead of on the Reference Desk. --McDoob AU93 21:32, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It was simply IP vandalism earlier in the day. It has been reverted. See Help:Reverting. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:52, 1 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]