Diogenes Small (1797–1812) is a fictional character created by the English crime writer

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

in his

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

series of novels. The character, the supposed author of numerous historical and other works, does not appear in the novels although Dexter has used his quotations. One of the distinctive features of Dexter's

novels is the use of quotations as chapter headings, which began in the second novel in the series, '' Last Seen Wearing'' (1976); then in the fourth, ''

Service of All the Dead ''Service of All the Dead'' is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the fourth novel in his Inspector Morse series. Setting The novel describes a series of murders in and around St Frideswide's Church, Cornmarket, which corresponds to St Mary Magdal ...

'' (1979); and in the sixth, '' The Riddle of the Third Mile'' (1983) onwards. However, it was not always possible to find suitable quotations for every chapter, so many were simply invented by Dexter and attributed to non-existent sources, the most common of which was Diogenes Small.Dening, Penelope. "Morse CODE", 25 Nov 1995, ''Irish Times''. These appeared in the last five novels of the series: ''

The Jewel That Was Ours ''The Jewel That Was Ours'' is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the ninth novel in Inspector Morse series. This novel was written by Dexter after he wrote a screenplay for an episode titled ''The Wolvercote Tongue'' in series 2 of the television ...

'' (1991), ''

The Way Through the Woods ''The Way Through the Woods'' is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series. It received the Gold Dagger Award in 1992. The novel was adapted for television in 1995, as an episode of the ''Inspector Morse'' s ...

'' (1992), '' The Daughters of Cain'' (1994), ''

Death Is Now My Neighbour ''Death Is Now My Neighbour'' is a crime fiction, crime novel by Colin Dexter, the 12th novel in the Inspector Morse series. Plot summary At 17 Bloxham Drive, Kidlington, Oxfordshire, a pretty 29-year-old Physical therapy, physiotherapist named ...

'' (1996), and ''

The Remorseful Day ''The Remorseful Day'' is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the last novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel was adapted as the final episode in the Inspector Morse television series. Title The title derives from a line in the poem "XVI � ...

'' (1999). Over twenty years, Dexter created a lengthy bibliography for the fictional author, including ''Small's Enlarged Dictionary'', which apparently ran to at least 18 editions within Small's tragically short lifespan. From time to time, these quotations have appeared elsewhere, such as in newspapers with a "thought for the day" or "humorous quotes" feature, possibly because the contributors admired Dexter's conceit, or simply because they accepted the attributions at face value.

References

Inspector Morse Fictional writers {{novel-char-stub