Chief Superintendent Strange's opinion was that too little progress had been made since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. Yet the police had no weapon, no suspect, no motive.
Colin Dexter's brain-teasing whodunit unravels a complex web of deceit and betrayal in the upper echelons of Oxford academia. At the centre of this web is the murder of a young woman, Rachel James, shot from close range through her kitchen window.
The murder of Yvonne Harrison at her home in the Cotswold village of Lower Swinstead has left Thames Valley CID baffled. A year after the dreadful crime, they are still no nearer to making an arrest. But one man has yet to tackle the case - and it is just the sort of puzzle at which Chief Inspector Morse excels.
Chief Inspector Morse seldom allowed himself to be caught up in New Year Celebrations. So a murder inquiry in a festive hotel had a certain appeal. It was a crime worthy of the season. The corpse was still in fancy dress. And hardly a single guest at the Haworth had registered under a genuine name.
The body of Joanna Franks was found at Duke's Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22nd June 1859. At around 10.15 a.m. on a Saturday morning in 1989, the body of Chief Inspector Morse, though very much alive, was removed to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. As Morse begins his recovery, he comes across an account of the investigation and trial that followed Joanna Frank's death...and becomes convinced that the two men hanged for her murder were innocent.
The thought suddenly occurred to Morse that this would be a marvellous time to murder a few of the doddery old bachelor dons. No wives to worry about their whereabouts; no landladies to whine about the unpaid rents. In fact nobody would miss most of them at all.
The murder of a deaf academic in his North Oxford home is the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford colleges.
The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault, and rape. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key.
Chief Inspector Morse was alone among the congregation in suspecting continued unrest in the quiet parish of St Frideswide's. Most people could still remember the churchwarden's murder. A few could still recall the murderer's suicide. Now even the police have closed the case - until a chance meeting among the tombstones reveals startling new evidence of a conspiracy to deceive.
How can the discovery of a short story by a beautiful Oxford graduate lead Chief Inspector Morse to her murderer? What awaits Morse and Lewis in Room 231 of the Randolph hotel? Why does a theft at Christmas lead the detective to look upon the festive season with uncharacteristic goodwill? And what happens when Morse himself falls victim to a brilliantly executed crime?
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