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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
A murder; the investigation involves drug use and the underbelly of Oxford life
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Some
Some sexual content — affairs and illicit relationships
Substance Use
Some
Morse drinks heavily; drug use is part of the plot
Emotional Intensity
Some
The specific difference between Oxford's self-image and the life of the people who service it; Morse's awareness that the city's glamour rests on a less glamorous reality
What this book is about
Dr. Felix McClure, a classics lecturer at Wolsey College, is found dead in his apartment — stabbed. Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis investigate a cluster of suspects connected through McClure's private life, including the woman who cleaned for him and a young drug dealer. Colin Dexter's eleventh Morse novel is one of his most socially aware — it reaches into the community around Oxford's edges rather than its academic center — and the relationship between the various women who are 'daughters of Cain' gives the book an unusual thematic coherence.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
eleventh of the Inspector Morse series
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