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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A Victorian murder investigation; the historical crime involves a drowning
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Some
Morse's drinking causes his health crisis; he smuggles alcohol into the hospital
Emotional Intensity
Some
The pleasures of historical detection; Morse's compulsion to investigate even when physically confined
What this book is about
Inspector Morse is hospitalized with a peptic ulcer and given strict instructions to rest. He spends his time reading about a Victorian murder case from 1859 — a woman drowned in the Oxford Canal — and becomes convinced that the men hanged for the crime were innocent. Confined to his bed, he conducts his investigation remotely through library books and visitors. Colin Dexter's eighth Morse novel won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger and is the most formally inventive of the series: a historical mystery investigated by a present-day detective who cannot leave his hospital bed.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
eighth of the Inspector Morse series; won the CWA Gold Dagger
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