Sergeant Lewis gets to display his cricketing skills as a sub with the Clarets XI old boys' team when they gather for their annual match at Oxford, but Morse is called in when one of the team is murdered.

When an elderly Don apparently commits suicide, Inspector Morse is called in and finds he has a personal involvement in the case. The wife of the dead man is the woman Morse was engaged to be married to years ago.

The peaceful quadrangle of Lonsdale College seems remote from the shocks of the outside world - such as the shooting of a young woman in her North Oxford home. But things at Lonsdale are not as tranquil as they appear. The Master of the college is retiring, and two senior dons, Denis Cornford and Julian Storrs, are vying, discreetly but furiously, to succeed him. There are only two people to whom the coveted appointment means more than it does to...

A hard of hearing member of the examination board is found dead, which may be linked to the sale of exam answers.

For a year, the murder of Mrs. Yvonne Harrison at her home in Oxfordshire had baffled the Thames Valley CID. The manner of her death--her naked handcuffed body left lying in bed--matched her reputation as a women of adventuresome sexual tastes. The case seemed perfect for Inspector Morse. So why has he refused to become involved--even after anonymous hints of new evidence, even after a fresh murder? Sgt. Lewis's loyalty to his infuriating boss slowly...

Inspector Morse investigates a murder that occured in the 19th century.