Good Inspector Morse mystery. Learn Morse's first name, Endeavor on last page.

In this penultimate book in the Inspector Morse series, Morse and Lewis investigate the seemingly motiveless murder of a young woman, shot through the blind-covered window of her kitchen by an intruder who came down the back alley behind the houses. Of course, it is Morse who realises eventually that it could have been a case of mistaken identity due to the house numbering.

Morse has a serious health issue which develops in this story but which, in his usual curmudgeonly fashion he tries to ignore as best as he can. He comes up with a number of theories as to who the murderer is, especially when another occurs, and with how it relates to a contest at Lonsdale College where two men and their wives are rivals for the position of the next Master. I'm not sure though that the character of the Master as portrayed, although sickening to Morse, is as obviously nasty as in the TV adaptation which I still remember some years after last viewing it.

There is a foreshadowing of the final novel here and an air of sadness especially over the fate of the young wife of one of the characters. But there is some nice interplay with subtle humour between the two detectives and once again Lewis' long suffering nature is to the fore. Morse finally reveals the secret of his first name in this volume, which was a long kept secret at the time. All in all, a solid and page turning 3 star read. ( )

First edition as new with remainder mark

Mr Dexter's Inspector Morse is called to solve the murder of a young woman & her neighbor soon becomes a prime suspect. But when the prime suspect ends up dead, Inspector Morse soon finds that not only blackmail was involved but also someone's secret is about to be exposed. Especially when a coveted Oxford University post is at stake. A cleverly devised scheme comes unraveled when an unexpected witness's statement leads to the killer. ( )

Excellent book. My 'first' Morse novel. Had a very interesting mystery and had me close to tears with all the diabetes stuff. But still, has me excited for the rest of the series! ( )