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A year after her murder, the police re-open the case of Yvonne Harrison when they receive an anonymous letter implicating a burglar, Harry Repp, who is about to be released from prison. Supt. Strange assigns the case to DS Lewis, who is chafing at the bit awaiting his promotion to Inspector. Morse has been ill and has only just returned to work. He steps on Lewis' toes by involving himself in the case, but as the body count rises, Morse finds himself in charge of investigating a woman who had many affairs with many different men. When he learns that the dead men were in possession of large amount of cash, he suspects they were blackmailing her murderer.

Morse is taken seriously ill at a museum reception and is hospitalized. In the hospital, Supt. Strange, visits Morse to push him to take early retirement, while Dr. Millicent 'Millie' Van Buren gives him her book on a 140 year-old court case known as the Oxford Canal Murders. The case involved the murder and rape of a young woman, Mrs Joanna Franks, traveling by canal boat from Coventry to London. The case resulted in three boatmen being sentenced to death and two of them hanged. Morse starts to read Millie's book and dreams about it. He soon has a number of problems with the case.　　Why weren't the three men also charged with theft Why did Mrs Franks take a boat instead of a train that was much faster and comfortable and only slightly more expensive Why didn't she abandon the boat after she complained about lewd behavior of the crew at the shipping office in Banbury Why did she then drink and 'socialise' with the crew What happened to her 'carpet bag' with which she arrived on the boat but which was not mentioned in the court case, nor was it stored in the archives with her, almost empty, trunk The trunk was marked with initials of her first husband who had died. How did it happen that her shoes were found on the boat but nobody saw her return to the boat from the forest　　PC Adrian Kershaw does some brilliant leg work for Morse. He studied history and has invaluable background knowledge. For instance, he mentions that the boatmen had bad reputation because they worked on Sundays and did not attend church. Later a chapel was built for them in Oxford.　　The dead woman's clothes and the shoes found on the boat are submitted to modern forensic investigation. The result is that the shoes did not belong to the dead woman found in the water because she was much taller.The shoes were never used in the forest.　　Only Mrs Franks' husband, Charles Franks, was called to identify the body of the dead woman. He claimed that, while her face was darkened and disfigured, he found a birth mark behind her ear. The prosecutor welcomed that information that only a husband or a lover would know. The accused were not shown the body. The defense attorney merely claimed that the guilt of the three men was not proved. All three accused claimed to the end that they were innocent. One of them was not executed because he embraced Christianity in prison.　　Morse instructs Kershaw to investigate if Charles Franks benefited from his wife's death and, indeed, he pocketed 300 pounds insurance money. Case closed Charles Franks murdered a tall women and dropped her in the canal after meeting Joanna in the forest. If Joanna Franks jumped off the boat at the same time as the dead body hit the water, she swam to the bank and joined her husband. The couple changed their names, in the case of 'Charles Franks' a second time after he 'died' as Joanna's first husband. The fourth boatman, a youngster who was not charged, was probably paid by Joanna to give false testimony.　　Morse travels to Ireland and has a grave of Joanna's first husband exhumed. The coffin contains bags of sand and some stones.

Felix McClure, an Oxford University professor, is stabbed to death in his college study. Not only was he an expert in his field but he was one of the University's key fund-raisers. The investigation focuses on Brooks, a one-time cleaner for McClure who quit his college job abruptly after a student, Mathew Rodway, jumped out of a college window high on drugs. When Morse learns that Brooks' daughter was the object of affection for both Rodway and another student, he has another possible suspect. Brooks' wife also worked for one of McClure's friends and Morse uncovers a conspiracy that he may not be able to prove.

Henry Fallon, who is wheelchair bound and is suffering from a neurological disorder, apparently commits suicide and Morse has mixed feelings working on this case as he was once engaged to the dead man's wife, Susan Fallon. The body was found by his son-in-law Peter Rhodes, a local antiques dealer and the victim's wife was in London. When Fallon's doctor advises Morse that Henry didn't have the physical capability to hold a gun to his head, the police realize they may have a murder on their hands. When the police are told that the business arrangement between Fallon and Rhodes had fallen apart, they also have a suspect. Lewis is concerned that Morse is too close to Mrs. Fallon to be objective but in the end, the perpetrators are identified.

Steven Parnell, who was accused of murdering a number young girls the previous summer, is killed while in prison awaiting trial. Morse had not been involved in the case as he was on leave during most of that investigation. What piques Morse's interest is that one of the victims, Karen Anderson, was never found and it is assumed that her body was dumped in a nearby lake but Parnell confessed to his priest on his deathbed that he wasn't responsible for that particular murder. When one of the witnesses in the case, George Daly, is murdered, Morse and Lewis try to find some connection to Anderson's disappearance. They also wonder why Anderson's camera - she was an avid photographer - wasn't found. What they come across is a group of middle-aged men whose hobby is taking so-called glamour photos.

Morse finds himself the subject of a murder investigation when his friend, Beryl Newsome, is murdered at a rehearsal of the Magic Flute and he foolishly touches the murder weapon. Morse is suspended and DCI Bottomley, with DS Lewis assisting him, is put in charge of the case. Morse feels that he was set-up and looks to his past to see who, among the many criminals he arrested, might now be setting about seeking revenge. When someone scratches masonic symbols all over his car and he is reported for erratic driving, Morse wonders if Masons may somehow be involved. When a large number of his personal items are found in Beryl's apartment, Morse is placed under arrest.

Rachel James is shot through her kitchen window while having breakfast early one morning. She was having an affair with Dr. Julian Storrs, an Oxford professor who is a candidate for Master of Lonsdale College. When her next door neighbor is also killed however, Morse determines that the shooting of James may have been in error. Morse also suspects that he may have been a blackmailer. Both Storrs an his rival for the Masters position, Denis Cornford had secrets that would make them suspects. Morse determines that several others also had things to hide and any one of them could have committed the murders.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Charlie Hillian is killed on the night of his retirement party. Hillian was at one time a senior officer in Oxford and was in fact Morse's boss. He was also writing a book about his most memorable cases, including one about the unsolved death of an 8-year-old girl some 18 years ago. The suspect in that case, Frederick Redpath, was at Hillian's house the day he died and that chapter from the manuscript is missing. There are other suspects however, including Hillian's ghost writer who will now receive all of the book's royalties; a handyman who was working on the property; and Redpath's daughter, who knew the little girl who was killed all those years before. Morse comes into conflict with with a colleague DCI Dawson, who was one of Hillian's protégés, as they again look into the little girl's death.

Morse and Lewis investigate the death of Laura Poindexter, an American tourist who is part of an exclusive tour group visiting Oxford. Missing from her personal effects is her jewelry, including the Wolvercote Tongue which she was going to donate to the Ashmolean Museum. The pathologist determines that she died of natural causes, but Morse feels there's something not quite right. The mystery deepens when Theodore Kemp, the Ashmolean's expert on the Wolvercote Tongue, is found dead and Mrs. Poindexter's husband goes missing.

The disappearance of Sir Julius Hanbury - and the theft of several of his erotic paintings - provide a new puzzle for Morse to solve. Assisted by DS Lewis, Morse interviews everyone at Hanbury House and it is in the course of searching the grounds that he finds Sir Julius' body, appropriately enough, in the family mausoleum. The pathologist notes that he was the victim of a frenzied attack but the lack of blood at scene leaves the police to conclude that he murdered elsewhere. Sir Julius was a candidate to become the Master of an Oxford college and was known to have a have had a bitter rivalry with another candidate for the position. When Roger Meadows, a friend of the Hanbury's au pair, is killed in a car accident, Morse concludes that that he too was murdered. Jealousy, revenge and greed all play part in the deaths.