A respected, dying Oxford don, husband of Morse's former fiancée, apparently shoots himself, but his doctor asserts that he was not capable of firing a gun.

The head of a wealthy but dysfunctional family is found bludgeoned to death in the family estate as Morse is forced to deal with the resultant media frenzy.

Morse looks to mix a little pleasure with business when he and Lewis are sent to Italy to look into the suspicious death of an English woman near Vicenza.

A convicted fraudster, one of three former business partners at an open prison, dies following an assault. Morse has to investigate the death while dealing with a brash subordinate and trying to avoid offending the prison authorities.

A new drug developed to combat senility is ironically being distributed to teens at all-night parties and driving some to suicide.