The Secret of Annexe 3

by Colin Dexter

Published 30 October 1986
Much too early on New Year's Day, a grumpy Inspector Morse is summoned to investigate a murder at the Haworth Hotel. The victim is still wearing the Rastafarian costume that won him first prize at the hotel's New Year's Eve party; his female companion and the other guests in the annexe have vanished. It's a mystery that's a stretch even for Morse. But with pit-bull fervor he grabs the truth by the throat and shakes loose the bizarre secrets of a cold-blooded crime of passion. . . .

The Wench is Dead

by Colin Dexter

Published 26 October 1989
The body of Joanna Franks was found at Duke's Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22nd June 1859. At around 10.15 a.m. on a Saturday morning in 1989 the body of Chief Inspector Morse - though very much alive - was removed to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Treatment for a perforated ulcer was later pronounced successful. As Morse begins his recovery he comes across an account of the investigation and trial that followed Joanna Frank's death . . . and becomes convinced that the two men hanged for her murder were innocent . . .