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#39;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#39;s house the day he died and that chapter from the manuscript is missing. There are other suspects however, including Hillian#39;s ghost writer who will now receive all of the book#39;s royalties; a handyman who was working on the property; and Redpath#39;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#39;s protégés, as they again look into the little girl#39;s death.