p 　　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 三九 s boss He was also writing a book about his most memorable cases, including one about the unsolved death of an 八-year-old girl some 一八 years ago The suspect in that case, Frederick Redpath, was at Hillian 三九 s house the day he died and that chapter from the manuscript is missing There are other suspects however, including Hillian 三九 s ghost writer who will now receive all of the book 三九 s royalties a handyman who was working on the property and Redpath 三九 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 三九 s protégés, as they again look into the little girl 三九 s death p