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#39s boss He was also writing a book about his most memorable cases, including one about the unsolved death of an 8yearold girl some 18 years ago The suspect in that case, Frederick Redpath, was at Hillian#39s house the day he died and that chapter from the manuscript is missing There are other suspects however, including Hillian#39s ghost writer who will now receive all of the book#39s royalties a handyman who was working on the property and Redpath#39s 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#39s protégés, as they again look into the little girl#39s death
