I don't know if Colin Dexter was cheated on or if he has a low opinion of marriage, but he sure does like to write about adultery. Honestly, if I based my knowledge of Oxford on these books alone I would think there's a dead body around every corner and no one in Oxford is faithful in their marriage. 

Yet again, Inspector Morse is called to a murder scene where the body of Nicholas Quinn has been found in his home and apparently poisoned. The story goes on to involve a national testing syndicate, fraud, a pornography theater, and adultery. The murder and mystery made more sense in this book which is progress compared to the last two; however, the women are written so poorly. There's Monica who is sleeping with a married colleague and repeatedly lies to Inspector Morse about her whereabouts during a murder investigation. Morse is also incredibly judgemental towards her when he finds out about her relationship and lying, and I think he goes so far as to call her a tart. I think this reaction stems from Morse being attracted to this woman which is a theme. Morse is chronically attracted to women who never seem to work out for one reason or another but mostly because they are sleeping with married men.

Then, there's the wife of the murderer. Man, was this character annoying for the 3.5 seconds Morse interacted with her or what? He asks her if she cleaned up the blood, and she starts crying and saying she was told he was trying to help until the ambulance arrived. Like, honey, the man bludgeoned someone to death. I don't think that blood looked like he was trying to staunch flow but more like blood splatter. Also, when you realized it was murder turn that man in. Like, I'm all about "Live by the lie. Die by the lie," but I'm also about being loyal...to myself.

I do like how Nicholas Quinn's deafness is used in the story. The character is mostly deaf, and he has learned to lip-read to help him go through life. He is skilled in this area, and things he learns via this skill are a huge plot point. I am not a member of the deaf community; however, I really liked how this was handled in the book. Some of the characters were assholes about it which fit with reality where some people are assholes about things people cannot control. In the moments where Nicholas Quinn is not present but needs to be advocated for the characters that do, do so in a way that fits the time in which the book was written and published (1970's). Again, I'm not a member of this community, and I speak purely from my perspective as an able-bodied person.

 The mysteries are getting better and the Morse/Lewis relationship continues to amuse me, so I'm excited about the next book. We'll see if they continue to improve, or if Dexter plateaus. Who knows? I may just get sick of women sleeping with married men.