A rather complex murder mystery I would say.

Quinn is offered the position at Oxford after much discussion, he is a deaf person you see. So he starts working there, putting to use his skill of reading lips perfectly to understand whats being said, to him, or otherwise. And that's how he is murdered. Who murdered him? He was no harm, right? He could not hear anything. Then what led to his murder. Inspector Morse is appointed to this case quickly, but it takes him much efforts to solve it. Meanwhile, another murder happens. Who is the killer?

As I mentioned above, this is a tangled story with a lot of characters. As and by the mystery unfolds, it becomes a little tedious to follow what exactly was done by whom, and when. Nevertheless it's understandable because the story is revised by Morse, for himself and for others in various ways quite a few times. We find that this particular culprit is quite clever in doing the deed, but he is not actually the murderer. Murderer could be anyone. But he not the one we are talking about in the novel. Morse keeps racking his brains until he reaches the truth. We want to know who the killer is, so we go on with the extremely tight plot, unable to tear away from it.

For me the writing style worked wonders. I loved it. The characters, though quite a handful, were well developed and well placed. The ending could have come quicker though, a few pages quicker actually, but Morse was shown to be revising the complete plot repeatedly. Anyway, whatever the author wishes. :)

People who love such murder mysteries, packed with wit and intelligence, must read this one.