Death Is Now My Neighbor (Inspector Morse)

Oxford, England.  A shot rings out in the early morning on Bloxham Drive. A young woman is murdered while having breakfast in her apartment.

At nearby Lonsdale College, the peaceful quadrangle seems insulated from the everyday realities of the entire outside world, let alone this recent murder.  Yet Lonsdale is not as tranquil as it appears.  The Master of the college is about to retire, and two senior dons, Denis Cornford and Julian Storrs, are discreetly competing  to succeed him. Meanwhile, their wives are involved in a more openly venomous competition of their own.

For Chief Inspector Morse and his partner, Sergeant Lewis, the murder investigation leads to a tabloid journalist, to the strip clubs of Soho, and, eventually, back to the university. A disturbing question rises to the surface:  Is the Mastership of Lonsdale worth killing for?
Amazon.com Review
Inspector Morse, the slightly cantankerous Oxford detective of BBC (& PBS) fame returns in Colin Dexter's intellectual thriller Death is Now My Neighbor. When the Master of Lonsdale College retires, two senior dons are left competing for the single spot that will be the penultimate position of their academic careers. A seemingly unrelated murder takes Morse and his partner Lewis from the strip clubs of Soho on a case that leads unexpectedly back to the manicured grounds of the Oxford college. This puzzling, stimulating, and thoroughly enjoyable British mystery, is chock full of antiquarian clues and literate allusions, making it a rewarding, stimulating read.