Morse the Second

The second Morse book starts with a man who has interviewed to be the headmaster of a school in Oxford, the Roger Bacon Comprehensive School. He meets a girl at a bus stop, and they hook up. Like you do. The girl turns out to be from the school. Her name is Valerie, and a year later, she is missing.

Morse does not investigate the original missing person report. That was Chief Inspector Ainley, who was just killed in a car accident. Morse picks up the case, and wonders if there’s a connection between Ainley’s death and the girl’s disappearance. Plus, did the girl run away, or was she murdered?

Then a letter from Valerie arrives, saying she’s fine, in London, and doesn’t want to be found. How convenient. Then there’s another murder (isn’t there always?). Who did it? The headmaster? The French teacher who no longer works at the school? Was there an affair? Who was jealous of whom?

Morse does his standard suspecting all the wrong people before he finally works it out (of course).