Summary: This installment in the Morse series is conventional in the sense that the plot involves homicides, one actual and the other attempted. However, this mystery is unusual in that the viewer is exposed more intimately to the emotional side of Inspector Morse. The mystery begins with the discovery of a dead journalist (Neville Grimshaw) who had been shot to death. At the time of his death, Grimshaw had been gathering information about Andrew Baydon, a wealthy man who claimed to have been a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Baydon is in Oxford to receive an honorary degree, granted to him based upon his offer of an endowment sufficient to create a new college and fund several vacant academic positions. In addition to Baydon, an honorary degree has also been offered to Gwladys Provert, a renowned opera singer and a personal favorite of Morse. When Provert is shot and wounded during the degree conferment processional, Morse initially reacts with stunned paralysis, unable to do much more than watch as Sergeant Lewis secures the crime scene. Morse has an idealized conception of Provert as a brilliant and virtuous artist; therefore, he is unable to comprehend why anyone would choose to deprive the world of her talents. As Morse recovers his professional focus, he has to consider whether the murder of the journalist and the attempted murder of Provert are somehow linked. It is only after Morse concludes that the shooting of Provert was unintentional that the investigation proceeds in the right direction and culminates in identification of the perpetrators and their motives. One of the themes dealt with in this mystery involves the extreme actions some will undertake to preserve a finely cultivated public image. This mystery has its genuinely poignant moments, especially when Morse learns that the image Provert projects to the public is far different from the reality of her private life. Morse experiences a genuine sense of disillusionment as he realizes that while the artistic product may be sublime, the actual artist may be petty and coarse.