Endeavor

The sudden death of a secretarial student and the shooting of a doctor appear unconnected despite Morse's theories. Chief Superintendent Bright, the new commanding officer of the Oxford City Police, unimpressed with Morse's zeal, protest's to Thursday that the bagman's position is a Detective Sergeant's job and the young constable is too inexperienced. Following the shooting of a vicar, Morse is reduced to general duties for dismissing a beautiful, but mentally unstable girl as a suspect and must continue his investigations alone despite warnings of termination from his superiours.

The strangulation of a married woman and the brutal poisoning of an elderly botanist lady, backed with clues of an operatic connection, leads Thursday to have Morse taken off general duties for his specialist knowledge of opera to bring a serial killer to justice.

An unpopular fitter is murdered, during a royal visit of a family owned munitions factory. Thursday and Jakes lead the investigation while Morse is given routine tasks of inquiry. Due to the royal visit, Chief Superintendent Bright fears for his position unless the case is solved quickly.

Morse, still on general duties and studying for his forthcoming sergeant's exam, investigates an apparent hit-and-run accident that has claimed the life of an Oxford don. The victim had been at odds with his peers over the sale of a piece of college-owned land to a development company in conjunction with the town council. The case is complicated by the appearance in Oxford of an East London gangster named Vic Kasper, an enemy from DI Thursday's past, which reignites a personal feud as Thursday thinks Kasper is somehow involved with the case. In the meantime, Morse makes a trip back home to Lincolnshire to visit his dying father.