- After Lewis returns to his old job, he, Hathaway and DS Maddox are swept up in another murder investigation when an American classics student is killed.
- Lewis joins DI Hathaway and DS Lizzie Maddox in investigating the death of a 23 year-old Oxford classics student, Rose Anderson. She is found in the river after having gone out for a run the previous evening and Dr. Hobson determines that she died from stab wounds. They learn from her flatmate Chloe that Rose had an argument with her boyfriend, astrophysics professor Felix Garwood, and it appears she tried to run him down with her car earlier in the day. Rose was completing her PhD at St. Sebastian College where classics professor Simon Flaxmore is an expert on her chosen subject, Euripides, having found and translated an unknown play by Euripides some years before. Her thesis supervisor Philippa Garwood knew her quite well as Rose was also tutoring her 12 year-old niece. Phillipa also happens to be Felix Garwood's wife. Philippa's sister Jan and her optometrist husband Paul hired her as a tutor as their daughter suffers from a genetic blood disorder and was frequently out of school. They have a prime suspect when they find a stash of cocaine in Chloe's flat and her boyfriend Harrison Sax goes on the run. The police soon have a second murder however.—garykmcd
- A young woman is murdered, stabbed to death. Suspicion immediately falls on her boyfriend, a married professor, whom she'd just argued with and then tried to run over with her car. However, he has a solid alibi. Other than that, who could possibly have a motive to kill her?—grantss
- A man on a bicycle is hit by a car.
Lewis and Hathaway arrive at the murder scene of Rose Anderson, a jogger who has been killed by the side of the canal. They interview her roommate, Chloe Ilson. She tells them that Anderson had been seeing an older man at the college and they had recently had a fight. Anderson was a classics scholar looking forward to her doctorate. Examining her room, they find a book signed to her by Simon Flaxmore, her department head, and a personal note simply signed "F".
Maddox finds that Rose's car was the one that had hit the bicyclist, but the weapon has yet to be located. Flaxmore denies knowing Anderson personally, although admits to signing the book for her. He tells them her adviser was Philippa Garwood, and they find that Felix, Garwood's husband and Anderson's lover, was "F". Anderson had also been tutoring Garwood's niece, Tabby Brightway, who has a genetic blood disorder. Her father has an alibi, a conference he was at, but her mother has no alibi.
Hathaway reinterviews Ilson, and she remembers that Anderson was in a bit of a state about her thesis. After Hathaway leaves, Ilson and her boyfriend, Harrison Sax, make plans to leave town. Jennie Brightway, Tabby's mother, takes a pregnancy test which is positive. The Brightways toast "the person that made this possible", Rose Anderson.
Maddox finds a 10,000 pound bank transfer to the Brightways, so Lewis goes to Paul Brightway's optometry practice for an eye test. He says Rose insisted on helping them, and that the money had actually come from her father and was a loan. He also says Anderson had had a blazing row with her roommate.
They return to Ilson, who says Anderson just didn't care for her boyfriend coming round - but they find drugs in the flat. Ilson blames them on Harrison and says that Rose went ballistic when she found out. She also identifies Felix Garwood as one of Harrison's customers. Meanwhile, Hathaway discusses Anderson's research with Phillippa Garwood, noticing an odd reference to Leo Major and Leo Minor, the two lion constellations in the sky. They also discuss Felix's philandering ways.
Maddox tries to bring Harrison in for questioning, but he does a runner. Hathaway realizes that the play that was the subject of Rose's research was a fake. Lewis finds Felix Garwood dead in his office, dead for no more than an hour. They also find drugs in his office.
Hathaway explains to Lewis that the play, a supposedly lost play by Euripedes, mentions Leo Minor, but that was an anachronism. Therefore Flaxmore's career was based on a fraud. Flaxmore says he was at a college dinner when Anderson was killed, but he had been with Felix the previous afternoon. He says that he would not have hidden the discovery even if Anderson had been correct.
The Brightways say Felix had lied to Philippa, and all of them. Philippa reiterates her story that she was meeting with a student at the time of her husband's murder, but refuses to reveal a name.
The detectives discover that Flaxmore's real name was Linus Cage, and that he had done time for fraud, providing false references for his Oxford professorship. Flaxmore's housekeeper tells them he was on his way to see Philippa Garwood. Hathaway and Lewis race to Garwood's house, where they find Garwood and Flaxmore together. As Flaxmore denies killing anyone, Chloe Ilson is found murdered. They finally find Harrison Sax, but he denies any involvement, and explains that Felix Garwood had told him that he had a baby on the way - but Rose Anderson was not pregnant, and neither was Philippa. They realize that Felix Garwood was the father of Tabby Brightway and also the Brightway's new baby. They identify Jennie Brightway as the caller who had reported the bicyclist accident.
They revisit Garwood's office, where they realize that the fingerprints had been wiped off by lens wipes. "Do you suppose we're looking for an optician?" Lewis asks. They confront Paul Brightway, and he confesses to all three murders.
Flaxmore is fired from the college, although he plans a tell-all book.
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