The Wench is Dead
Colin Dexter
 In 1859, the body of a young woman was found floating in the Oxford Canal; her death led to a sensational murder trial, and two men were eventually hanged for the murder. In 1989, Inspector Morse is recovering from a bleeding ulcer in Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Morse is given a book by the wife of a recently deceased patient at the hospital. The little book called Murder on the Oxford Canal tells the story of the murder of Joanna Franks aboard the canal boat Barbara Bray. Morse is soon convinced that the two men hanged for the crime were innocent and sets out to prove it from the confines of his bed. The title of the novel comes from Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta, the following quotation serves as the epigraph to the novel: :FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed-- :BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country; :And besides, the wench is dead.