Oracle

January 1970, and Morse is in Venice for New Year, which is where his problems start, in the form of a woman named Violetta. While he is away for two weeks, Thursday investigates the murder of Molly Andrews on an Oxford canal towpath. He suspects her boyfriend, Carl Sturgis, but Sturgis has an alibi, and the case sits open.

In April, Bright asks Morse to take a second look. A group of Oxford scientists has been researching "latent brain activity", ESP by another name, using volunteers, one of whom was Andrews. One of the researchers, Dr Naomi Benford, has a highly gifted volunteer, Jenny Tate, who claims she saw the murder in her mind. Before she can pass the information to Morse, Benford is found dead.

There is more personal business swirling around. Morse has his wallet stolen at an outdoor concert, and a man named Ludo comes to his aid, claiming a shared time at Oxford, then pursues the friendship with suspicious warmth. Thursday and Morse interview Jenny Tate, and she describes a detail of the towpath killing that was never released to the public. When one of Benford's colleagues is exposed as her killer, Thursday believes he killed Andrews as well. And at an elegant party at Ludo's home, Morse finds Violetta again, and learns the awful, awkward truth: she is Ludo's wife.

Russell Lewis wrote it, Shaun Evans directed. Evans is DS Endeavour Morse, Roger Allam is DCI Fred Thursday, Caroline O'Neill is Win Thursday, and Sean Rigby is DS Jim Strange. Sam Ferriday plays Carl Sturgis, Reece Ritchie is Dr Jeremy Kreitsek, Lucy Farrar is Molly Andrews, Stephanie Leonidas is Violetta Talenti, Holli Dempsey is Jenny Tate, and Oliver Boot is Tony Jakobssen.

The personal and the academic fold into each other here, and the cold mystery on the riverbank never quite escapes the warmth of Venice.