The body of Joanna Franks was found at Duke s Cut on the Oxford Canal at about 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22nd June 1859.

At around 10.15 a.m. on a Saturday morning in 1989 the body of Chief Inspector Morse – though very much alive – was removed to Oxford s John Radcliffe Hospital. Treatment for a perforated ulcer was later pronounced successful.

As Morse begins his recovery he comes across an account of the investigation and the trial that followed Joanna Franks death . . . and becomes convinced that the two men hanged for her murder were innocent . . .

The Wench is Dead is followed by the ninth Inspector Morse book, The Jewel That Was Ours.