Chief Inspector Morse is drinking a pint of beer. He is thinking about an attractive woman who lives not far away.

The woman he is thinking of is hanging, dead, from the ceiling of her kitchen. On the floor lies a chair, almost two metres away from the woman's feet.

Chief Inspector Morse finishes his pint, and orders another. Perhaps he will visit Anne, after all. But he is in no particular hurry.

Meanwhile, Anne is still hanging in her kitchen, waiting for the police to come and cut her down. She is in no hurry, either.

The Oxford bookworms library offers a wide range of original and adapted stories, both classic and modern, which take learners from elementary to advanced level through six carefully graded language stages:

Stage 1 (400 headwords)

Stage 2 (700 headwords)

Stage 3 (1000 headwords)

Stage 4 (1400 headwords)

Stage 5 (1800 headwords)

Stage 6 (2500 headwords)

This book is at stage 5.

At the end of this book, it supplies questions to help you check your comprehension after reading the story.