Customer Reviews

The Shortest Way to Hades

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first page will tell you whether you are going to find unreadable or (like me) find it one of the most entertaining reads of the decade. The style is elaborately witty with nineteenth century diction combined with descriptions of late twentieth century partying and mayhem. It is all very artificial and mannered. The plot is about the murder of beneficiaries of a will and in many ways a classical English whodunnit. The setting is in London lawyers' (sorry barristers') offices (sorry chambers),lesbian nightclubs and the Ionian Islands. Lots of sex but never explicit. A lot of information about English law, classical Greece, sailing and cricket.

This mystery should please readers who value witty dialog, insoucience, English understatement, and whimsy. As in her first novel, Sarah Caudwell employs an emotionally distancing narrative technique, made necessary by the first person point of view: nearly all the action is summarized in letters read by or to the narrator in a cozy London wine bar (much of the action takes place in the Greek islands). Because the witticisms and droll references to Inland Revenue and the Inns at Court dominate, flavored by piquant satiric jibes at Cambridge and various English eccentricities, Sarah Caudwell is willing to employ (almost to parody) such genre conventions as impausible coincidences and the chatty killer. Readers should not expect emotional involvement and heart-racing suspense, but should rather enjoy the author's playful and allusive detachment. And, happily, there are none of the psychopaths and sadists who people many modern mystery novels. This novel is closer to a traditional cozy, although with an urbane and witty air.

Sarah Caudwell's mysteries are a treat for lawyers and those involved in the legal profession, but also for readers who enjoy a good, page-turning, British-wit novel. I love Ms. Caudwell's books, second only to the Sherlock Holmes mysteries to me, and eagerly await further adventures of Professor Tamar and the barristers of Lincoln's Inn.

Another deliciously witty and unexpected Murder Mystery from Caudwell, the second in her all too short career as a mystery writer, and featuring the ever superior Professor Hilary Tamar as the Oxford scholar and semi-detective. These are neat, urbane mysteries which almost make you want to take up discussion of the minutiae of the British Tax code. The characters are generally the same as those which featured in the first mystery in this series- "Thus Was Adonis Murdered" - only this time, to add to the joy of the Tax Code, there is minute discussion of the laws of inheritance, and some Greek mythology vs History thrown in for good measure.

So when Dreary Deidre falls over the side of her uncle's flat during the annual Cambridge/Oxford boat race, none of her family is too disturbed. Most of them think she is better gone than still alive. She was never great fun, always whining, and to top it all off, she had just caused a great stink when they had tried to adjust the entail set up by her great grandfather in which Dedre's cousin (the beautiful, talented and intelligent Camilla) would inherit all. It seems, having resolved this to her advantage, Deidre had everything to live for - but Julia - her barrister of 63 New Square suspects otherwise.

This all leads to a twisted trail of attempted murders, a cruise around the Greek Islands, an uexpected visit to an orgy and a first class flight for Professor Tamar (at someone else's expense naturally).

For Jane Austen fans, this book is a must, if only for the classic scene in which Serena picks up Pride and Prejudice to read....in fact this book would definitely appeal to Austen fans (I think).

I do like Caudwell for her neat use of language, her lovely understated humour and her ability to make the various and fine points of legal language and concepts available to the reader. I also love the very complicated trail she weaves and am in awe of how she twists things all back together again. These are hugely enjoyable books and I almost cry when I think there are only 4 of them.

After reading her obiturary in the NYT, I was fascinated by its description of Cauldwell's writing as "the nearest to Oscar Wilde" they had read in years. On that recommendation alone, I bought all three of her titles and await the fourth and final this summer. Not normally a mystery fan, these books are loaded with wit, surprise and high-jinx. The writing is sharp and engaging. Read them all and you'll see why I hope the BBC and Channel 4 put this marvelous Hillary Tamar character on a TV series. I only wish Sarah Cauldwell had lived beyond 61 years - what a shame cancer got her so soon.

Ms. Caudwell's sadly brief set of legal mysteries is wonderfully funny in a Wodehouse sort of way. I wish there were more!

Sarah Caudwell's dialogue both amuses and stretches. It amuses us because of its delightful humor and sharp exchanges. It stretches us (quick to Google -- at least for me) for historical and classical references that are apropos to the story line. I entitled my review "Too Few" because sadly there are no other books because Ms. Caudwell died in 2000. Enjoy the ones we have; there will not ever be quite another writer who has so many outstanding attributes.

Ms. Caudwell's four mysteries are wonderful -- funny, well-written, and, of course, great puzzles. Her early death deprived us of a great mind and a great wit, but we can enjoy what she did leave behind.

A fairly simple change and renegotiation of the terms in a trust arrangement involving a family with a young heiress and four cousins and the young barristers who briefly represent their interests leads to a suspicious death, deadly accidents, and the Isle of Corfu. It also amusingly incorporates blackmail, orgies, sailing, the classics and cricket. Oxford professor Hilary Tamar and the barristers are curiously effective sleuths in this mix of tax law, scholarly pursuits and murder.

but the story bogged down in the middle too much for my taste. There were a lot of characters and a lot of relations among the characters- I had a hard time keeping up with who was who! My real problem with the book, however, was that much of the story was advanced through letters from one of the good guys. The story had basically slowed to a stop and then all the footwork and plot advancement happened in these letters. I just did not like that method for development. After reading these letters our hero, the Professor, figures everything out and gets on an airplane to resolve the case. Maybe if the letters had been developed as part of the plot and the 100 pages of filler before had been eliminated I could have got into the fun. Oh well!