Fleeing from tax-related worries, Julia Larwood indulges in a holiday, unaware that the fellow tourist she falls for is an Inland Revenue employee, who turns up dead in her bed with her copy of the Finance Act nearby. Reprint. PW.
Thus Was Adonis Murdered
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"* 'Without doubt, one of the funniest crime writers - ever!' - Mike Ripley * 'Witty, clever... an elaborately plotted, very English and charming story.' - Publishers Weekly * 'A finely honed, icily witty gem of detective fiction.' - Mystery News * 'Caudwell's light touch and the puzzle she presents make for a diverting tale.' - Washington Post Book World
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Sarah Caudwell studied law at St Anne's College, Oxford and practised as a barrister for several years in Lincoln's Inn. She later specialised in international tax planning at a major London bank. She died in January 2000.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I'd never before heard of author Sarah Caudwell until I saw her latest novel, "The Sybil In Her Grave", in a local bookstore. Intrigued by the Edward Gory-illustrated book jacket, I took it down & read that it was one of a series, if you will, of books containing the same characters. Not being one to start in the middle of something, I discovered that the book I'm reviewing now, "Thus Was Adonis Murdered", was the first one in her all-too-short series featuring Professor Hilary Tamar et al. Casting about for a new mystery author (and having consumed P. D. James' latest, "Death In Holy Orders"), I decided to give Prof. Tamar a try.
I just finished the book and I found it most delightful. It contains a very brilliantly-constructed conundrum of the "whodunnit" variety. Julia Larwood, one of a group of young barristers who are friends with Prof. Tamar, goes to Venice on holiday, only to wind up in bed with the corpse of the young man she's fancied throughout the trip and finally managed to engage in a one-afternoon stand. (Of course, when she first got into bed with the young man, he WASN'T a corpse, which makes his subsequent dispatch all the more distressing ...) Naturally, members of the Venice police force don't take kindly to this set of events, particularly when Julia's personally-inscribed copy of that year's Tax Finance Act is found lying next to the stiffening body ...
From London, then, Prof. Tamar and Julia's other friends at 62 New Square (Selena, Cantrip and Ragwort - all intriguing personalities in themselves) attempt to help solve the mystery and spring Julia out of jail. What follows is an erudite, often hilarious, web of intrigue, frustrated passion and outright chicanery told in VERY tongue-in-cheek style by Prof. Tamar himself ... or herself ...
Come to think of it, you never know the sex of our intrepid narrator. Ms. Caudwell has neither Tamar or his compatriots refer to him/her in any way that might reveal the Professor's sex. And that's just one of the subtle plot contrivances that make "Thus Was Adonis Murdered" a delightful read.
Sadly, Ms. Caudwell died recently, so her series turned out to be all-too-short. Therefore, I'm beginning the second novel, "The Shortest Way To Hades", featuring the elegant professor and the barristers of 62 New Square, quite slowly, so as not to finish all the books in the series too quickly and to savour the wonderful prose and imaginative situation I'm very likely to find there.
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
One of the funniest and most delightful books I've ever read - though the others in the series, especially The Sirens Sang of Murder, come close. Julia Larwood is a talented young tax barrister who cannot keep her purse, her love life, or her own finances in order. When her pursuit of romance during a tour of Venice goes badly wrong, we learn her side of the story from letters home to her friend and fellow lawyer Selena Jardine. Julia and Selena, like almost all of Caudwell's characters, express themselves in literate, measured, bitingly funny prose evoking such 18th century novelists as Jane Austen and Samuel Richardson. The mystery itself starts out in a light-hearted manner, but ultimately moves convincingly into the realm of romantic obsession. Readers who appreciate sharpness of obversation and elegance of phrase will savor every nuance. Those looking for comfortable conclusions and easy platitudes concerning human feeling and behavior had best look elsewhere.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I discovered Sarah Caudwell in the worst possible way: by reading her obituary in the New York Times. Once I read her books, I was even more sorry that she died so prematurely, because her mysteries are among the funniest books I've read. Caudwell has a wonderful ironic tone. She uses the standard mystery formula populated with her broadly drawn cast of regulars to send up academics, lawyers, tax collectors, amateur detectives...the whole lot.
As someone who conducts research for a living, I was particularly amused by the following, as Hilary (our narrator of indeterminate gender) makes his/her way to work:
"On my first day in London I made an early start. Reaching the Public Record Office not much after ten, I soon secured the papers needed for my research and settled in my place. I became, as is the way of the scholar, so deeply absorbed as to lose all consciousness of my surroundings or of the passage of time. When at last I came to myself, it was almost eleven and I was quite exhausted: I knew that I could not prudently continue without refreshment."
This quotation give the flavor of the whole book, really the entire series. If you turn to mysteries for their psychological characterizations or examination of the dark side of life, this book will not do it for you, but if you love intelligent satire, Caudwell can't be beat.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
thus Was Adonis Murdered
Not finished reading this text, but am doing so for the purpose of reviewing and studying it at a local book study sponsored by the St Louis Art Museum. So far an excellent story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bruce A. Dawson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written classic mystery
This is one of only four mysteries written by Sarah Caudwell. All four of them are delights - witty writing, interesting settings, clever plots. Highly recommended.
Published 4 months ago by Peggy Mundell
4.0 out of 5 stars
An odd duck that nevertheless works
Caudwell's characters inhabit an odd-but-arresting literary universe. Time-warp a clique of Edwardian aristocrats to 1980s London, engage them with casual sex and lots of... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Grouchy Editor
5.0 out of 5 stars
An admirer of S. Caudwell
As with the other reviewers, I found Ms. Caudwell's mysteries quite fun, tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic,as well as
well-plotted and well characterized. Read more
well-plotted and well characterized. Read more
Published on December 22, 2009 by H. Cho
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Hilary Question
There are only 4 Sarah Cauldwell novels. I had read them all when I came across a discussion about Hilary Tamar, the narrator. Is Hilary male or female? Read more
Published on October 4, 2009 by Carey Tynan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sue Stew
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I will purchase the other three books that she wrote. The characters are fleshed out and likable, the plot is well thought out and not too easy to... Read more
Published on April 3, 2009 by Susan K. Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars
How not to take life, death, sex or taxes too seriously
Well, I was never a barrister or law student, but I did go to Cambridge and did work in a large British company in London at a time before this wonderful tale was published, and I... Read more
Published on February 21, 2009 by John Bonavia
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious British Mystery
Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981) tells the story of young barrister Julia Larwood, who takes an Art Lover's Holiday tour of Italy in order to forget her troubles with the Inland... Read more
Published on January 8, 2009 by Lucinda Surber
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you like P.G. Wodehouse, you'll like this
I have read two other books in the Hilary Tamar-series, and like this one, they are all very humorous in a dry-witted P.G. Wodehouse kind of way. Read more
Published on November 23, 2008 by Liliensternus
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dorothy Sayers meets Nick Hornby meets P.D. James
Caudwell's ambiguously gendered Oxford don and her young London barrister friends star in perhaps the funniest smart British mystery I've read. Read more
Published on January 16, 2008 by michiganreader
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