The Shortest Way to Hades (Mass Market Paperback)

by Sarah Caudwell (Author) "PROFESSOR TAMAR-MR. SHEPHERD RANG AND SAID PLEASE COME TO LONDON AS SOON AS POSSIBLE..." (more)
Key Phrases: temporary typist, poet chap, eastern summit, Lincoln's Inn, Boat Race, Villa Miranda (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"An utterly delightful book...It will be irresistible to all who enjoy polished, civilized prose." --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Description
It seemed the perfect way to avoid three million in taxes on a five-million-pound estate: change the trust arrangement. Everyone in the family agreed to support the heiress, ravishing raven-haired Camilla Galloway, in her court petition -- except dreary Cousin Deirdre, who suddenly demanded a small fortune for her signature. Then Deirdre had a terrible accident. That was when the young London barristers handling the trust -- Cantrip, Selena, Timothy, Ragwort, and Julia -- summoned their Oxford friend Professor Hilary Tamar to Lincoln's Inn. Julia thinks it's murder. Hilary demurs. Why didn't the heiress die? But when the accidents escalate and they learn of the naked lunch at Uncle Rupert's, Hilary the Scholar embarks on the most perilous quest of all: the truth....

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dell (November 5, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440212332
• ISBN-13: 978-0440212331
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,783 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, engrossing mystery, not just for "legal eagles", August 30, 1999

By A Customer

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.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will love it or hate it, August 10, 2000

By	D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty and erudite, but nearly a parody, June 6, 2000

By	Stephen Sossaman (Westfield, Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

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.