272 pages | paperback |

Inheritance becomes deadly in this gripping literary puzzlethe second installment of Sarah Caudwells brilliant Hilary Tamar mystery series.

Die first. Pay later.

It seems the perfect way to avoid three million in taxes on a five-million-pound estate: change the trust arrangement. Everyone in the family agrees to support the heiress, the ravishing, raven-haired Camilla Galloway, in her court petitionexcept dreary Cousin Deirdre, who sullenly demands a small fortune for her signature. Then Deirdre has a fatal accident. Now the young London barristers handling the trust from their Lincolns Inn chambersMichael Cantrip, Selena Jardine, Timothy Shepherd, Desmond Ragwort, and Julia Larwoodmust call on the expertise of their Oxford mentor and friend Professor Hilary Tamar. Julia suspects murder. Hilary demurs. But when the accidents escalate, and a naked lunch at Uncle Ruperts ishow to put it?exposed, Hilary the Scholar embarks on the most perilous quest of all: to find the truth and thus unmask the killer.

The Shortest Way to Hadesispublished here in the first new edition in more than twenty years.The Washington Postsays: Read [it] for dazzling dialogue, witty observation, stylish use of the language and choice comic scenes.

An utterly delightful book . . . [I]t will be irresistible to all who enjoy polished, civilized prose. The New York Times Book Review