The Shortest Way to Hades - A Novel

Informationen zum Autor Sarah Caudwell Klappentext 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.... Leseprobe Chapter 1 professor tamar—­mr. shepherd rang and said please come to london as soon as possible. you can stay at his flat and he will give you dinner. he says it has something to do with a murder. Awaiting me in my pigeon-­hole at the porter’s lodge of St. George’s College, the message perplexed me more than a little. If my former pupil Timothy Shepherd, now in practice as a barrister in Lincoln’s Inn, wished to offer me hospitality, I was more than willing to oblige him: by the sixth week of the Trinity term my academic responsibilities were weighing heavy on my shoulders, and the prospect of a day or two away from Oxford was delightful. I could not account, however, for the pressing nature of the invitation; and as for this question of murder—­ My step quickened by curiosity, I crossed the quadrangle and mounted the staircase to my rooms. Dialing the telephone number of Timothy’s Chambers, I was answered in the tone of glum hostility which is characteristic of the temporary typist. She admitted with some reluctance that Timothy was available. “Hilary,” said my former pupil, “how good of you to ring back. How soon can you come to London?” “Timothy,” I said, “what is all this about murder?” “Ah yes,” said Timothy, sounding pleased with himself. “I thought that might interest you. Do you happen to recall, by any chance, the Remington-­Fiske application?” “Was that the one with the Greek boy, who had such a deplorable effect on Julia?” “That’s right. Do you remember it?” I did, I did indeed. It had been about three months earlier, a Thursday in late February. I had been persuaded by an obligation of friendship to attend a seminar in the London School of Economics. By a quarter past five I could endure no more: I slipped out into Lincoln’s Inn Fields and sought refuge in 62 New Square. Not pausing to announce myself in the Clerks’ Room—­Henry, the Senior Clerk, does not altogether approve of me—­I ascended the bare stone staircase to the second floor, occupied by the more junior members of Chambers and commonly known as the Nursery. Timothy’s room was empty. Knocking, however, on the door opposite, I was invited to come in. Desmond Ragwort and Michael Cantrip, the usual occupants of the room, were seated facing each other at their respective desks, in attitudes which suggested a rather decorative allegory of Virtue reproving Wantonness. From the pinkness which qualified the chaste pallor of Ragwort’s marble cheek and the unsanctified sparkle in the witch-­black eyes of Cantrip I gathered that Cantrip had done something of which Ragwort disapproved—­it was not so rare a circumstance as to arouse my curiosity. Timothy, some three or four years senior to the other two, stood by the fireplace, supporting his long and angular frame by resting his elbow on the mantelpiece: he seemed to disdain the comfort of the large leather armchair facing the window, which from my position in the doorway appeared unoccupied. I was gratified by the warmth of his greeting. “M...

Product details

• Authors: Sarah Caudwell, A.J. Finn
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 04.04.2023
• EAN: 9780593598757
• ISBN: 978-0-593-59875-7
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 203 mm x 13 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense