false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172969256m/234318.jpg 234318 7 For mystery lovers and literary connoisseurs alike, 2000 was a year of loss. Gone are two masters of language, one with over 30 works to his credit (George V. Higgins), the other with only four (Sarah Caudwell). It is some comfort that each gave readers one last glimpse of literary skill before passing on: Higgins (<I>At End of Day</I>) captured the way people really speak; Caudwell captured the way many people would dearly love to speak. Her first three novels (<I>The Shortest Way to Hades</I>, <I>Thus Was Adonis Murdered</I>, <I>The Sirens Sang of Murder</I>) brought readers into the elegant, urbane world of Hilary Tamar, Oxford fellow and mentor to London barristers Cantrip, Selena, Ragwort, and Julia. Caudwell's last work, <I>The Sibyl in Her Grave</I>, continues the intoxicating blend of dry humor and genteel manners that marked her as a successor to Dorothy Sayers. <p> The sibyl of the title is the psychic counselor Isabella del Comino, who descends in a flurry of bad taste to the Sussex village of Parsons Haver. With an aviary of ravens, a frumpy niece, and a penchant for combining divinations and blackmail, her sudden death comes as a relief to the village's disgruntled inhabitants, including Julia's redoubtable Aunt Regina. Regina has enough to worry about: she and two friends pooled their resources and invested in equities--and made a killing. But now the tax man is demanding his share, and the money has already been spent. When she asks Julia for legal advice, Julia and her colleagues discover that both Regina's fiscal success and Isabella's death are connected to an insider-trading scandal brewing with Julia's biggest clients. Unraveling that connection, of course, is a task that falls to Hilary.<p> Hilary, who "labors always in the service of Scholarship," is a triumph of authorial ambiguity. After four novels, readers will be left wondering, apparently unto eternity, whether Professor Tamar is a man or a woman. Take it as a political statement if you will--or simply as another little mystery, courtesy of an author who reveled in the power of words to clarify, outline, elucidate, and obscure. <I>--Kelly Flynn</I> 414575 2000 The Sibyl in Her Grave total:134|5:58|4:49|3:23|2:3|1:1| 134 562 189 20 4 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 21:32:27 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 05:47:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Nov 21 17:47:52 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 21 17:49:13 -0800 2007 5 1 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 07 08:24:34 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 07 04:09:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 06:19:44 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 15:41:59 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Mar 10 21:45:26 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 10:20:26 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Mon Feb 11 10:43:36 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 10:43:45 -0800 2008 5 1 false false Wed Jun 04 07:21:56 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 07:22:23 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Fri Jun 22 07:29:40 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 28 14:57:38 -0700 2007 5 1 false false Wed May 02 07:27:48 -0700 2007 Wed May 02 07:36:37 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 16:07:29 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 15:35:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 11:50:54 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 11:52:26 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 10:24:37 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 10:26:08 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jun 10 09:34:33 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 09:36:44 -0700 2009 3 0 false true Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Mar 13 21:22:57 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 04:58:56 -0700 2009
But the ending shocked me, and gave me uneasy dreams that night...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 28 14:05:28 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 14:05:50 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 08:30:15 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 09:20:21 -0800 2009 1 0 false false Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 16 21:44:50 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 20:14:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jul 20 04:36:07 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 04:35:18 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 04:36:07 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Nov 19 09:25:57 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 06 08:11:18 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Jan 04 10:46:52 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 10:47:52 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=234318