The Shortest Way to Hades - SPOILER Thread - (Feb/March 22)

[Susan]

Welcome to our Feb/March 22 buddy read of The Shortest Way to Hades the second in the Hilary Tamar series and first published in 1984.

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....

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Jill]

This just did not work for me. The first chapter was all about probate and entailments, which just went over my head, as I have no idea about either. Once we get to the main story, it did pick up, but I'm afraid I just don't like the main characters. I know a lot of people find this witty, but it is not the sort of wit which appeals to me. I also found there were too many coincidences taking place. The ending was a surprise, but by that time I didn't really care who the villain was. I don't intend to read the other two books in the series, as I see the next relies on telexes

[Susan]

Fair enough, Jill. We can't all like anything. Having met my husband (a law student at the time) in the Eighties, I suppose this has more appeal to me in both setting and in the legal setting, which is very reminiscent for me.

[Jill]

Susan wrote: "Fair enough, Jill. We can't all like anything. Having met my husband (a law student at the time) in the Eighties, I suppose this has more appeal to me in both setting and in the legal setting, whic..."

Yes, It would be awful if we all liked the same things.

[Sid]

I've just finished this and loved it. I found the narrative voices hilarious, both that of Hilary and Serena in her letters. I thought the mystery was decent and liked the scholarly clues disguised as tedious and annoying pedantry in the earlier chapters, but for me it's the language and the way the characters use it which makes the book for me. Even better than the first one, I thought, and I'm looking forward to the next.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Carolien]

I am thoroughly enjoying these books. The plots are interesting, the legal parts interest me and I like the very British humour.

[Diane]

I just finished it and have already started on The Sirens Sang of Murder. I hope it’s as entertaining.
The legal language was over my head and I had to read up on the British legal system. I had no idea of the difference between members of the Bar and solicitors. The tax laws, I’m not even going to try to understand but my ignorance hasn’t made a difference. I loved the repartee and the witticisms, at least I hope there were some because I found lots to smile about.
Alas, my local library only has the last three books of the set. Unless I buy Thus Was Adonis Murdered, I will never know what happened.

[Frances]

I have just finished and really enjoyed this, but still don't really understand the mystery. How did Camilla come to be left out of the inheritance? Was it that everyone in the generation above her gets a crack at it before her turn comes (as although they keep referring to the young people as cousins, it was Camilla's mother that was Deirdre's cousin-is that right)?

Nonetheless, I do love the writing and the style, and the epistolary way of transmitting information really works in this case.

[Rosina]

The will dealt with each of the six children separately, even though the estate was not to be broken up. The first son, and then any heirs he might, then the second son, and then the third, before moving on to the daughters (of which Camilla's mother was the eldest). The will was 'a long and rather tedious document, [and] contained elaborate and repetitive disposition in favour of each of them in turn and their respective issue.' The clerk, copying this out by hand, failed to include part of the disposition for the descendants of the fourth child, which disinherited Camilla.

Once she discovered this, to make sure that she inherited, she had to kill all the cousins, so that the estate reverted to the final disposition - which was Camilla anyway.

[Frances]

Thanks Rosina-so she only becomes heir once all the other descendants are dead-so quite farfetched, but a very enjoyable read nonetheless!

[Rosina]

Hilary suggests that when she killed Deirdre she thought that would be enough - Deirdre had found out about the Will and had to be silenced. But after a while she no doubt realised that it could come to light by chance, and cousinicide was the only safe way!