The Shortest Way To Hades - Tapa dura

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, Camilla Galloway, in her court petition - except dreary cousin Deirdre, who suddenly demanded a small fortune for her signature. Then Deirdre has a terrible accident, which is the moment when the London barristers handling the trust - Cantrip, Selena, Ragwort and Julia - decide to summon their Oxford mentor Professor Hilary Tamar to Lincoln's Inn. And when deadly accidents in the family escalate, Hilary is dispatched on the most perilous quest of all: to find the truth and unmask the killer...

Sarah Caudwell is also the author of Thus Was Adonis Murdered, The Shortest Way to Hades, and The Sirens Sang of Murder. She studied law at St. Anne's College, Oxford, was called to the Chancery Bar, and practiced as a barrister for several years in Lincoln's Inn. She then became a member of the legal section of a major London bank, where she found herself specializing in international tax planning. Sarah Caudwell died in January 2000.