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

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....