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Sarah Caudwell (1939–2000)

Author of Thus Was Adonis Murdered

7+ Works 3,322 Members 88 Reviews 39 Favorited

About the Author

Disambiguation Notice:

Pen name of Sarah Cockburn (1939-2000)

Image credit: John Burlinson

Series

Works by Sarah Caudwell

Associated Works

Malice Domestic 6 (1997) — Contributor — 92 copies
The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (2000) — Contributor — 69 copies
2nd Culprit: A Crime Writers' Association Annual (1993) — Contributor — 64 copies
The Mammoth Book of Comic Crime (2002) — Contributor — 47 copies
3rd Culprit: An Annual of Crime Stories (1994) — Contributor — 41 copies
Women Before the Bench (2001) — Contributor — 24 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Caudwell, Sarah
Legal name
Cockburn, Sarah
Birthdate
1939-05-27
Date of death
2000-01-28
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Place of death
London, England, UK
Cause of death
Cancer
Places of residence
Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Education
University of Aberdeen (Classics)
University of Oxford (St Anne's College)
Occupations
novelist (crime)
barrister
banker
lawyer
Relationships
Cockburn, Claud (father)
Cockburn, Alexander (half-brother)
Tennant, Emma (sister-in-law)
Waugh, Evelyn (first cousin once removed)
Cockburn, Andrew (half-brother)
Cockburn, Patrick (half-brother) (show all 9)
Cockburn, Leslie (half sister-in-law)
Flanders, Michael (half brother-in-law)
Flanders, Laura (half niece)
Organizations
Lloyds Bank
Agent
Barney Karpfinger
Short biography
Sarah Caudwell was the pen name of Sarah Cockburn, born in Cheltenham, England, to a family of journalists and political writers. She graduated in Classics from University of Aberdeen, read law at the University of Oxford, and lectured on the law for several years. In 1966, she became a Chancery barrister in Lincoln's Inn Fields and later specialized in international tax planning at Lloyds Bank, where she became a senior executive in the trust department. Over a period of 20 years, she wrote a series of acclaimed "legal whodunits" set primarily at Lincoln's Inn, featuring Prof. Hilary Tamar, beginning with Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981). She collaborated with Lawrence Block, Tony Hillerman and others for the novel The Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the Perfect Crime (1991), and contributed stories to numerous anthologies.

She also wrote a play, The Madman’s Advocate. She died of cancer at age 60 in 2000.
Disambiguation notice
Pen name of Sarah Cockburn (1939-2000)

Members

Reviews

This book is essentially the platonic ideal of what I wish murder mysteries to be; in this I am continually disappointed.

Julia Larwood, accidental murder suspect, learned space case, over-educated hot mess express, is such a treasure; though I am not a hypersexual lady barrister, rarely have I felt as validated by a female character. I, too, am worried for Desdemona.
 
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raschneid | 37 other reviews | Dec 19, 2023 |
A brilliant ending to a brilliant series. I've been giving the books 4 stars out of some weird feeling that 5stars requires a "literaryness" but I felt that 5stars was deserved for a series that's been my most enjoyable reading in a long while. I'm just sad there's no more. The book is funny, has great dialogue and character writing, is tense, interesting references which aren't confusing if you don't know them, a well written gay relationship, has a bunch of twists but none which seem forced or completely unexpected - again i don't think you can work out the whole thing before the end but you can do a good job i think and there's some clever misdirection. The ending wraps this up nicely. A great, great book that I highly recommend if you enjoy mysteries, and the rest of the series too.… (more)
 
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tombomp | 16 other reviews | Oct 31, 2023 |
another great book in the series. not exactly a "puzzle" mystery but the ending is highly satisfying and it all fit together nicely with some great misdirection. the characters and writing are regularly funny, the locations and descriptions constantly vary and are interesting, it builds suspense well - a highly entertaining and enjoyable book. a great series that I'd highly recommend to anyone who likes mystery fiction
 
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tombomp | 15 other reviews | Oct 31, 2023 |
Pretty funny mystery, on par with the first in the series (although I agree Julia makes a more interesting voice than Selena). Only a few jokes are laugh out loud funny but it consistently kept a smile on my face - as others have said, it's pretty dry humour but I like that. Sometimes it goes into tangents about the English legal system or Homer or cricket but it's never too hard to follow and for me that's part of the charm. Also continues the same refreshing attitude to sex and sexuality as in the first book - there's no excessive talk about sex or anything but it comes up and it's handled breezily and funnily and with an open mind. The mystery itself is cool and the solution is hinted at pretty well throughout the book (although only in retrospect for me, haha - it's not an obvious answer). The writing is really fun and enjoyable and the interactions between the main characters are really great - makes a change from some of the "blank slate" type stuff. Not a literary classic exactly but still one of the best mysteries I've ever read. Great series.… (more)
 
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tombomp | 16 other reviews | Oct 31, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
7
Also by
7
Members
3,322
Popularity
#7,701
Rating
4.0
Reviews
88
ISBNs
68
Languages
4
Favorited
39

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