Thus Was Adonis Murdered

A Novel

By: Sarah Caudwell, A.J. Finn

Narrated by: Lorna Bennett

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

A young woman accused of murder while on holiday in Venice enlists a friend to come help her—but once they begin unraveling clues, there’s no telling what else will come to light.

“Sarah Caudwell is one of my very favorite mystery writers.”—A. J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

His was a body to die for . . .

Set to have a vacation away from her home life and the tax man, young barrister Julia Larwood takes a trip to Italy with her art-loving boyfriend. But when her personal copy of the current Finance Act is found a few meters away from a dead body, Julia finds herself caught up in a complex fight against the Inland Revenue.

Fortunately, she’s able to call on her fellow colleagues who enlist the help of their friend Oxford professor Hilary Tamar. However, all is not what it seems. Could Julia’s boyfriend in fact be an employee of the establishment she has been trying to escape from? And how did her romantic luxurious holiday end in murder?

Don’t miss any of Sarah Caudwell’s riveting Hilary Tamar mysteries:
THUS WAS ADONIS MURDERED • THE SHORTEST WAY TO HADES • THE SIRENS SANG OF MURDER • THE SIBYL IN HER GRAVE

©1981 Sarah Caudwell (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“An absolutely delightful mystery—erudite, witty, believable.”—The Arizona Daily Star

“Witty . . . clever . . . an elaborately plotted, very English and charming story.”—Publishers Weekly

“Caudwell’s light touch and the puzzle she presents make for a diverting tale.”—The Washington Post Book World

Pretty good.

There is clever repartee between the characters. I enjoyed the dry British humor. The plot would be easier to follow in a print version.

Love the book; narration not great

I have loved this book for years, but the narration is not very good. She speaks in a slow, lugubrious voice, and her rendition of Ragwort’s voice is particularly heinous. Ragwort is a impeccable, somewhat effete character, but his voice sounds like a petulant adolescent.
But I love the story so much that it didn’t ruin it.

Better in Print

While I liked the story well enough, I think this is one of the few novels that is much better in its print version than its audible version. It isn’t due to the performance exactly, but more related to the direction given to the performers with regard to the particular characters. In the end, this is a disappointment.

Poor narration choices mar a great book

Sarah Caudwell’s novels are delights, but this reader, alas, is not. She misses the way that Hilary Tamar’s pompous self-regard is frequently the butt of the joke, and as someone else noted, her vocal rendition of the prim and proper Ragwort is a complete misfire.

The book needs a narrator as suited to the material as Barbara Rosenblatt is to the Amelia Peabody novels — another series in which you have to sell the implicit as well as the explicit humor.

Love the book, not wild about the narration

Narrator Bennett reads well for the most part, but I found several of her voice-choices - usually for male characters - distractingly "growly", and not always as distinctive as they might have been. That said, I adore the novel and enjoyed having the audiobook version.

Lugubrious Narration

This is a book that requires close attention to the narrative, but unfortunately the slow, plodding voice of the professor detracts immensely from the plot. As someone else observed, this book would be better enjoyed by actual reading rather than listening.

Get a sample first…

I really couldn’t listen to this book. I have no idea whether it’s a very good story or not, but the reading of it is so slow and so affected that I was to irritated to continue. I wish I had read the reviews, and gotten a sample. I hope you like it more than I did.

terrible narration makes it impossible to follow

I'm perplex why the Narrator, Hillary, is even a character. the lack of variety in character voices made the story hard to follow. Half-way through I didn't care who did it and stopped listening.