Fannish Fifty: Sarah Caudwell Legal Whodunnits

[smallhobbit]

Possibly not truly qualifying as a fannish 50, but I have read all four of the Hilary Tamar legal mysteries, and if I'm going to reach Fifty in total then this is going to count.

Professor Hilary Tamar is an Oxford tutor of legal history.  The stories are written in the first person and the name is specifically chosen so that the professor could be either male or female - Hilary being an accepted male name in England at certain times.  The other main characters are a group of young lawyers in London: Serena, Julia, Cantrip and Ragwort.

The books are amusing in parts, although I don't find them as funny as some do.  The stories all involve legal questions, although the essentials are explained, so no legal knowledge is required.

If you're looking for a fairly light-hearted mystery, with the accompanying corpse, then these books might well fit that gap.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I'm afraid (like Sarah Hawkswood) this is one I don't have ready access to but it sound intriguing. For the 'someday' pile.

[smallhobbit]

Yes, worth a read if you can get a cheap copy.

[shallowness]

I am one of those who finds these books funny! They easily feature my favourite tax lawyers, anyway. I know there's fanfiction for these books, but I don't remember if I ever found any of it worthy of recommending.

[smallhobbit]

I find them funny in parts, but some of the humour doesn't appeal. They are definitely my favourite tax lawyers though. I'll have to hunt out the fanfiction, maybe even attempt something.

[delphi]

I keep meaning to check these out! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like my library system has them, but I'm going to start keeping an eye out at the secondhand bookshops.

[smallhobbit]

They're definitely worth a look. I do tend to recommend books published in the UK and therefore less available in the States - on the other hand you do have books I'd like to read but have problems finding, at least at a reasonable price.

[delphi]

I'm actually in Canada, so we get the best and worst of both worlds. :D

[smallhobbit]

My apologies. I knew you were that side of the Atlantic, but forgot exactly where.

[delphi]

No worries! Sometimes it works out, because we do tend to get a lot more UK material here proportionally than the US does - but sometimes, since we're such a small market, things that are published or licensed in both the UK and the US pass us by.

It actually looks like the series is all fairly affordable in ebook format through Indigo (a Canadian chain), so I'll definitely be giving the first one a try.

[smallhobbit]

That's good news 📚