Sarah Caudwell Books in Order
Sarah Caudwell has written 4 books, published between 1981 and 2000. The first book is Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981) and the newest is The Sibyl in Her Grave (2000). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 4
- Published
- 1981–2000
- Pages on record
- 959 in 3 of 4 books
- Reading time
- 16–24 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 959 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 3 of 4 titles with a page count on record.
Four detective novels make up the whole of Sarah Caudwell's fiction: Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981), The Shortest Way to Hades (1984), The Sirens Sang of Murder (1989) and The Sibyl in Her Grave (2000). Caudwell was the pen name of Sarah Cockburn (1939–2000), a British barrister. The books belong to one series, Hilary Tamar, named for the narrator, a teacher of medieval law, never assigned a gender, who does the detecting while young barristers at Lincoln's Inn supply the cases.
How many Sarah Caudwell books are there?
Sarah Caudwell has 4 books, released between 1981 and 2000.
Sarah Caudwell Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 4 Sarah Caudwell books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 11981–1/4
- 219843141/4
- 319892771/4
- 420003681/4
Sarah Caudwell books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Hilary Tamar in order
4 booksDo you have to read Sarah Caudwell books in order?
You only need to read Sarah Caudwell books in order within the Hilary Tamar series, which holds 4 of the 4 Sarah Caudwell books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Sarah Caudwell
Start with Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Sarah Caudwell book?
The Sibyl in Her Grave (2000) is the newest Sarah Caudwell book released so far.
Is there a new Sarah Caudwell book coming?
No next Sarah Caudwell book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Sarah Caudwell has won
Wikidata records 1 award for Sarah Caudwell. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Anthony Award for Best Novel1990Wonfor The Sirens Sang of Murder
Sarah Caudwell at a glance
- Died
- Sarah Caudwell died in 2000, according to Wikidata.
- Last book
- The newest book credited to Sarah Caudwell on record dates from 2000.
- Release pace
- Sarah Caudwell books have appeared about one every 6 years on average.
- Length
- 959 pages across the 3 of 4 books with a recorded length, a median of 314 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Sarah Caudwell books, 3 of 4, were published in the 1980s.
What the Sarah Caudwell books are about
All 4 Sarah Caudwell books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: hilary tamar (fictitious character) is tagged on 4 of 4. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Hilary Tamar (Fictitious character) 4 of 4 books
- Law teachers 4 of 4 books
- Mystery & detective 4 of 4 books
- England 3 of 4 books
- Legal stories 3 of 4 books
- Tamar, hilary (fictitious character) 3 of 4 books
- Women teachers 1 of 4 books