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. ( )

The final novel in the Hilary Tamar series takes place, once again, largely through letters - in this case, to Julia from her aunt Regina, who is living in a small village in Sussex. It seems that Regina and two of her friends have done very well financially by heeding tips to invest in specific companies at specific times; they are extremely pleased with their returns, and quickly spend the extra money on luxuries they can’t resist. Until, of course, they learn of a little thing called the capital gains tax. Could Julia, perhaps, help them handle this financial crisis? In the meantime, a relative newcomer to their village has had the effect of turning everything upside-down socially, and perhaps that newcomer’s death wasn’t quite as natural as it seemed…. I will miss the voices in these novels, particularly that of our narrator, Professor Hilary Tamar, who is mysterious about personal matters but quite eager to share opinions about the personal lives of others. Our intrepid barristers seem to dive headlong from one crisis to another, ranging from renovation work in their Chambers that seems never to be finished to dashing as speedily as London traffic on a Friday afternoon will allow them in order to prevent, well, something bad from happening in Parsons Haver. Again, reading all four books in order is the best way to approach these tales, although reading any one of them should provide the reader with a goodly number of laughs; recommended! ( )

love it! ( )

The mystery isn't much. The letters and the remarks of Professor Tamar are what make this enjoyable. ( )

Somewhat odd mystery in which it is not really clear who is murdered, or by whom. Nice cozy mystery atmosphere. Partly told in form of very chatty letters.