Sarah Caudwell

Sarah Cockburn (27 May 1939 – 28 January 2000), who wrote under the pseudonym of Sarah Caudwell, was a British barrister and author of detective stories. Her series of four murder stories written between 1980 and 1999 centered on a group of young barristers practicing in Lincoln's Inn, narrated by a Hilary Tamar, a professor of medieval law whose gender is never specified, who fills the role of detective.

Early life Sarah Cockburn was born on 27 May 1939 in Weir Road, London. Her father was Claud Cockburn, the left-wing journalist, and her mother was Jean Ross, a journalist and political activist. Ross was also inspiration for the character Sally Bowles in Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin and its musical adaptation Cabaret. Her parents were unmarried and her father left three months after Sarah's birth. She graduated with her BCL in 1962.

Personal life and death Caudwell was an inveterate crossword solver, reaching the final of The Times Crossword Competition more than once. For many years, she lived in Barnes, London, with her mother and aunt. She died of throat cancer on 28 January 2000 in Whitehall, London. although other characters make contributions to the eventual solutions. Professor Tamar is frequently physically removed from the action and is kept informed by a series of long letters and telexes. and with Lawrence Block and others for The Perfect Murder.

Awards The Shortest Way to Hades was nominated for the Best Novel award at the 1986 Anthony awards. Caudwell won the 1990 award for The Sirens Sang of Murder in the same category.

In 2010, the Japanese edition of The Sibyl in Her Grave was shortlisted for the Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of the Decade (2000-2009).

Published works Hilary Tamar novels Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981) The Shortest Way to Hades (1985) The Sirens Sang of Murder (1989) The Sibyl in Her Grave (2000), published posthumously

Other works The Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the Perfect Crime (1991) (with Lawrence Block, Tony Hillerman and Jack Hitt)

Contributions to anthologies 2nd Culprit: An Annual of Crime Stories (1994) 3rd Culprit (1994) Malice Domestic 6 (1997) The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (2000), published posthumously Women Before the Bench (2001), published posthumously The Mammoth Book of Comic Crime (2002), published posthumously