5/5 Rumpole is always great!
  by Lt Governor (Kent, Wa)
What can I say, this is Rumpole III? As with one and two, always great reading! I miss the Rumpole's on PBS. I hope they rerun soon. The books, of course, are delightful.

Coleen from Kent, Wa

5/5 Rumpole
  by Michael LaRocca (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
I certainly don't need to review "Rumpole of the Bailey." You know all about it. So, I'll just mention that he's especially good company when you fly. You can read a well-crafted story in what, 30 minutes? Ideal for airports and airplanes. Do this, sit for an hour, do that, sit for another hour, etc.

5/5 And Yet More of the Great Rumpole
  by Douglas S. Wood (Monona, WI)
Horace Rumpole presents himself as just an Old Bailey hack doing run-of-the-mill burglary defenses and the odd car-heist case. In reality he defends the best in the Anglo-American legal traditions against modern forces (for example, the presumption of innocence) - and this was written 20+ years ago!

Rumpole is the lovable defender of the average man and foe to all stick-in-the-muds. His motto "Never plead guilty." It could just as well be comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Hilarious, warm, human, touching, self-effacing and ever-ready to pierce the pompous gasbag - that's Rumpole of the Bailey. Start with the First Rumpole Omnibus and work your way through the rest.

As an American lawyer, I wish someone would create an American legal hero to match Rumpole.

Guaranteed to tickle your funny bone and warm your heart.


5/5 Wonderful, witty, urbane fiction
  by Mark E. Baxter (Layton, UT United States)
The Rumpole books are wonderfully entertaining and well-written mysteries that revolve around an aging English lawyer named Rumpole.

For readers not familiar with the author, John Mortimer, and this series of short stories and novels revolving around Rumpole, the central character, I offer the following introduction.

The author, Mortimer, was an English lawyer who also is well known for his writing. He has written popular British screenplays and television adaptations such as Brideshead revisited. He has written novels. And he has written a series of short stories with a few longer stories about an aging English lawyer named Horace Rumpole. Mortimer's background makes him uniquely qualified for this series.

Rumpole's stories are usually interesting cases the title character has been involved in. The judges, various attorneys, the defendants (Rumpole only takes defense cases), acquaintances and family members are constant characters throughout the series. Rumpole is a cynic who sees the humour (British spelling in honour of Rumpole) and absurdity of modern life. These tales are also quite ingenious mysteries. These tales are loosely chronological, but you can read any of the stories in any order and still get what's happening because Mortimer always reintorduces Rumpole briefly at the start of each collection. Rumpole's wife, Hilda, - referred to by Rumpole as 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' - is a wonderful foil to Rumpole's cynical humor and obstinance.

The collections of short stories came out individually in books containing several stories, and later as a collection of a trio of these books called Omnibus editions. The first three collections - Rumpole of the Bailey, The Trials of Rumpole, and Rumpole's Return - are in the First Rumpole Omnibus. The next three collections - Rumpole for the Defence, Rumpole and the Golden Thread, and Rumpole's Last Case - are in the Second Omnibus Edition. The last of the Omnibus editions, the Third (and the one being reviewed here) contains the collections Rumpole and the Age of Miracles, Rumpole a la carte, and Rumpole and the Angel of Death. There are four other collections that are only available singly, Rumpole on Trial, Rumpole Rests His Case, Rumpole and the Primrose Path, and a prequel Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Every single one of these books is a joy to read. Finishing this series left me almost tearful that there were no more of these books and this splendid writing left to read.

Now this volume contains stories that revolve around more modern issues like euthanasia, civil rights in a world of terrorism and the like. But my favorite stories usually involve the humorous foibles of Rumpole's circle. 'Rumpole and the Tap End' is a rollicking story about mis-steps of Rumpole's former Head of Chambers who is now a judge. I love the character developments of these kinds of stories.

I often give Rumpole books as gifts and I re-read these stories occasionally when my spirits need a lift from paying the taxman, wondering where my youth went, filling out forms at work, watching my waistline expand as my hopes and dreams dwindle, and wondering why all the inferior beings around me seem to be so much more successful than me. I recommend these stories, and specifically this volume highly. There is also an old TV series that is extremely well done available if your tastes run more to watching than reading.

5/5 Rumpole fans, rejoice!
  by A. Fisher (Sullivan County, NY)

(If you're not already a fan, you will be after you read these tales!) Clever, funny, and moving - as always!