Customer Reviews

Rumpole of the Bailey

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The inaugural book in the Rumpole saga presents one of the great characters of British crime fiction. It's Holmes with humor (excuse me; humour), Bertie Wooster with brains. A collection of short stories, all revolve around Horace Rumpole, a self-described "Old Bailey hack". He practices (almost) exclusively as a defense barrister, specializing in hopeless causes, spouting poetry and cigar ash with equal gusto. The book provides the background for the accompanying series on "PBS", and it is at least as much a credit to Leo McKern's portrayal of Horace Rumpole as it is to author John Mortimer's skill that the stories--now contained in three massive omnibuses--have such deep appeal.

This book is a great introduction to English barrister, Horace Rumpole, an Old Bailey hack who has been around the London courts for many years. Rumpole has no aspirations to "take silk"-becoming a Queens Counsel, and is perfectly happy as a defence lawyer, mostly representing criminals of the non-violent variety.We also meet his wife Hilda, "She Who Must Be Obeyed", who, after all these years, still envisions herself as the wife of Head of Chambers. All of the other characters who occupy the Rumpole stories emerge in these short tales--sneaky, slightly effeminate Erskine-Brown, the bumbling Guthrie Featherstone and the other lawyers and clerks whose lives weave in and out of these stories. You'll love them all and particularly cigar smoking,claret swilling Rumpole himself.

In "Rumpole of the Bailey", John Mortimer has served up a veritable smorgasbord of short snappy tales that are the very best that British courtroom humour has to offer. Whether it's criminal trials in the old Bailey or civil trials in Chancery division, Horace Rumpole takes on all comers with a trademarked irreverent disdain for the sanctity of the law, the court, the judiciary and his learned colleagues at the bar. But, make no mistake, Rumpole's disarming attitude and appearance mask a razor sharp legal mind able to cut directly to the heart of the matter and an ability to draw on brutally cunning legal tactics which, for many American readers, will be reminiscent of the television detective, Columbo.

Whether Rumpole is in court or lighting up a cigar and quaffing a glass of Chateau Fleet Street at his favourite after-hours haunt, Pommeroy's Wine Bar, Rumpole is accompanied by an endearing supporting cast that is an integral part of the amusing, indeed often hilarious stories that Mortimer has produced - Guthrie Featherstone QC MP, the stiffly starched and prissy (yet often philandering) head of chambers; Claude Erskine-Brown, the slightly looser barrister who is head over heels in love with the only female member of chambers, the eloquent and deeply feminist Phillida Trant; Rumpole's wife, Hilda, the imposing "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed"; and Percy Timson, the patriarch of a widespread London family of low-level criminals whose bumbling failures are destined to keep Rumpole supplied with a steady stream of defense briefs for as long as he cares to work.

Hilarious brain candy guaranteed to take you away from the worries of the workaday world for a blissful all-too-short few hours. Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

First Sentence: I, Horace Rumpole, barrister at law, 68 next birthday, Old Bailey Hack, husband to Mrs. Hilda Rumpole (known to me only as She Who Must Be Obeyed) and father to Nicholas Rumpole (lecturer in social studies at the University of Baltimore, I have always been extremely proud of Nick); I, who have a mind full of old murders, legal anecdotes and memorable fragments of old murders, legal anecdotes and memorable fragments of the Oxford book of English Verse...

This first book in the Rumpole series introduces the barrister, his wife, Hilda, and three of his cases.

Rumpole is the consummate English character; he's lord of his courtroom but serf to his wife in his home. The sobriquet of "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is amusing the first couple references but wears thin quickly, although it suits the character. However, I enjoyed the character and the supporting characters around him. I thoroughly enjoyed his penchant for quotations, particularly those of Wordsworth. The stories were entertaining. I like British humor. The hardest part for me is that they were short stories, of which I'm not a particular fan, so there's less character development, arc and dimension. I enjoyed the book, but I actually like the television series better.

All is right with our world if we have Rumpole adventures to enjoy. This book is the first in a long line of books written by a great comedic author (John Mortimer). This little book contains six different adventures that are a pure delight to enjoy. There is no fictional character like the curmudgeonly Horace Rumpole. This book won't take long to read, but I promise that you will laugh out loud numerous times as we follow Rumpole the barrister-in-law as he deals with a robbery, a drug-peddling affair at a commune, a rape, a divorce, a safe-cracking case and a nice little murder. I can't wait to read more.

The first title in the popular series by John Mortimer has Rumpole, the claret swigging, small cigar smoking barrister, facing off against the prosecution in six adventures. This may well be the funniest book that I have ever read. Mortimer is an excellent writer, with a real knack for character development, irony, and hilarious dialogue.

Rumpole is a somewhat broken down defender of criminals, in his 68th year of life and ruled by the iconic wife, "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Rumpole made something of a reputation, more than 30 years ago, as an expert in blood, fingerprints, and typewriters, by winning a few long-forgotten cases in the Old Bailey criminal court.

Now he is passed over for head of chambers and treated as a junior by other barristers with no interest in criminal cases. Crime is considered out of fashion in chambers, as those with an interest in civil cases and standing for parliament are moving ahead quickly.

In fact, Rumpole is not a particularly good attorney, by my count, he loses the majority of his chances.

However, he never fails to be extremely entertaining. In one case, after being relegated to the sidelines by an inept leader, he tries to distract the jury from the colleague's incompetence by the noisy application of flu remedies. Of course, he continues to entertain with the endless application of poetry, especially Keats, to all situations, including those of profound solemnity.

When accused unfairly of malfeasance and threatened with suspension, he indicates to all with great seriousness that his strategy and plan of attack is to trade in his current profession for a new one, growing vegetables behind a subway station. His only true confidante, his son, ultimately leaves London for a wife and job in America, leaving Rumpole to manage as best he can, fortifying himself with claret and small cigars, for the ride home each night.

An amusing book, with the unlikely hero, if you want to call it that, of Rumpole, a pretty ordinary looking lawyer, toiling away at his job of defending clients, putting up with his wife, his co-workers, and all that sort of thing.

However, he does tend to stick up the underdog and try and look into things that don't seem right.

I cannot give a review of the entire book, as I have only read one of the short stories contained in it. I read the one entitled, "Rumpole of the Younger Generation." I felt like I was wasting my time, because all I was reading was a synopsis of a former triumph of this man. The case might have been exciting, but the author did not play fair, and the guilty party was obvious. I did not like this story very much, and can only hope that the rest of them are better than this one was.