Customer Reviews

Rumpole and the Golden Thread (Paragon Softcover Large Print Books)

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Mortimer is a genius at writing because he makes Rumpole so real and memorable. And, how could anyone forget his wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed? My father, a lawyer, introduced me to Rumpole when it was a series on tv. I loved the TV Rumpole, but the books are even better! If you want a humorous, entertaining, delightful book about the English barristers and courts, this book is the right one. I loved this book and want more just like it!

Another great read about the skill, wit, caustic and irreverant QC, his bumbling confreres, She Who Must Be Obeyed, and a strong statement on English society.

Rumpole stories are like getting in touch with old friends after you've read a few of them. There is no ficitional character like the curmudgeonly Old Bailey hack, and we get to see him in six more wonderful stories in this book. The stories are, of course, all excellent, but I always pick a favourite and in this one it's "Rumpole and the Female of the Species". Rumpole's dry wit and acerbic tongue is at its best in this story as he is defending one of his old Timson gang of criminals, as well as trying to get a young female barrister accepted into Chambers. These stories never get stale, and they are all little gems in their own right. I highly recomeend that those who love to read and to laugh read Mortimer's long selection of stories about Horace Rumpole.

I wish that these stories had been narrated by Leo McKern; after all, John Mortimer wrote his Rumpole stories with McKern in mind. But if he wasn't available to narrate them, then Patrick Tull is a more than adequate substitute (which brings up the question: who on earth is Bill Wallis? The Recorded Books version that I rented doesn't mention anyone by that name.).

Tull does a great job of imitating the gruff-but-lovable Horace Rumpole, the barrister who makes courtroom dramas fun. I had not visited the Temple in quite a while, and it was good to reacquaint myself with both Erskine-Browns, Uncle Tom, and Guthrie Featherstone, Q.C., among others. If Patrick Tull is the narrator for any other Rumpole books I'd listen to them anytime.