Rumpole Rests His Case [Paperback]

John Mortimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2003

The comic, courageous, and corpulent Horace Rumpole reenters the fray in these seven fresh and funny stories in which the "great defender of muddled and sinful humanity" triumphs over the forces of prejudice and mean-mindedness while he tiptoes precariously through the domestic territory of his wife, Hilda-She Who Must Be Obeyed! With his passion for poetry, and a nose equally sensitive to the whiff of wrongdoing and the bouquet of a Château Thames Embankment, the lovable and disheveled Rumpole "is at his rumpled best" (The New York Times).

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

After a hiatus of six years, Horace Rumpole emerges once again in a cloud of smoke, wiping butter from his chin after a cutthroat breakfast with She Who Must Be Obeyed at Froxbury Mansions, to wrestle with the forces of justice down at the Old Bailey. As he himself would be the first to admit, Rumpole is growing long in the tooth, but his wit has not deserted him; indeed, it seems to have cleaved onto his person, like his yellowing wig. Almost half the stories here involve the mayhem that ensues when elderly gentlemen succumb to the urging of their addled hearts. Not Rumple, though, who, as ever, sees through a glass of Château Thames Embankment darkly. Mortimer is in high form here. Is this to be the last of Rumpole? Perish the thought.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Review

"Wonderfully amusing . . . full of pithy writing . . . witty and opinionated." (The Wall Street Journal)

"In this sparkling collection of stories . . . our hero''s usual grumpy but soft-hearted wit is in full force." (The Seattle Times)

"Mortimer spins his stories with sly panache, allowing the barrister to overcome dunces of all stripes with an understated sense of humor." (The Boston Globe)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (November 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142003476
• ISBN-13: 978-0142003473
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rumpole at Rest..., January 1, 2005

By 

Gary C. Marfin (Sugar Land, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rumpole Rests His Case (Paperback)

The underlying thread in this collection of stories is freedom -- specifically, Rumpole's "right" to smoke in chambers. He is more a champion of the underdog than most leftists today, yet maintains a wonderfully conservative suspicion of social engineering. The stories are stand alone. The best in my view is the teenage werewolf. A great read....

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No rest for the wicked, April 21, 2007

By 

Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rumpole Rests His Case (Paperback)

John Mortimer wrote RUMPOLE RESTS HIS CASE after a hiatus of six years away from Rumpole stories. Taking into account the television scripts and the short story collections, Mortimer has been writing about this character since the late 1970s. And the one thing fans and detractors would have to agree on is that he is utterly consistent. Rumpole is the same charismatic, charming character. The plots turn on the same style of points of law, helpful coincidences and plonk-inspired deduction. The stories touch on the same themes of hypocrisy, humor and a certain humanity. And yet there's enough freshness to the stories, that even if you've read many or all of the Rumpole stories up to this point, you'll probably not get tired of this.

In short, if you liked the earlier stuff, you'll like this. If you hated the old stuff, you won't find much to enjoy.

Count me in with the fans. If I were to describe the tone of the experience of reading a collection of Rumpole stories, I think the best single word to use would be "comfortable." It's a horrible cliché to say, but I think this is one of the few cases where it's true to say that settling down to read a Rumpole collection really is like sitting down with an old friend.

The short stories in this collection are mostly standalone although a few plot strands can be seen running through several tales. Rumpole's determination to keep smoking his small cigars in his office chambers will not be new to fans. The revelation of Soapy Sam's previous life as a punk rocker, on the other hand, is probably something that would have familiar readers taking a double take at. It's to Mortimer's credit that both the familiar and the new slot in very easily, and even things that would appear to be completely out of character still fit in.

While the character of Rumpole has not aged appreciably since his introduction almost 25 years ago, the stories themselves are keeping up to date with several "ripped from the headlines" style plot lines. I appreciated seeing Mortimer's take on, say, asylum seekers placed right next to standard stories of Rumpole solving a murder.

I hate repeating myself, but I think it bears repeating: if you've liked the previous Rumpole stories, then you're almost certain to enjoy these. The familiar atmosphere of the Rumpole tales is here, but there are enough differences to keep long time readers from becoming bored. And if you're new to the series, then this is as good a place as any to get started.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He's baaack!, January 4, 2005

By 

P. M Simon "El Simon Asombroso" (New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rumpole Rests His Case (Paperback)

After a long hiatus, John Mortimer brings back the venerable Horace Rumpole, everyone's favourite (he deserves an English spelling) crochety, cheroot-chomping lawyer. For fans of the series, She Who Must Be Obeyed, FIG Newton, the Timsons, and Chateu Thames Embankment are all back. And as ever, in this collection of cases, Rumpole does not always emerge victorious.

This batch of cases is wonderfully up to date. Rumpole deals with smoking bans and defends Afghan refugees and pot-toking right wing hypocrites. As ever, he fights off modernity, career advancement, and interior decorators with wit as caustic and prose as crisp as ever.

I won't spoil the big ending but for fans of the series, what can one say to old Horace but "welcome back!"

In memory of Leo Kern.