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Rumpole Rests His Case
by John Clifford Mortimer (Narrator: Tony Britton)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Chivers Audio Books (2002-11)
ISBN: 075400872X
EAN: 9780754008729
Audio Cassette
SKU: 08020187
Condition: Like New Like New
Comments: Audio tapes in like new condition with no visible flaws. Original clamshell case packaging in like new condition with clear text and nice artwork.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Fans old and new will welcome this brand-new volume in John Mortimer's hugely popular series-Horace Rumpole's first appearance in six years. The comic, courageous, and corpulent "great defender of muddled and sinful humanity" reenters the fray in a book that sends up the British legal system as deftly as ever. Rumpole Rests His Case brings us seven fresh and funny stories in which Horace 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 Wordsworth, his kindly disposition toward the defendant, and a nose equally sensitive to the whiff of wrongdoing and the bouquet of a Château Thames Embankment, the disheveled Rumpole is back and in impeccable form-perhaps for the last time?
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Amazon.com Review
How much longer will readers be treated to new stories featuring irreverent and irascible London barrister Horace Rumpole? The character was created for British television in the 1970s by John Mortimer, who once said that he'd continue writing Rumpole tales only so long as actor Leo Kern could portray him on the tube. If Kern's death in July 2002 means that Rumpole Rests His Case is the beginning of the end, then at least this series concludes on a high and humorous note. The seven yarns collected here find the rumpled Rumpole defending his usual assortment of eccentric clients, while also fending off antismoking zealots, interior designers with a taste for lava lamps, and his domineering wife, Hilda ("known to me only as She Who Must Be Obeyed"). One story teams the elderly advocate with an elusive Afghan doctor who was smuggled into the U.K. in a crate of mango chutney, and now seeks to become a legal resident. In another, Rumpole investigates an assault, apparently committed by an unmanageable teenager with a poetic streak, while a third case has the barrister working for a hypocritical right-wing politician who, after first seducing away the wife of one of Rumpole's colleagues, is accused of a drug offense. Cleverest of all, though, is the title tale, in which a hospital-confined Rumpole builds the defense for one of his roommates, a "reformed" thief with an unlikely connection to the aged major who shot him during a residential break-in. With his own unreformed taste for claret and cheroots, Rumpole persists in being an entertaining, old-fashioned thorn in the silk-covered side of Britain's judicial system. Could somebody please tell Mortimer that it's too soon for this character to hang up his wig? --J. Kingston Pierce
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Customer Reviews
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"They all say you're a legend in your lifetime, Rumpole."
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-01-06
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
John Mortimer's "Rumpole Rests His Case" is a collection of seven short stories starring England's most colorful junior barrister. Each story shows why Horace Rumpole is so beloved by both readers and defendants. He champions the underdog, as always, with relish, wit, and style. Alas, Chambers has become a smoke-free zone (to reduce pollution and global warming), and a disgruntled Rumpole is reduced to standing outside when he craves one of his small cigars. Two of his most irksome adversaries enjoy Rumpole's discomfiture with undisguised glee: Claude Erskine-Brown, QC, the "opera-loving, wine-tasting, inadequate advocate" and Rumpole's irritating Head of Chambers, Soapy Sam Ballard. Both men figure prominently in these pages: Claude is having marital problems; his beautiful and successful wife, the High Court Judge, Phillida Erskine Brown (formerly known as the Portia of our Chambers), has demanded a trial separation from her boring husband. Soapy Sam has a surprising secret which Rumpole gleefully uncovers and plans to use against him.
Rumpole may not look very imposing, but he has a keen mind and a wonderful memory, two attributes that come in handy in "Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces." Although Proust does not figure in "Rumpole and the Remembrance of Things Past," a thirty-three year old skeleton that was buried under the floorboards does. "Rumpole and the Asylum Seekers" deals with a complicated case of Doctor Mohammed Nabi, an illegal Afghani immigrant who is smuggled into England in a crate of chutney. "Civil Rights. Freedom of the Individual. Defeat for the Forces of Darkeness. That's what you stand for, don't you, Mr. Rumpole," says Ted Minter, who represents Dr. Nabi. In the same story, Hilda alarms her beleaguered husband when she announces that their well-worn and familiar flat is about to undergo an extreme makeover, complete with crystals, lava lamps, and a "talk pit." In the final story, the aging but indomitable Rumpole suffers a minor heart attack, but he still manages to construct a criminal defense for the fellow lying in chains in the adjoining hospital bed.
As usual, Mortimer pokes fun at unreasonable judges, government bureaucrats, and the hyprocrisy of the ruling classes. Although Hilda (She Who Must Be Obeyed) would like her husband to hang up his wig once and for all, Rumpole wants nothing more than a good brief, a puff or two on his cheroot, and a glass of Chateau Thames Embankment in Pommeroy's Wine Bar at the end of a hard day at One Equity Court. For this zealous advocate of the presumption of innocence and trial by jury, retirement is simply not an option. Fans of Rumpole's dry humor, incisive intelligence, and passion for human rights would be delighted if he were to don his yellowing wig and work his magic in court for many years to come.
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No erosion of talent here.
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-07-13
Mortimer's talent as a writer has not diminished over the years, and this book is proof of that. This book has seven more stories of the wonderful, curmudgeonly Rumpole, and each one is a special gem. Rumpole runs the gamut in this book from defending someone in a relocation bid, to trying to uncover a sixties murder to defending a known criminal who has been charged with housebreaking and has got shot in the process. I always pick a favourite and in this book I think my favourite story was "Rumpole and the Camberwell Carrot". For those not in the know, a Camberwell carrot is a large reefer. In this book Rumpole's clients have been stuck in a sixties time warp, and it's hilarious how the story turns out. These books are such a joy to read. I look forward to each one.
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Penge Bungalow Murders is better
Rating  (3)
Date: 2005-08-27
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Some might find the title and the ending of RUMPOLE RESTS HIS CASE a bit misleading. No, this is not the last novel in the series and no Rumpole does not die. Since this title was released, two more Rumpoles have been published-RUMPOLE AND THE PRIMROSE PATH and RUMPOLE AND THE PENGE BUNGALOW MURDERS.
Like the Sherlock Holmes stories, the characterization in these stories is far superior to the plots. Rumpole is one of the most loveable characters in British fiction, but even on what he perceives as his death bed, he manages to find a possible client and begins to formulate his closing statement in his mind.
What I found most impressive about these seven stories was Mortimer's weaving of contemporary issues into the stories. The members of chambers, primarily Liz Probert and Soapy Sam Ballard, have decided on a smoke-free environment. If Rumpole wants to smoke his beloved "small cigars," he most do it outside in the foul London weather. Rumpole sets out to blackmail Ballard into letting him smoke. This plot thread persists through several of the stories. In another story, Rumpole defends an Afghan who is seeking asylum in England. In the same story we get a bit of reality TV as Hilda volunteers to have the flat at Froxbury Mansions remodeled on a program called MAKE OVER.
Some of the supporting cast in the Rumpole stories don't change a whole lot. Erskine-Brown is always a "Queer Customer." Liz Probert is a younger version of Phillada; Judge Bullingham is always "The Bull." In this series of stories, Mortimer decides to tweak one of them a bit. When Rumpole sets out to blackmail Sam "Soapy" Ballard into letting him smoke in chambers, his effort has unforeseen consequences, making Ballard a much more likable character.
I liked the Penge Bungalow Murders better than this effort, probably because it's written in more of a novel format and we get to see Rumpole as a young man being stalked by Hilda, but there's enough of the curmudgeonly Rumpole in these stories to give you your yearly Rumpole fix. For instance, he refers to one of the other characters as having "the face of an immoderately self-satisfied Pekinese."
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Reading Between the Lines
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-08-13
Rumpole is emboldened by Erskine-Brown's claret to sing. He is to go to Norfolk to Coldsands Church Christmans Day because the rector is a son of a school friend of Hilda, and from Hilda's judgment there is no appeal. Eric, the rector, is having a problem with the church tower. He refers to praying as knee work. Rumpole discovers the rich man Eric hopes to use to have the tower repaired is an old client of his. Rumpole consents to remain mum on that point if the man contributes to Eric's cause.
In another story 'she who must be obeyed' attends a school reunion and learns a past victim of her school girl humor did not leave the establishment for reason of the teasing. In another yarn Hilda has arranged for their flat to be featured on a make-over program on television. Rumpole is thankful when circumstances induce Hilda to leave the flat in its present state.
Rumpole refuses Erskine-Brown's offer of five hours of Wagner. Claude tells Rumpole that he and Phillada are having a separation. Rumpole undertakes to speak with Philly. It seems she has met someone, a politician, who is set up in a drug matter and becomes Rumpole's next client. In another instance Rumpole has a client who, in front of a judge in the throes of terminal irritation, decides to make a false confession to increase the drama for the sake of the jury.
One judge is characterized as conducting the proceedings as if Old Bailey were a summary and prejudicial offshoot of the Spanish Inquisition. Rumpole collapses. He could be said to have collapsed in the workplace if one were to call Old Bailey a workplace. Hilda tells him that the criminals he is so fond of will just have to go off to prison quietly.
Of course the whole thing is a wonderful amount of fun. John Mortimer's ability to crank out these droll tales is awesome.
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The first new volume of Rumpole stories in six years
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-04-14
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Mortimer brings the first new volume of Rumpole stories in six years, returning the comic British legal defender to modern times with seven new, funny stories of his court appearances. Familiarity with prior Rumpole accounts is not required but will enhance enjoyment of this latest series of episodes.
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