John Mortimer Books

The book features a collection of humorous mysteries centered around the character Rumpole, exploring the quirks of the British legal system. It includes amusing scenarios such as culinary disputes, encounters with eccentric characters, and bizarre courtroom cases involving devil worshippers and a seductive client. Additionally, it provides a satirical take on serious themes like animal rights and justice system flaws. Rumpole's adventures blend wit and insight, showcasing him as a detective in his own right, comparable to literary greats like Sherlock Holmes.

This volume contains twenty tales featuring beloved barrister Horace Rumpole as he turns down another invitation to exchange the joys and sorrows of life as an Old Bailey hack for the delights of the Sunshine State -- where senior citizens loll on beaches and the sarcastic tones of the Mad Bull (Judge Roger Bullingham) are heard no more. Instead, Rumpole settles for the beaded bubbles of Chateau Pommeroy's ordinary claret, and his role extraordinaire as Defender of the Faith: "Never Plead Guilty.""Mortimer has created one of the legendary fictional detectives . . . a barrister [who's] as much a detective as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot." -- The Boston Sunday Globe"Wonderfully amusing . . . full of pithy writing . . . witty and opinionated." -- The Wall Street Journal

Who rose to enduring fame on Blood and Typewriters, told the pregnant Portia of the Chambers it would come out in the end, advised Guthrie Featherstone, Q.C. to adopt a more judicial attitude, returned in the tender gloaming of each evening - via Pommeroy's and a glass of Chateau Fleet Street - to she who must be obeyed? The answer is Horace Rumpole whose legal triumphs, plundering sorties into the 'Oxford Book of English Verse' and less-than-salubrious hat are celebrated here in this first omnibus edition which includes "Rumpole of the Bailey", "The Trials of Rumpole" and "Rumpole's Return".

In the title story of this collection Rumpole is defending a pro-euthanasia doctor on a charge of murdering his old colleague Chippy.

Unbowed by nearly 50 years knocking around the hollowed courts of justice, the icy winds blowing from "she who must be obeyed", an overdraft bursting at the seams and overindulgence in Fleet Street, Horace Rumpole features in these seven stories about life in court.

Horace Rumpole, whom the nation has taken to its collective bosom, continues to deftly juggle the vagaries of law, the ambiguities of crime and the contradictions of the the human hearth in his death-defying performances on behalf of justice.Here he takes on the con-o-sewers of the art world, journeys deep into the throbbing heart of Africa, dabbles in some female politics, decides the country is a very dangerous place, and incurs the wrath of Hilda...Rumpole and the genuine article --Rumpole and the golden thread --Rumpole and the old boy net --Rumpole and the female of the species --Rumpole and the sporting life --Rumpole and the last resort

Six new stories featuring that irrepressible pillar of the British legal system, Horrace Rumpole. Dirty deeds in a fashionable London diner send the Wordsworth-quoting, cigar-smoking Rumpole form Soapy Sam Ballard's Chambers to the hallowed portals of the Old Bailey. There our Defender of the Faith encounters an array of old darlings, including Mr. Justice 'Ollie' Oliphant, Mr. 'Injustice' Graves and several more irksome judicial brethern. On one occasion he goes so far as to take up the case for the Prosecution, only to discover that old habits do indeed die hard. Although Rumpole embarks on new legal territory, he is surrounded by familiar faces: She Who Must Be Obeyed, colleagues Cluade and Phillida Erskine-Brown, and a cast of criminals and scoundrels, only some of whom are part of the dignified legal profession

This further unveiling of John Mortimer's private life is brilliantly written, with something new to learn or enjoy on every page.

Horace Rumpole always knows what he is doing-even if no one else does. But in these challenging cases, even the beloved barrister gets more than he bargained for, as he gallantly teaches a Professor of Moral Philosophy about blackmail; consults with the dearly departed about a contested will; traces the path of true love after a doctor is murdered; and (in the name of duty, of course) drinks to excess with a teetotaling member of the prosecution. With some help from his wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, the champion of the underdog and the scourge of judges triumphs yet again.

Three plays describe the relationships between a young man and his blind, aging father, a barrister and his client charged with murder, and a girl who refuses to speak and her parents