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From Publishers Weekly
In Rumpole's last outing, Rumpole Rests His Case (2002), Mortimer's beloved barrister suffered a near-fatal heart attack, but as shown in this delicious new story collection, Rumpole still has plenty of life left, despite the preparations some of his blithely insensitive colleagues in chambers make for his imminent demise. In the ingenious title tale, which has been nominated for an Edgar, Rumpole is recuperating in the Primrose Path Home, until the mysterious death of an elderly fellow patient prompts him to slip back to London, where he soon figures out that there's something fishy afoot at his former rest home. The five other entries offer puzzles nearly as clever, though in one story, in which a juror turns out to know someone connected to a murder case, the apparent lack of a voir dire process for screening jurors may strike some readers as odd. As always, however, it is the character of Rumpole and his supporting cast, headed by wife Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed"), that provides such pleasure, along with a perfectly crafted style that owes much to P.G. Wodehouse. If at times the bumbling Rumpole, like Bertie Wooster, must suffer one comic humiliation after another, let it not be forgot that Rumpole, unlike Bertie, is a competent professional who operates in a recognizably real and often nasty contemporary world. May he, as his wife so confidently assumes over their anniversary dinner in the uplifting final story, "Rumpole Redeemed," be back for more legal escapades next year.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The past decade has been a bit bumpy for fans of the irascible, keen-witted criminal defense barrister Rumpole. First, fans had to wait six years before Rumpole Rests His Case appeared in 2002, and then, when Rumpole suffered a heart attack at the end of the novel, it seemed that he might really be hanging up his horsehair wig for good and pleading his case before the Ultimate Judge. (The real-life death of character actor Leo McKern, for whom Mortimer designed the Rumpole stories, lent further credence to this theory.) Clearly, Rumpole fans have needed some good news, and here it is. Bring out the Chateau Thames Embankment and toast the return of the barrister from near-death and from the clutches of the Primrose Path convalescent home, back to his chambers, the Old Bailey, back to his beloved Timson crime family, to his less beloved "She Who Must Be Obeyed," and, of course, to Pomeroy's Wine Bar. These six new stories showcase everything that is great and good in this long-running series: the sly characterizations of the denizens of Equity Chambers and the Old Bailey; Rumpole's crabby take on change and his incisive wit; and Mortimer's deft plotting. Rumpole takes on a Fagin-like pickpocket on the tube, a murderous nursing-home plot, the new marketing director for Chambers, and the powerful She Who Must Be Obeyed, along with the usual unsavory criminals he loves to defend. This new Rumpole is clearly cause for celebration. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but Left-leaning,
By Suppresst "suppresst" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rumpole And The Primrose Path (Hardcover)
Sir John Mortimer is an excellent author of legal mystery/comedy, and this book is well worth the investment, but make no mistake about it, side-by-side with his ambition to entertain is Mortimer's ambition to shame conservative (including Christian) thought and practice. For example in this title's fifth story, a young, attractive immigrant girl who finances her pursuit of an acting career by working as nude dancer in London nightclub, is murdered. The accused is a fanatical Christian known to have publically chastised the girl owing to the nature of her nighttime employment. In Mortimer's worldview anyone with Christian beliefs is always suspect. Enjoy the book, but don't ever lose sight of the fact that Mortimer, like all liberals worldwide, has an agenda, and revels in the power he has (through fiction) to advance it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great ensemble cast, very funny!,
By Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Rumpole And The Primrose Path (Hardcover)
Alas, Leo McKern died in 2002. I have to say that the PBS rendition was one dramatization of fiction that I thought was superior to the original. But, thank god, John Mortimer lives!Much of RUMPOLE AND THE PRIMROSE PATH has to do with Rumpole's return to chambers after a heart attack. The old codger is still as cantankerous as ever. We see him resisting SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED'S efforts to force him to lead a more healthful existence. At one point she has him riding a stationary bicycle at a health club. Imagine Leo McKern on a stationary bike! I've always been impressed with the ensemble cast in the Rumpole stories and they're all back. SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED is the epitome of the scold. Soapy Sam Ballard, leader of chambers and a Q.C. (Queen's counsel, Queer Customer to Rumpole) illustrates England's strange hierarchal legal system. They have law clerks, solicitors, barristers, queen's counsels, all on an ascending scale. Rumpole is clearly superior to Ballard as a lawyer and one of the stories shows Rumpole upstaging his so-called leader. Then there's the pathetic character, Claude Erskine-Brown, married to Phillida. He leads a delusionary existence where he's some sort of Don Quixote-like Casanova and of course Rumpole is his unwilling confidant. Liz Probert has taken Phillida Erskine-Brown's place as Rumpole's junior. There is also a new character, Liz Gribble, director of marketing and administration at chambers. She's an annoyance but as the stories progress she becomes rather of an Rumpole ally. Part of RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY'S allure is the humor involved. Rumpole's relationship to the Timsons crime family, his lust for Chateau Thames Embankment, and his never-ending feud with SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED are sidesplittingly funny.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Long Live Rumpole!!,
By
This review is from: Rumpole And The Primrose Path (Hardcover)
In "Rumpole and the Primrose Path" we find our favorite claret-swilling elderly junior barrister in fine form. As anarchic as ever, in the short story that lends its name to the collection, Rumpole stages a break from the nursing home where he is recuperating from a mild heart attack. This story sets the tone for the collection, proving that not even a brush with his own mortality (and when everyone in his old chambers has begun plotting his memorial service) can dampen the Rumpole eccentricities.To show that he keeps up with the times, Mortimer has Rumpole deal with a case involving wayward e-mails; we cheer as Rumpole evades the body tyranny of fitness clubs. Add to this the odd bit of passion that erupts like a boil (affairs that could be as messy and painful to those involved) among the barristers and judges of the Old Bailey. Even the ever-unromantic Rumpole finishes the collection by bending enough to admit that if he outlives She Who Must Be Obeyed he would feel a certain loneliness. She Who Must grudgingly admits that she, too, inexplicably wants to keep Rumpole around for a while longer. I can second that sentiment. Should any of his fans outlive Rumpole there would be a decided literary void. By all means, let's keep Rumpole around for quite some time to come.
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