From Publishers Weekly
At the start of Mortimer's winning new novella to feature Horace Rumpole (after 2006's
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror), the quirky English barrister agrees to defend 12-year-old Peter Timson, who's been served with an Anti-social Behaviour Order (ASBO) for playing soccer in the streets of a posh London neighborhood. Later, Rumpole takes on a more serious case: a shy civil servant, Graham Wetherby, stands accused of murdering a prostitute, an illegal Russian immigrant. Since Wetherby prefers to be represented by a QC or Queens Counsel, Rumpole schemes to become a QC in an amusing subplot. Rumpole fans will cheer the barrister's vigorous defense of his clients as well as his cutting comments on the nanny state that gives rise to laws like ASBOs. As always, the character of Rumpole overshadows the mystery solving: his hedonistic pleasure in food and drink, his acerbic, manipulative wit and his love for the legal underdog. Wife Hilda—She Who Must Be Obeyed—narrates the occasional chapter to great comic effect.
(Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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From AudioFile
Bill Wallis is wonderful in every respect. For starters, he sounds exactly like Leo McKernÕs Rumpole, of BBC television. He also believably personifies everyone from officious wife Hilda to Soapy Sam, Fig Newton, and the various lowlifes who constitute RumpoleÕs clientele. His multicharacter dialogue is unparalleled, and his pacing is never too fast or too slow. While plot is often secondary to the pleasures of characterization and commentary in this series, the present entry offers two tracks. One deals with Rumpole applying for QueenÕs Counsel and Hilda (!) contemplating a career at the bar. The other involves three apparently disparate criminal cases which--surprise--turn out not to be wholly unrelated. R.E.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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