Rating: 
Summary: Great ensemble cast, very funny!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great ensemble cast, very funny!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great Rumpole collection
Review: Barrister Horace Rumpole suffered a near-fatal heart attack (see RUMPOLE RESTS HIS CASE) and convalescences in the Primrose Path Home while his colleagues mount a death watch and a competition to replace him. Bored, cranky, at war with much of the staff, and feeling like a prisoner with a life sentence, Rumpole learns that another patient fellow patient died under strange circumstances. Refusing to rest at the rest home, Rumpole escapes confinement and is back on the case trying to learn what happened to his rest home mate.That is the first of five cleverly designed stories and one other well written but flawed tale that brilliantly return Rumpole back in London solving cases, obeying his wife Hilda, and entertaining his myriad of fans while he achieves all that. John Mortimer scores big time with this superb collection that ends with a toast the barrister's fans will join Hilda in hoping that Horace has more escapades next year. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Long Live Rumpole!!
Review: 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.
The mysteries are slight. The main joy is reading Rumpole's exploits as he again makes the rounds of the Old Bailey while living under the benevolent despotism of She. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Long Live Rumpole!!
Review: 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.
The mysteries are slight. The main joy is reading Rumpole's exploits as he again makes the rounds of the Old Bailey while living under the benevolent despotism of She. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Long Live Rumpole!!
Review: 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.
The mysteries are slight. The main joy is reading Rumpole's exploits as he again makes the rounds of the Old Bailey while living under the benevolent despotism of She. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Rumpole returns "from the dead"
Review: Leave it to our intrepid attorney Horace Rumpole to sneak out of the convalencent home where he was sent after his near fatal heart attack, and then to be able to defend one of the kindly nurses who befriended him there. As usual, our Old Bailey hack is up to his old tricks, baiting judges, reciting poetry, and faering the wrath of She Who Must Be obeyed. Having been a fan of the television series, I can picture the characters in my mind, and the late Leo McKern will always be Rumpole to me, just as Jeremy Brett remains the essential Sherlock Holmes. These tales are delightful, but my one complaint is that the book is much too short! I could go on reading Rumpole for weeks and never tire of him.
Rating: 
Summary: Rumpole's Last Hurrah
Review: Neither John Mortimer nor his creation, Rumpole, have lost their edge in this possibly final volume. Both are as ascerbic as ever, and the cases are as much fun as ever. Rumpole had a heart attack in the end of the last book, "Rumpole Rests His Case," but he remains utterly unreformed, still sucking in cheroots and sneaking out to the Tasty Bite for greasy British breakfasts. He escapes from convalescent care in the first story and goes on to defend a combination of the high and the low, all the while skewering obnoxious judges and all the PC hoakum that sneaks into chambers. In short, all the usual.
Mortimer has every bit of his art in this volume. You have to love lines about a "chemical haze of aftershave," for instance. And Rumpole finds a surprising new ally in chambers. Meanwhile there are atavistic similarities to Dickens to enliven the stock appearances of the Timsons.
We hope there will be more Rumpole in the future, but alas there have been a few years sans a new volume. So savor this one!
Rating:
Summary: Rumpole gets better and better
Review: Rumpole is back - and better than ever. He's even enjoying a bit of success in his senior years. In these six short stories, Rumpole represents an accused murderer, a police officer accused of conspiracy to murder, and a newspaper accused of invasion of privacy. He even gets to spring one of the incorrigible Timson's in the cleverest Timson tale yet. What makes the Rumpole series so popular is not just the shear likeability of its untidy and overweight Old Bailey hack, but his deep-seated understanding of the difference between justice and law, and his true affection for the poor and unempowered. In this book, the author depicts such thoroughly modern characters as a child of the streets, a poor single mum, and a `redeemed' con. As Rumpole says when he encounters an injustice: Get up on your hind legs and make a fuss about it! By the way, there was another English author who exposed the underside of English society in a series of popular tales. His name was Charles Dickens. *** Also recommended for anyone who enjoys the Rumpole books of Sir John Mortimer, anything by Janwillem van de Wettering.
Rating:
Summary: Rumpole gets better and better
Review: Rumpole is back - and better than ever. He's even enjoying a bit of success in his senior years. In these six short stories, Rumpole represents an accused murderer, a police officer accused of conspiracy to murder, and a newspaper accused of invasion of privacy. He even gets to spring one of the incorrigible Timson's in the cleverest Timson tale yet. What makes the Rumpole series so popular is not just the shear likeability of its untidy and overweight Old Bailey hack, but his deep-seated understanding of the difference between justice and law, and his true affection for the poor and unempowered. In this book, the author depicts such thoroughly modern characters as a child of the streets, a poor single mum, and a 'redeemed' con. As Rumpole says when he encounters an injustice: Get up on your hind legs and make a fuss about it! By the way, there was another English author who exposed the underside of English society in a series of popular tales. His name was Charles Dickens. *** Also recommended for anyone who enjoys the Rumpole books of Sir John Mortimer, anything by Janwillem van de Wettering.
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