[.ca] Rumpole and the Primrose Path (ISBN 1585473944)

Rumpole goes marching on:
The back of this book suggests that Rumpole is now of similar stature to Sherlock Holmes or Bertie Wooster in English fiction. Probably this is right, somehow or other Mortimer has been writing Rumpole stories for more than 20 years. The character started out as a sort of failure. A criminal barrister in his later years who had not made QC or head of chambers. Someone who the world had passed by. A lot of the early stories relied on the tension between Rumpole who never changed and a world that was constantly changing. Over time somehow Rumpole stopped being a failure and started to represent some of the better things in the law. The desire not to judge, to be fair, the professional skill of advocacy. He began to represent a series of attitudes that to some extent have come under attack as Britian's Legal System has changed. In this collection of stories he is shown as being perhaps the one competant advocate in his chambers. The other barristers in the book, Soapy Sam Ballard and Claude Erskine Brown representing the type of lawyers who never realise the importance of the liberty of the subject or the underpinning of the system and see the practise of criminal law as slumming. Each of the stories is well done and the endings are not telescoped. There is one new character an efficiency expert but the other players are the old familiar ones from so many books. It is a book that brings delight to an afternoon or something which can make a train or bus tip a joy. It is a formula that works to a tee. A crime mystery is set against the background of Rumpole's various goings on in his private life or his chambers. This book of five stories is as fresh as the first.

Rumpole gets better and better:
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.

Long Live Rumpole!!:
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.

Great ensemble cast, very funny!:
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.

Good but Left-leaning:
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.