Rumpole of the Bailey

This first title in the popular mystery series by playwright and novelist John Mortimer features Horace Rumpole, an English barrister who stands before the jury with the flourish of a Shakespearean actor and the ingenuity of a Sherlock Holmes. Rumpole—expert on bloodstains and fingerprint forgery—who has a wit so dry and razor sharp that most of his duller colleagues miss its cutting edge entirely; who prefers, nay depends upon a daily nip of Pommeroy’s ordinary claret; who recites Matthew Arnold at the most opportune of moments (such as when his wife Hilda, alias “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” requests a new set of slipcovers); and who disdains privilege at the very moment he is most enjoying it.

This selection includes six short stories: Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole and the Alternative Society: Rumpole and the Honourable Member; Rumpole and the Married Lady; Rumpole and the Learned Friends; and Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade.

“Rumpole lives as flagrantly on the page as on the box, a fruity, foxy masterpiece, defender of our wilting faith in mankind.”—New York Times