Rumpole and the Primrose Path

If you're an Anglophile, every "Rumpole" written is worth the price. Many of the Rumpole characters and plots were, in some manner, foretold in some of the other stories. There was a comfort in having this slight familiarity as a reader. So, "Rumpole and the Primrose Path" was a shock. The immortality of Rumpole has never been in question - until his stay in a convalescent hospital resulting from a heart attack. For that matter, the immortality of Rumpole actor Leo McKern was never in doubt - I always just expected him to be with us - like letters from the tax collector. Perhaps McKern's death in 2004 is the reason there is a tinge of sobriety in The Primrose Path that has heretofore been lacking. Horace, as always, has it his own way and comes out on top - but he now seems to recognize that "there, but for the grace of God, goes Horace Rumpole." Still - Rumpole of the Bailey is wonderful and, as long as there is claret, he always will be.

When last we left Rumpole, he was recovering from a near-fatal heart attack at the end of "Rumpole Rests his Case." That was a bittersweet book, because Rumpole was beginning to show his age and appeared to be slipping quickly into the final stages of life. He was an elderly barrister nearing the end of his career when he made his debut back in the 1970's. Now, thirty some odd years later, he must be pushing 100. I hoped that any future Rumpole opuses would come from his as-yet-unchronicled youth. Such was not the case. This latest offering has Rumpole fully recovered from his heart attack and showing the vigor of a youngster in his early sixties. Apparently Mortimer has decided to stop the aging process and keep Rumpole's age forever on the edge of retirement. I, for one, approve. Although the plots in this last book are not as complex as in earlier stories, the mysteries are still as satisfying as ever. The supporting cast of regulars has subsided somewhat into the background and more attention is shown to Rumpole's relationship with his wife, Hilda. Although possibly not quite up to the high standards of the first stories in the Rumpole Saga, the stories in this book are quite satisfying.

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.

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.

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.