Rumpole Misbehaves

by John Mortimer

Overview

The next novel in the Rumpole series from the beloved and bestselling master of the court

The Rumpole novels have garnered legions of fans who show no sign of abandoning their favorite curmudgeonly British barrister. Now in Rumpole Misbehaves, our hero takes on nothing less than the New Labour government when their ridiculous new Anti- Social Behavior Orders land a Timson child in front of the bench for playing soccer on a posh London street. However, Rumpole quickly discovers that the complainant is hiding some nefarious secrets of her own. As he investigates the murder of a prostitute with links to white slavery and unscrupulous dealings in a government department, Rumpole must also wrangle with his fellow barristers as they threaten him with an ASBO for bringing food, wine, and small cigars into his room in chambers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143114116
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/25/2008
Series:	Rumpole Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Mortimer is a playwright, novelist, and former practicing barrister who has written many film scripts as well as stage, radio, and television plays, the Rumpole plays, for which he received the British Academy Writer of the Year Award, and the adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. He is the author of twelve collections of Rumpole stories and three acclaimed volumes of autobiography.

Editorial Reviews

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.)

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Publishers Weekly

One of the best of the sixteen story collections and novels centering on the crafty old barrister and self-described proud ‘Old Bailey hack.'
— Los Angeles Times

Tim Rutten

Good news for the many Rumpole fans who have grown to love the wine-sipping, cigar-smoking barrister whose mantra has never changed: ‘Innocent until proven guilty.'
— USA Today

Craig Wilson