How much longer will readers be treated to new stories featuring irreverent and irascible London barrister Horace Rumpole? The character was created for British television in the 1970s by John Mortimer, who once said that he'd continue writing Rumpole tales only so long as actor Leo Kern could portray him on the tube. If Kern's death in July 2002 means that Rumpole Rests His Case is the beginning of the end, then at least this series concludes on a high and humorous note.

The seven yarns collected here find the rumpled Rumpole defending his usual assortment of eccentric clients, while also fending off antismoking zealots, interior designers with a taste for lava lamps, and his domineering wife, Hilda ("known to me only as She Who Must Be Obeyed"). One story teams the elderly advocate with an elusive Afghan doctor who was smuggled into the U.K. in a crate of mango chutney, and now seeks to become a legal resident. In another, Rumpole investigates an assault, apparently committed by an unmanageable teenager with a poetic streak, while a third case has the barrister working for a hypocritical right-wing politician who, after first seducing away the wife of one of Rumpole's colleagues, is accused of a drug offense. Cleverest of all, though, is the title tale, in which a hospital-confined Rumpole builds the defense for one of his roommates, a "reformed" thief with an unlikely connection to the aged major who shot him during a residential break-in. With his own unreformed taste for claret and cheroots, Rumpole persists in being an entertaining, old-fashioned thorn in the silk-covered side of Britain's judicial system. Could somebody please tell Mortimer that it's too soon for this character to hang up his wig? --J. Kingston Pierce

From Publishers Weekly
Mortimer's many fans on both sides of the Atlantic will delight in Horace Rumpole's return after a six-year hiatus in this amusing collection of the gruff but lovable barrister's latest exploits. The familiar cheroot-puffing, claret-quaffing denizen of Old Bailey now faces the challenges of a new millennium-including illegal aliens, drug-dealing and fraudulent e-mails-as he defends a series of peculiar clients. In "Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces," Horace laments his reunion with a former blackmailer, now turned lord of the manor, whom Horace persuades to donate ill-gotten gains for the restoration of a church steeple. "Rumpole and the Asylum Seekers" has the barrister teamed up with an Afghan doctor who smuggled himself to England in a crate of chutney and now faces prison and torture if he is sent home. In the case of "Rumpole and the Camberwell Carrot," he rescues the career of a controversial politician branded with drug-use allegations by a seductive tabloid reporter. Next, in "Rumpole and the Teenage Werewolf," he comes to the aid of an alleged stalker whose e-mail address has somehow been usurped to harass a young coed. A courtroom collapse almost finishes his career in the title story, when wife Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed") tries to keep him around their Froxbury Mansion flat ("decidedly not a mansion," regrets Horace) to help with the shopping. Using fade-ins for quick scene changes reminiscent of the popular PBS series Rumpole of the Bailey, Mortimer proves his wit is as sharp as ever; he and his hero deserve a hearty welcome back.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This collection of stories will appeal both to This collection of stories will appeal both to Rumpole's current fans and to those discovering him for the first time. He is an anachronism but, as read by Tony Britton, seems utterly timeless. Mortimer has brought his creation into the twenty-first century by referring to computers and the Internet, but these merely serve as counterweights to Rumpole's intuition and time-honored sleuthing ways. Britton's wonderful British accent curls around Rumpole and all the other characters in the book. His voice is elastic enough to cover females, teenagers, and senior citizens, and steady enough to enunciate phrases at just the right times for both comic timing and suspenseful effects. Britton is as much a treat for the ears as Rumpole is for the brain. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The seven delectable short stories in this collection feature one of the best-loved characters in British crime fiction, barrister Horace Rumpole. The cranky, crusty, delightfully droll Rumpole, despite his wiliness before the bar at the Old Bailey, London's main criminal court, defers in all domestic matters to his wife, whom he calls "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Nevertheless, here he navigates his imperturbable way through such legal situations as "Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces," in which, during one Christmas season, he has the odd experience of recognizing two individuals from two previous cases, which leads him to solve the two cases he has at hand; and "Rumpole and the Actor Laddie," in which Rumpole's client, a too-long-in-the-tooth actor, takes the stand to testify at his own robbery trial, untruthfully admitting to the crime in order to give one last, fine public performance. With Mortimer's greatly felicitous style and careful plotting, these stories are sheer, absolute reading pleasure. At one point in one story, She Who Must Be Obeyed snaps at Rumpole, "You're not nearly so funny as you think you are." Oh, but indeed he is! Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Horace Rumpole is one of the most enduring and endearing characters to come out of Britain. Cynical and devious yet immensely honest and determined to secure justice, the barrister triumphs over prejudice and pomposity. Masterfully read by Tony Britton, these complete and unabridged stories are Rumpole’s accounts of various cases as he nears the end of his career. Rumpole Rests His Case is the first new Rumpole mystery in six years.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Good old Rumpole is back, and he's in fine form, getting off petty criminals, doing his best for those bent on self-destruction, and solving crimes￯﾿ﾽall while battling his wife (the terrifying She Who Must Be Obeyed). This new volume includes seven engaging stories as Rumpole takes on the issue of whether or not to have a "talk pit" in the living room, fights a losing battle over civil rights (smoking has been banned in Chambers), and deals with a collection of unhelpful clients: these include a refugee Afghan physician who would rather not appear at his asylum hearing; a man who doesn't seem surprised when the body of his long-dead wife turns up under the floorboards; and a death-on-drugs politician who turns up on the front page of the tabloids smoking a huge joint. And, when the beloved barrister is not busy defending the innocent (and not so innocent), Rumpole tries his hand at a spot of blackmail, saves the Erskine-Browns' marriage, and unmasks a werewolf. These seven new stories showcase author John Mortimer at his best. Horace Rumpole narrates his cases with charm, wit, and not a little self-congratulation, and that all adds up to a verdict of Most Enjoyable. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this long-awaited new collection, John Mortimer gives us seven fresh and funny stories in which the "great defender of muddled and sinful humanity" triumphs over the forces of prejudice and mean-mindedness while he tiptoes precariously through the domestic territory of his wife, Hilda -- She Who Must Be Obeyed! With his passion for poetry, and a nose equally sensitive to the whiff of wrongdoing and the bouquet of a Chateau Thames Embankment, the lovable and disheveled Rumpole "is at his rumpled best" (The New York Times).

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

After a hiatus of six years, Horace Rumpole emerges once again in a cloud of smoke, wiping butter from his chin after a cutthroat breakfast with She Who Must Be Obeyed at Froxbury Mansions, to wrestle with the forces of justice down at the Old Bailey. As he himself would be the first to admit, Rumpole is growing long in the tooth, but his wit has not deserted him; indeed, it seems to have cleaved onto his person, like his yellowing wig. Almost half the stories here involve the mayhem that ensues when elderly gentlemen succumb to the urging of their addled hearts. Not Rumple, though, who, as ever, sees through a glass of Château Thames Embankment darkly. Mortimer is in high form here. Is this to be the last of Rumpole? Perish the thought.

Publishers Weekly

Mortimer's many fans on both sides of the Atlantic will delight in Horace Rumpole's return after a six-year hiatus in this amusing collection of the gruff but lovable barrister's latest exploits. The familiar cheroot-puffing, claret-quaffing denizen of Old Bailey now faces the challenges of a new millennium-including illegal aliens, drug-dealing and fraudulent e-mails-as he defends a series of peculiar clients. In "Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces," Horace laments his reunion with a former blackmailer, now turned lord of the manor, whom Horace persuades to donate ill-gotten gains for the restoration of a church steeple. "Rumpole and the Asylum Seekers" has the barrister teamed up with an Afghan doctor who smuggled himself to England in a crate of chutney and now faces prison and torture if he is sent home. In the case of "Rumpole and the Camberwell Carrot," he rescues the career of a controversial politician branded with drug-use allegations by a seductive tabloid reporter. Next, in "Rumpole and the Teenage Werewolf," he comes to the aid of an alleged stalker whose e-mail address has somehow been usurped to harass a young coed. A courtroom collapse almost finishes his career in the title story, when wife Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed") tries to keep him around their Froxbury Mansion flat ("decidedly not a mansion," regrets Horace) to help with the shopping. Using fade-ins for quick scene changes reminiscent of the popular PBS series Rumpole of the Bailey, Mortimer proves his wit is as sharp as ever; he and his hero deserve a hearty welcome back. (Nov. 25) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

This collection of stories will appeal both to This collection of stories will appeal both to Rumpole's current fans and to those discovering him for the first time. He is an anachronism but, as read by Tony Britton, seems utterly timeless. Mortimer has brought his creation into the twenty-first century by referring to computers and the Internet, but these merely serve as counterweights to Rumpole's intuition and time-honored sleuthing ways. Britton's wonderful British accent curls around Rumpole and all the other characters in the book. His voice is elastic enough to cover females, teenagers, and senior citizens, and steady enough to enunciate phrases at just the right times for both comic timing and suspenseful effects. Britton is as much a treat for the ears as Rumpole is for the brain. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews