John Mortimer - The Trials Of Rumpole

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

A sheer delight 

 

This is the second book of Rumpole stories, adapted by John Mortimer from his scripts for the TV series, and it’s as entertaining as the first – with some quite serious issued beneath the amusing surface.

Rumpole’s narrative voice remains a delight; he is still the crusty old cigar-smoking, sceptic of healthy eating, quaffer of Chateau Fleet Street at Pommeroy’s, quoter from The Oxford Book Of English Verse (the Quiller-Couch edition, of course), wily old courtroom advocate – and bastion of realism and defender of the underdog. These half-dozen cases are varied and tackle a range of issues, some of which are very serious matters – racism, police malpractice and the sexual exploitation of an underage girl, for example. While Mortimer never makes light of them, the attitudes of the period were more lax in these areas it is interesting (and to me, gratifying) to see how much more unacceptable they now are than they were in 1979.

These stories remain a sheer pleasure to read. Very warmly recommended.