“It is now getting on for half a century since I took to crime, and I can honestly say I haven't regretted a single moment of it,” writes Horace Rumpole in “Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation.
Neither have readers of the late John Mortimer's stories, which combine a Wodehousian wit with a generous humanism of which the world could use another dollop. Forever Rumpole features 14 stories, seven of which Mortimer selected for “The Best of Rumpole” in 1993 and seven more chosen from among his later work. Rumpole weighs in on social issues ranging from women's rights to Islamic fundamentalism, liberating a dozen or so Timsons along the way. (That estimable family of unsuccessful crooks being the bread and butter of the barrister's practice.) The compilation ends with a novel fragment, “Rumpole and the Brave New World,” which Mortimer had begun before his death in 2009 and which first appeared in the Guardian newspaper.
Long-time fans should check their shelves before buying, because odds are they have some of the classics included here, such as “Rumpole and the Younger Generation” and “Rumpole and the Tap End.” But it is always a pure pleasure to sit down with the Old Bailey hack, famous for imbibing his Chateau Thames Embankment, for “never pleading guilty, for chain-smoking small cigars, and for quoting Wordsworth when they least expect it.”
