"I'm afraid what we have here is a case of premature adjudication."
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The irascible Horace Rumpole is definitely not mellowing with age. Concerned with what he sees as a country-wide erosion of civil liberties, Rumpole is representing Peter Timson, a twelve-year-old member of the criminal clan of Timsons, which has provided Rumpole with a steady court income over the years. Peter has been served with an ASBO, an Anti-Social Behavior Order, because he has been playing ball in the street and has had to enter an exclusive neighborhood in order to retrieve his ball. If there is any repetition of this, he will go to court. As Rumpole is grumbling about the absurdity of this order, he is served with his own ASBO--secured by his fellow barristers and staff--because he eats lunch, drinks Chateau Thames Embankment, and smokes cigarillos in chambers, behavior the rest of the group abhors.
Rumpole's biggest legal commitment, at this point, is the case of Graham Wetherby, charged with the murder of a prostitute, a Russian immigrant, during his lunch hour. Wetherby, a mild young man with a severe birthmark on his face, has few friends and no girlfriends, and despite Rumpole's dedication to his case, Wetherby feels a bit cheated because Rumpole is not a QC, as are the attorneys who defend the worst criminals in the jail where he is being held.
The tongue-in-cheek humor, the ironies, and Rumpole's own sardonic wit and asides are delightful, and when Hilda (She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) decides to become a barrister so that she can take over the kinds of cases that Rumpole will be too busy to accept, once he becomes a QC (a project she encourages), the hilarity continues. Hilda is the current muse of "Mad Bull" Bullingham, a judge with whom she plays cards but who has caused more problems for Rumpole than any other. Bullingham, however, adores Hilda, and agrees to sponsor Rumpole for his "silks." As the machinations involved in the process of becoming a QC play out, Rumpole tries to stay on the right side of the establishment and to keep up Wetherby's hopes that the QC title will arrive before his case comes to trial.
All the plots and subplots overlap, the continuing cast of characters continues to provide amusements. Their long-running history involving past cases keeps the reader constantly thinking of other wonderful Rumpole stories, and the reader's appreciation of author John Mortimer's cleverness in his plots and characterizations continues to grow. As always, the focus here is clearly on Rumpole--unregenerate, unapologetic, and unwilling to compromise. Mary Whipple
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White space and more white space.....
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John Mortimer's Rumpole books are never less than an enjoyable read, but this one is over so quickly you wonder it qualifies for full book status at all!
The 'plot' is pretty thin and, surprisingly for this fine writer, the evidence is inconsistent. On page 25 the key witness is quoted as saying she heard the 'young lady' (the murder victim) screaming. On page 174 we are helpfully 'reminded' of the evidence, but with the witness being quoted as saying it was the accused who called out.
Good fun, but not a patch on the earlier Rumpole stories.
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This book deserves an ASBO
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I agree completely with reviewers who have complained of the price of this very short novel. The price for a book of less than 200 pages OF VERY LARGE TYPE, is daylight robbery. I have been a Rumpole devotee for years - but to quote a previous reviewer - never again. Can't Mr. Mortimer find another vehicle for his political polemics??
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Warning - Rumpole Misbehaves
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Please note that this book has another title - Rumpole Misbehaves - so don't buy it thinking it is another new Rumpole.
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The best way to behave is misbehave
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Mae West.
Any doubts anyone may have that Horace Rumpole doesn't share a bit of Mae West's mischievous world view will be dispelled after reading John's Mortimer's latest Rumpole romp, "Rumpole Misbehaves".
When we last saw the esteemed barrister, in Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (Rumpole Novels) he was doing verbal and legal battle against what he perceived as an invidious threat to historic civil liberties enjoyed in Britain by anti-terror legislation enacted by Parliament. He now takes on what he considers to be another invidious threat to civil liberties in the form of Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBOs). In Rumpole's eyes these laws, thought well-intended, enable the police and judiciary to criminalize conduct that is lawful but annoying.
In the case at hand the ASBO-worthy conduct is the constant kicking of a football by one Peter Timson, a child of the criminally-inclined clan that has provided Rumpole with a significant portion of his legal fees over the years, into a quiet upper-class street where the noise of children is perceived by one resident to be ASBO-worthy. Mortimer supplements this case with two additional legal matters. In one Rumpole finds himself defending a mild-mannered government employee in what appears to be an open and shut case of the murder of an illegal Russian immigrant working as a prostitute. In the other, Rumpole finds himself in the docket defending himself on an ASBO related charge brought against him by his colleagues in his chambers, that his smoking a cheroot, drinking cheap wine, and eating at his desk is anti-social behavior. As the story plays out Rumpole and the reader discover that these seemingly unrelated story lines may not be as unrelated as they first appear. To top things off, Hilda is continuing to write in her diary (a nice comedic device first used in Reign of Terror) and, of all things, threatening to read for the bar and become a lawyer.
The enjoyment of any of Mortimer's Rumpole series is not really found solely in the story line but in the wit and humor of Mortimer's writing. Rumpole feels like an old friend after all these years and yet every `harrumph' or muttered `she who must be obeyed' or barely-whispered cracks about insurable judges and stuffy colleagues in chambers still makes me laugh. And even though Rumpole acts just as we expect him to, and even as events play out just as we thought they might, Rumpole's ongoing willingness to fight the good fight on matters of principle large and small still leaves me rooting for one more favorable verdict. My own verdict on Rumpole Misbehaves: you keep on misbehaving Horace and I'll keep reading!
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