This is my first encounter with Rumpole in print (ok, e-ink), so I thought I'd start at the beginning. The first couple of stories in this volume wet my appetite but later tales really turn on the charm. Reading Rumpole is a bit like slipping into a comfy pair of jeans and slippers. It's also a great "in between" read to "cleanse" my little gray cells as I switch from one thriller or police procedural to another.
John Mortimer's
The First Rumpole Omnibus is actually a collection of three books published in the late 1970s:
Rumpole of the Bailey,
The Trials of Rumpole and
Rumpole's Return -- and these, in turn, are based on a BBC Television series. There are at least two other Omnbius editions as well as other one-off novels.
In the main, I enjoyed the 12 short stories more than the lengthier novel which brings Rumpole out of retirement, linking a chance encounter with a flower child in Florida with a murder trial that draws him back to England. Rumpole is an acquired taste with all things in the world seen through his somewhat self-serving eye. But it is delightful to give in to Rumpole behaving like a little boy ... sixty or so years younger than his age.
Small caveat: Penguin have allowed an appalling number of simple typos to creep into this edition. Truly: the text is a mess by any reasonable professional standard.
Available for
Kobo and
Kindle for around $10 (although in Canada, bizarrely, Penguin wants over $15 ...).