Rumpole escapes from the convalescent home and solves a few mysteries along the way, while having a small cheroot and a few glasses of Pommeroy's Chateau Thames Embankment. The new character of Luci doesn't quite do it for me (why does Chambers need marketing?) but I suppose I will get used to her. I was already picking which Brittish actress would play her in the series but, alas, no more series.

Mortimer is such a solid writer. These stories are (to my mind) much in the vein of P.G. Wodehouse. A set stock of characters. We as readers know who they are, roughly, and what they are likely to do. The author tells a brief (25-30 pages) story and the characters all interact and react to the events, advancing the plot to its resolution and amusing us at the same time. Sounds pretty easy to do? but it is not, I imagine. As so few writers do it as well as Mortimer or Wodehouse. Not high fiction in any sense, but very solid workmanship and an enjoyable read. ( )

Rumpole is recuperating from a heart attack and has little to do when he returns to chambers so he gets involved in a little sleuthing.

excellant as usual ( )