This was a typical grouping of Rumpole cases. Well-written. You feel as if you're in the courtroom with him. ( )

I suppose it would be interesting (to me, anyway) to make a list of my favorite literary series over the years. The Modesty Blaise books would certainly be listed highly, as would the Tarzan adventures and the James Bond novels. Harry Potter, for sure. This series by John Mortimer, a former English barrister who has created one of my favorite characters in the corpulent, opinionated, cynically idealistic and humorously curmudgeonly Horace Rumpole of the Bailey, the "great defender of muddled and sinful humanity", is rapidly rising among my favorite series.

This is a collection of seven Rumpole stories, all fine and humorous. My favorites, I think, are "Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces", a nice mix of Yuletide cynicism and sentiment, and "Rumpole and the Asylum Seekers", in which John Mortimer (and Rumpole) make no secret of their disgust at the willingness of governments to sacrifice rights and liberty for security, ultimately deserving (and achieving) neither. ( )

Although not all the mysteries are completely up to the usual standard, the wit and humour are as enjoyable as ever. I also very much enjoyed the final summing up of Rumpole in his hospital bed. It seems like Mortimer wanted to end here but didn't, as I have a nice another Rumpole to enjoy.

I had a sneaking feeling the whole time that I had read these stories before. It is both the blessing and curse of Mortimer's writing. It is well written, enjoyable to read, memorable characters, but not really memorable plots. They are so easy to read that they don't stick too well. The one thing I got from this reading was that Mortimer lived very near where I live now and named a lot of the minor characters and places around places that are nearbly. There was a Lady Shiplake and a Lady Binfield (both places near Henley-on-Thames or Turville, where he lived). I loved the reference to the Parallelogram Centre (instead of Reading's Hexagon Centre). That one made me chuckle. ( )

It was OK, Rumpole shows through, it was a quick read but not one I couldn't set down.

( )