Christmas

I'd read some (but not all) before but enjoyed nevertheless. ( )

A fun collection of Rumpole short stories. I love John Mortimer's play with language. We got lots of laughs from this. Bill Wallis did a great job reading. ( )

If you love Rumpole, these stories won't disappoint. Published after Mortimer's death, they were a great comfort to me because life without Rumpole...is just hard. ( )

A collection of "Rumpole of the Bailey" stories, all more or less with a Christmas theme. Rumpole's curmudgeonly and rumpled humor is in fine form here, and his relationship with his wife Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed") is somewhat expanded, especially when a judicial nemesis of Rumpole's takes an interest in her. The stories mainly involve She Who Must dragging a reluctant Rumpole around from one ghastly Christmas excursion to another, and yet he manages to find a non-promising murder case to defend. I was saddened to read from the interior notes that John Mortimer died in 2009. No more Rumpole stories. Fortunately, Mortimer was quite prolific, and I believe I've only read about half of his oeuvre. ( )