Henry Cecil (1) (1902–1976)

I've been reading Henry Cecil for ages. He was a barrister and judge, and his books are delightfully humorous accounts of activities in the law courts and lawyers' and judges' chambers. Every so often, I come across one of his works that I haven't read before. Unlawful Occasions is one of those.

Brian Culsworth, barrister-at-law, is sought out for advice one day by the tenant above his chambers, one Mrs. Venery. She has had a visit from a man who appears to be a blackmailer. I say "appears" show more because he is quite clever at avoiding a direct threat, but merely insinuates. At the same time, Culsworth is representing a man who is suing for his share of a win in the pools (lottery to us Yanks!). His client's habit of speaking his mind directly gets him in trouble in court, and Culsworth's efforts to get him out of it may expose him to the tender mercies of the blackmailer.

As with all Cecil's work, there's a twist or two, and the story is told with a dry wit that goes well with a gin and tonic. show less

Because I only recently discovered this author and read his first novel about Roger Thursby, I thought I'd save this second one for some weeks or months. To space the reading out.

Well. That didn't happen. I really liked the first book, then watched the movie based on it, and I was still in the mood for more.

It's interesting to see how Roger, now thirty-three, thinks of the twenty-one-year-old man he was in the previous novel. I must say I quite agree with his sentiments on that score.

And I show more imagine his more seasoned self is likely one factor that affects the tone of this book.

I felt through much of the reading like this isn't quite as much of a comedy as the first novel. Roger no longer has newbie blunders to make, and while he's being the experienced and sharp barrister that he is now, there's nothing too funny about it. This time, while watching him work, I could get even more engrossed in his process of working through the complications and legal and moral questions arising from the central case in his hands.

Granted, as soon as I came to that sentiment while reading, the next scene in the story had me laughing out loud. But still, it seems even more of the laughable (and mostly inconsequential?) moments in this book come from other characters who apparently jump in just to add some comedy at a level that older, wiser Roger can no longer provide at this point in his career. And in his personal life.

Now, I could have done without most of the story's significant portion devoted to horse racing, which felt very much to me like pages of filler. A stretch of comedic but unneeded conversation toward the end felt the same way to me, as if the characters involved were only going down a circular rabbit trail to delay the ending.

But the ending the story does get to is pretty perfect.

The only reason this book didn't tip over into 4.5 stars for me was the same reason as the first book: one casual use of a distasteful expression referring to Black people. (No use of the N-word, though.)

At any rate, I would gladly go on to the third novel about Roger. But the ebook edition of it is no longer available—at least not in the U.S., that I can see. So, I'll have to be satisfied with the pretty perfect ending of Roger's story here and go check out some of this author's other novels about other folks sometime.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level
• one dated racial expression
• no graphic violence
• no explicit sexual content show less

I was fresh from reading a classic Jeeves and Wooster comedy novel by British author P.G. Wodehouse when I first came across some books by Henry Cecil, once a British barrister and judge. So I was in the mood to dive into one of his classic comedies about the British legal system.

With the bit of knowledge I already had about English courts, I was quite ready for the courtly robes and wigs. What I wasn't as ready for? Almost all of the other technical aspects of Roger's new work as a show more barrister.

The only explanations that would come were from other characters in Roger's professional field, when he would ask them questions, being the newbie he is. And while I expected the story to come from Roger's perspective, and most of it does, sometimes it doesn't, when the narrator suddenly jumps into someone else's head. What with my being jarred by the narrator's switches a few times, and my having to get a feel for what wasn't explained about the setting and whatnot, it took a little while for my reading to get into a groove.

Once it did, I started enjoying it quite a bit—getting into the legal complications of Roger's cases and laughing out loud at his funniest moments at work. And moments in his muddled romantic life.

This was well on its way to becoming a five-star read for me—until I ran into one casual, distasteful racial expression I've read in British fiction before, referring to Black people. No, it isn't the N-word, but I still don't like it. So a fifth star didn't make it onto my rating.

Besides that, pretty much everything else about this comedy has me looking forward to trying its sequel sometime. Maybe I'll even check out the 1957 film based on the book? We'll see.

Note:
• language kept to a "PG" level, with some nonliteral uses of the alternate word for donkey and one occurrence of the B-word
• one dated racial expression
• no graphic violence
• no explicit sexual content show less

From a more innocent age- filled with 'honest' villians, devious public school master-minds and a great legal plot. It is about a rich business man who is convicted for murder on the basis - he claims - of other people's perjury. There are a few technical legal niceties and quirks that add to the entertainment value. Would make a fine period court drama. I found it in a charity shop with its original binding and got it out as it reminded me of my childhood. We had a number of Henry Cecil show more books dotted around the house and I bought it for nostalgic reasons. Couldn't exactly recommend it but there are worse things to read if you find yourself in the guest bed-room of an elderly great aunt. show less