Rumpole at Christmas

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.

The Rumpole stories are always entertaining. Since I received the book as a Christmas gift, I put what I was reading aside (it isn't as jolly) and started in on the fun. And it was fun, except that Hilda drives me nuts. I know it's all humor and good fun, but I can't stand the character who always insults, belittles, and domineers her husband with no sense of loyalty whatsoever. I guess my sense of humor doesn't reach quite that far.

December 16, 2018
Just finished my second listen of this earlier this evening and really enjoyed it. I have no idea what it's like EYE-reading Rumpole, having only taken him in via audiobooks so far with narrators I've dearly enjoyed previously who make the experience a big part of the fun. Another part of the fun is that I only became aware of Rumpole via a book friend on another bookish platform called LibraryThing. Paul is originally from England but lives in Malaysia with his Malay wife and always mentions her as "SWMBO" and when asked, is happy to say it's an acronym meaning "She Who Must Be Obeyed" taken from this Rumpole series, which made me of course curious to discover the hapless barrister who talks of his wife thusly, and as show more I'm listening to these humorous short stories about court proceedings which always seem headed for disaster, and a marriage based on mere politeness at best, I always think of Paul fondly because he clearly loves his wife very much and has a wonderful dry British sense of humour of the kind I've always enjoyed. And as I'm not in touch with Paul very often, Rumpole is my way of wishing Paul well, even though he might not know it. All quite warm and fuzzy feelings centred around a rather grumpy but after all kind old geezer of an English barrister at the Old Bailey's court. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but I'm definitely fond of the old codger and as I don't celebrate Christmas and this is a very sad season for me which too vividly reminds me of the distance I've had to put between family and myself, it's nice to have a tradition of sorts I can return to thanks to John Mortimer and his plonk drinking fat old boy. Paul was a good one to share a heartbreaking personal story or two with here and there too... which reminds me I should probably send him a note, as it's been a while.

*****

December 2018: This review is from December 2015, with a few recent edits. I'll be picking up this audiobook again this month to celebrate the seasonal spirit (snerk!). A Rumpole Christmas is quite short and very much bittersweet with an emphasis on the bitterness and very little sweetness please, just as I like it. lol

I'm a recent fan of "GRumpole", having just discovered him for myself a week ago, with the first book in the series, Rumpole of the Bailey, with Patrick Tull narrating on the version I listened to. I thought no one else could possibly do Rumpole quite as briliantly as Tull did, with his rumbly old mariner who'se possibly tippled heavily all his life kinda voice, but must say I enjoyed Bill Wallis's performance as the hapless yet sympathetic barrister tremendously as well.

Rumpole is no great fan of the Christmas season, which every year brings him a new tie from She Who Must Be Obeyed (aka his wife Hilda) and a yet another bottle of lavender water to said unbending and unappreciative wife, who drags him from one Christmas engagement he can little look forward to to yet another worse engagement, with the finale being a stay at a "health farm" where the best he can hope for finally takes place: a murder suspect to defend and to finally take him away from insipid health food and miserable company. A very entertaining holiday read that I'll be sure to return to regularly during the Christmas season, to take me away from all that tediously fake good cheer while I'm inevitably going through seasonal depression, just like most people who have health issues and or/no small children and/or no sane or welcoming families to celebrate with.

GRumpole to the rescue! 😁 show less

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.

I came across this collection of Rumpole Christmas stories while browsing my public library's ebook collection. I read and enjoyed the author's Summer's Lease a few years ago but I had never tried the Rumpole series for which he is most famous. This collection is a great appetizer for the series. It gave me a taste for characters and situations that appear to feature regularly in this series, such as Rumpole's wife, known as She Who Must Be Obeyed, his legal colleagues the Erskine-Browns, private eye F.I.G. Newton, and the Timson family who live on the wrong side of the law. There isn't a bad story in the bunch. I particularly enjoyed the hat tip to P.G. Wodehouse with the identity of the victim in one of the stories: Honoria Glossop. I show more look forward to spending more time with Rumpole and his clients and associates. show less

Five short stories featuring Mortimer's beloved barrister, Horace Rumpole, his wife, Hilda (otherwise known as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed), and various other characters who will be familiar to readers of this series or viewers of the Thames Television show. (Inded, the cover illustration of Rumpole is the image of Leo McKern, who played the role in that show.)

Hilda manages to get Rumpole out of London for the Christmas break, once actually to a slimming spa(!), but murder and blackmail and old familiar faces follow him wherever he goes.

Because these stories were all first published in various journals at various times, there is a slight repetition of background, but that is to be expected under the circumstances. They are as delightful as show more always. But who could have anticipated that Mortimer would kill off Honoria Glossop! show less

A delightful collection of seven Christmas-themed stories. Most share a similar structure, with Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed going away for Christmas, or Rumpole's current case following him into the holidays. They are probably best read in individual servings and not gobbled all at once on the bus, but even so they are a very soothing read. We can always count on peace on earth and justice from Rumpole at Christmas.