Book description
Everyone thought Rumpole had received his last judgement – his dickey ticker falling him in front of Judge Bullingham. And indeed, now that he’s tucked away in the Primrose Path Nursing Home, it seems that his colleagues don’t expect him back – especially since they are busy organizing his memorial service.
But Rumpole won’t go gently into that good night – not when there are nefarious goings on while his fellow patients are tucked up in their beds. Soon he’s sorted out the dark deeds at the Primrose Path and is back in Chambers, a bottle of Chateau Thames Embankment close to hand and a whole new set of tricky cases demanding his attention…
John Mortimer is delightfully playful throughout. He is instructive, too. British judges are much more active than American judges in discussing evidence with juries, to the dismay of many litigants. Mortimer, himself a former barrister, portrays most of the judges Rumpole meets as inattentive, arrogant and biased, and these depictions smell sweetly of payback.
