Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Horace Rumpole!!!! And it is a darn good thing for any defendant facing a criminal charge in London to have the rumpled, oft-scorned, and much condescended to Horace Rumpole take up your defense against all comers.

John Mortimer's latest Rumpole story, Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders takes us back to the great barrister's first big case. The story is told looking back after a conversation in chambers convinces Rumpole to write his memoirs. The story jumps back and forth between Rumpole's recollections of events interrupted only by the occasional (but highly amusing) bit of conversation with Hilda, she who must be obeyed, and his colleague in chambers.

It is the early 1950s and Rumpole is young, eager, and ready to begin his career as a trial lawyer (barrister). He has found himself working for C.J. Wystan, the head of his chambers (firm) and the father of an assertive young daughter named Hilda. Simon Jerrold has been arrested and accused of the murder of his father and one of his father's friends. Each of the deceased flew for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and this was of no small consequence for the national press. All the evidence available points to Simon as the murderer. A conviction seems a certainty to all, including Simon's lead defense attorney, Wystan. Wystan has selected Rumpole to act as a silent assistant after Hilda suggests for some unknown reason that Rumpole is a man with a future in the law. It should surprise no one that Rumpole does not bow down to the conventional wisdom concerning his client's guilt. The story takes us through the remarkable series of events through which Rumpole assumes control of the defense and takes the case through trial.

As always, Mortimer writes with wit and verve. Mortimer first describes the appearance of Wystan as one that made him think of a "lobster who had been snatched from a peaceful existence at the bottom of the sea and plunged into boiling water." Followed immediately by a slight retraction, "but I have no wish to be overly critical of my future father-in-law."

By taking us back to his first case as a callow, slender youth Mortimer has invigorated and fleshed out (no pun intended) Rumpole considerably. We first came to know Rumpole as an aging overweight, hen-pecked curmudgeon who adheres to obsolete concepts of justice and the presumption of innocence when all around him expediency and decorum prevails. Mortimer shows us flashes of this in Penge Bungalow. We see the character traits: the wit, sarcasm and sense of fair play in its formative stages. We also find out how the young Ms. Hilda Wystan became the infamous she who must be obeyed. It is clear that once Hilda set her mind on something she is not easily denied.

The beauty of the Penge Bungalow Murders is our glimpse of Rumpole as a young man. His character is immediately recognizable. His body may have changed but his inner-self has remained constant. As one of Rumpole's favorite authors once said in Merchant of Venice, "I never knew so young a body with so old a head."

Rumpole and Penge Bungalow Murders is an excellent book and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Horace Rumpole looks back to just after graduating from Oxford to work his first legal case. Five decades ago Rumpole bit his acerbic tongue to defend a client Simon Jerold accused of a double murder, that of his father and a friend using a pistol taken from a deceased World War II German aviator. The evidence seems overwhelming and the legal fraternity shies away from defending the accused as no money can be made. Stunned by the reaction of his peers Rumpole dives into the defense with idealistic zeal.

Rumpole quickly learns that the jurisprudence system is a haven for corrupt barristers trying to squeeze pounds out of helpless and at times innocent criminals. He drops the gloves applying his saber wit on opponents as he defends his client with his belligerent in your face manner. He will use that technique for the next five decades defending the downtrodden against powerful opponents except Hilda Wyston who he has just met through her father and quickly becomes known as "She Who Must Be Obeyed".

This is a terrific Rumpole legal thriller that fans of the series will fully treasure due to the documenting of his first case referenced in many of the short stories. The deep support cast consists of "felons" from all sides of the legal systems, family members, and lest we forget the client. Though newcomers will feel aspects of the case and the protagonist's background seem missing (a tendency to rely on references in other books), readers will find pleasure with the character driven case that fans have wanted for seemingly almost as long a time as the hero looks back.

Harriet Klausner

July 2002 was the saddest month of all. Leo McKern -- the quintessential Rumpole -- had died after a long illness and was survived one day by Maurice Denham who played Rumpole on BBC radio. So it seems that the possibility of a revival of visual episodes of has declined to almost zero. Nonetheless, there was always the hope that Sir John Mortimer would pen the story that launched the whole series..

..and, after two collections of stories, it finally appeared.

So it was with some sadness that I took to Reading "The Penge Bungalow Murders" realizing it would probably be the last Mortimer would do for old Rumpole. My sorrow was compounded only slightly because it appears to me that Sir John phoned this one in. As others have pointed out, this episode seemed a somewhat flat and rather perfunctory effort; seemingly a work where all of the questions were being answered and the loose ends were being tied up.

We see how Rumpole became involved with the Timpsons. How he and Hilda became entwined (she played a far more important role in Rumpole's success and chambers' affairs than we could ever imagine), what an insufferable, doddering dolt her father and head of chambers, C. H. Wystan, was and how Horace developed his acerbic wit and contempt for the mediocrity passed off as "the finest traditions of the bar".

Why the five stars?

Because I cannot bear to rate it less. A Rumpole yarn, whether on or off, is a damned good read.

Like they say, the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work.

It was a marvelous run and sad that it probably has come to an end.