Rumpole at Christmas - the hilarious festive stories of John Mortimer's greatest character 'Without Rumpole, the world would be a poorer place' Daily Mail Horace Rumpole is not overfond of the rituals of Christmas: turkey, tinsel and the like. But happily the festive season is not one respected by the criminal fraternity; meaning that celebrations in the Rumpole household are frequently disturbed in most-welcome ways. There's the suspicious Father Christmas at Equity's Court's festive party. The actor who goes missing from the panto on the night of a major crime. As well as the body cluttering up the health farm (where the great barrister is gloomily restricted to a diet of yak's milk and steamed spinach to please She Who Must Be Obeyed).[summary via Amazon]
While I'm not sure that the Rumpole of the Bailey books are strictly a cozy mystery, they are such a delightful read that I'm going to review them here, as I re-read them.
Many years ago (many, many) there was a television show called Rumpole of the Bailey, based on the books by John Mortimer, and my young self enjoyed it thoroughly. I was interested in a career in law, and I found Horace Rumpole such a delight. I've seen abandoned any law career but I still find these stories a delight. So much so that I'm re-reading them now.
This is a collection of 7 Christmas stories, that I listed to on audiobook narrated by Bill Wallis. I don't want to make this a lengthy review by reviewing all of them, but I did enjoy all of them thoroughly. My most favourite is the last story, Rumpole and the Health Farm Murder. This story comes the closest to a cozy mystery, in my mind. Rumpole's wife, Hilda, who he called "She Who Must be Obeyed", tells Rumpole they are spending the holidays at a health farm. Of course, alcohol swigging, steak loving Rumpole is horrified at the suggestion!! While there they witness the murder of a fellow guest, and in this beautiful, old manor house Rumpole gets his chance to play amateur detective, outside the court room!
This was my second time reading this book (first time on audiobook) and I loved re-visiting with Rumpole, his fellow barristers, the criminals he represents and of course She Who Must Be Obeyed! If you haven't picked up the Rumpole books yet, you really should.
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