Rumpole à la Carte by John Mortimer
"Rumpole à la Carte" is a collection of comic detective stories by John Mortimer, featuring the eccentric defense barrister Horace Rumpole. Known for his unorthodox approach to law, Rumpole typically tackles Old Bailey crime cases that his colleagues avoid, often finding satisfaction in outsmarting judges and peers, including the unsympathetic head of his chambers. The narratives typically intertwine courtroom drama with personal dilemmas, particularly those involving Rumpole's wife, Hilda, whom he affectionately refers to as "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Mortimer's storytelling reflects Rumpole's complicated relationship with the law—while he thrives in court, he expresses a distinct distaste for legalities, leaning more on his detective skills and understanding of human nature.
The stories are marked by humorous critiques of the English legal system, spotlighting both the foibles of barristers and the shortcomings of judges. Rumpole’s character draws comparisons to Sherlock Holmes, with whom he shares a knack for detective work and witty observations. "Rumpole à la Carte" presents Rumpole in various settings, such as navigating the pretensions of fine dining and unraveling mysteries during a cruise with an old adversary. The collection showcases Mortimer's blend of humor and insight into the legal world while celebrating an outsider's perspective within a traditional profession.
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Rumpole à la Carte by John Mortimer
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1990
Type of work: Short stories
The Work
Mortimer has written numerous comic detective tales featuring defense barrister Horace Rumpole; Rumpole à la Carte is one of the many collections of these stories. Although Rumpole has not become a Queen’s Counsel and handles mainly Old Bailey crime cases that his colleagues shun, he is satisfied with his lot, possibly because he almost always bests nominal superiors, including judges and the boorish head of his chambers.
The Rumpole stories, which Mortimer also adapted for television, have at least two complementary plots, courtroom and personal, the latter either a domestic crisis between Rumpole and his wife Hilda (“She Who Must Be Obeyed”) or a problem involving the courts or the aging barrister’s colleagues. These subplots not only entertain but also further characterize the unlikely hero, who sometimes selflessly rescues the reputations and careers of ambitious younger barristers, and whose insights and slyness enable him to shape people and situations to his own purposes.
In an early story, Rumpole confesses that although he only feels “truly alive and happy in Law Courts, [he has] a singular distaste for the law.” Indeed, his advocacy on behalf of mainly worthless clients does not rely as much upon his knowledge of the law as upon his detective skills and ability to judge character, talents that link him to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, from whom Rumpole often quotes. Many of the stories, in fact, follow the Sherlockian pattern, which is no surprise, since Mortimer as a child listened to his father recite Holmes’s adventures from memory.
The stories in this collection include familiar details from other adventures, such as Rumpole’s rejuvenating visits to Pommeroy’s Wine Bar, his love for steak and kidney pudding, and his speechifying on behalf of an accused. Several of the tales, though, place the crusty hero in unfamiliar milieus. In the title story, for instance, he confronts “the terrible curse of nouvelle cuisine” in a three-star restaurant to which Hilda’s expatriate cousin takes them. Later, the owner-chef, whose food and establishment Rumpole had roundly insulted, hires the barrister to defend him. In “Rumpole at Sea,” Hilda books the couple on a two-week cruise over her husband’s objections, and among the passengers is one of Rumpole’s high court nemeses, Mr. “Miscarriage of Justice” Graves. The adversaries become involved in a shipboard mystery that Graves bungles but Rumpole solves. In “Rumpole for the Prosecution,” as the title reveals, he becomes, for the first time in his career, a prosecuting attorney, but even in this murder case his shrewd instincts prevail, and he ends up securing an acquittal for the accused.
Within a format of mystery mixed with humor, Mortimer also presents his insider’s view of England’s legal system, with its hypocritical barristers and biased, even ignorant, judges. Rumpole, an iconoclast fighting the establishment, sometimes is a nonconformist who upholds his own interests, but more often he struggles on behalf of a kindred soul, also an outsider of some sort.
Bibliography
Billington, Michael. “Voyage Round My Father Sails On.” The New York Times, April 15, 1984, p. A27.
Grove, Valerie. A Voyage Round John Mortimer. New York: Viking, 2007.
Gussow, Mel. “The Man Who Put Horace Rumpole on the Case.” The New York Times, April 12, 1995, p. C16.
Hayman, Ronald. British Theatre Since 1955: A Reassessment. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
Herbert, Rosemary. “John Mortimer: The Art of Fiction CVI.” Paris Review 30 (Winter, 1988): 96-128.
Lord, Graham. John Mortimer: The Devil’s Advocate, the Unauthorized Biography. London: Orion, 2005.
Miller, Lucasta. “Murder by Decree.” The Armchair Detective 29 (Fall, 1987): 340-349.
Miller, Lucasta. “The Old Devil.” The Guardian, October 7, 2006, p. 11.
Rusinko, Susan. British Drama, 1950 to the Present: A Critical History. Boston: Twayne, 1989.