“The trouble is that most judges have never been to prison. They have no experience with being banged up with a couple of psychopaths and their own excrement for about twenty hours a day. They have been brought up, in their long-ago pupilage, to think of prison as the answer to all criminal problems.” (p. xii-xiii)
If you’re a fan of legal mystery stories, John Mortimer’s Great Law & Order Stories (1992) will deliver a lot of entertainment and delight. Mortimer blends classic mystery stories like Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” and “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” by Arthur Conan Doyle with more obscure stories like Arnold Bennett’s “Murder” and Wilkie Collins’ “The Biter Bit.”
I’ve been a fan of Mortimer’s Rumpole stories since the 1970s. I also enjoyed the Leo McKern portrayal of Rumpole in the BBC TV series. Mortimer includes “Rumpole and the Tap End” in this anthology and it’s one of my favorite stories in this book. Also excellent are Georges Simenon “The Evidence of the Alar-Boy” and “The Absence of Mr. Glass” by G. K. Chesterton.
It would be difficult to assemble a better anthology of legal mysteries than Great Law & Order Stories. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction — ix
Ginger and the Kingsmarkham chalk circle / Ruth Rendell — 3
Adventure of the copper beeches / Arthur Conan Doyle — 38
The biter bit / William Wilkie Collins — 64
The purloined letter / Edgar Allan Poe — 93
Murder / Arnold Bennett — 112
The king in yellow / Raymond Chandler — 130
The absence of Mr. Glass / G.K. Chesterton — 182
The heroine — Patricia Highsmith — 195
Hunted down / Charles Dickens — 211
Rumpole and the tap end / John Mortimer — 235
The woman in the big hat / Baroness Orczy — 277
Inspector Ghote and the miracle baby / H.R.F. Keating — 299
The evidence of the altar-boy / Georges Simenon — 306
A very commonplace matter / P.D. James — 339
Sounds good. I’ve read all the Rumpole books and stories. Also read at least half of the others.
Jeff, Mortimer was aiming this anthology at the General Audience by including several familiar stories. But, he chose some stories new to me…and they were excellent!
I used to read Mortimer a lot.
Patti, I have a stack of John Mortimer’s non-Rumple work waiting to be read. Like Jeff, I’ve read all of Rumpole.
Of the fourteen stories, I have read at least eight, with another five in the “probably read” column. Surprisingly, the only story that I definitely have not read is the Mortimer; don’t know how that happened.
Jerry, the Mortimer story is fun!
Typo: in the text, I’m guessing the spull-qecker decided, primly, you meant Rumple for Rumpole as in “Rumpole and the Tap End,” keerekted for you in the description, and again in your reply to Patti…though you ?forcibly recorrected it in the TOC. Fun.
I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read or seen scripted from Mortimer, or directly scripted by him, so should seek this out.
I assume the cover artist wanted us to think of Rumpole as George C, Scott in that image, rather than Leo McKern or Mortimer.
Todd, GREAT LAW & ORDER STORIES has a less than great cover.
In the TOC, the Chesterton has an “of ” which became “off”…
Todd, thanks for the heads up! I’ll make the correction…again!!
Todd, I have changed “Rumple” to “Rumpole” six times while writing that post! And, every time I changed it, WORDPRESS changed it back! Agggggh!
When I was reading a short story a day, I loved the Rumpole tales.
Some of them were long but they read VERY quickly. And, of course, I imagined the PBS cast while enjoying them.
It’s been a while but may be worth another look.
Beth, I agree with you: the Rumpole stories were quick, fun reads!
I don’t know how many Rumpoles I’ve read, but it’s been a lot!
Bob, like Jeff Meyerson, I’ve read all the Rumple’s! Great fun!
Autocorrect strikes again! Rumples?!
Bob, the WORDPRESS spellchecker tortures me daily!