Rumpole for the Defence
by John Mortimer; audiobook read by Bill Wallis (Bolinda, 2016)
originally “Regina v. Rumpole” (Allen Lane, 1981)
Seven further trials, adapted from the 1980 BBC Radio series (plus one Play for Today). Behind Rumpole’s cynical bluster and his numerous personal and professional setbacks, Mortimer offers up ingenious case studies in legal defence. Bill Wallis’s audiobook reading is superbly Rumpole-like.
Rumpole: The Gentle Art of Blackmail & Other Stories
by John Mortimer; adapted by Richard Stoneman (BBC Audio, 2018)
A collection of four radio adaptations. These follow the stories faithfully and offer a similar experience to the Rumpole audiobooks, the only notable difference being that the older and younger Rumpoles are voiced by different actors: Timothy West and Benedict Cumberbatch respectively.
The Trials of Rumpole
by John Mortimer (Penguin, 1981); audiobook read by Bill Wallis (Bolinda, 2014)
Rumpole continues in his oratorically pugilistic, poetic way to champion the virtues of impartial legal defence, winning when his clients are guilty and losing when they are innocent. The book has dated rather better than the show on which it was based.
Rumpole of the Bailey
by John Mortimer (Penguin, 1978); audiobook read by Robert Hardy (Bolinda, 2014)
Based on the TV series, this book is as much about the tribulations as the trials of Horace Rumpole, an eccentric and oft-thwarted, poetry-quoting English barrister. Rumpole’s wins may be pyrrhic at best, but are humorously bolstered by his free-flowing, sardonic ruminations.