Books by John Mortimer

'A fruity, foxy masterpiece, defender of our wilting faith in mankind' Sunday TimesHorace Rumpole is in a strange state that could only be described as a kind of air-conditioned purgatory: he has retired to Florida with his wife, Hilda (She Who Must Be Obeyed). It is safely assumed the Old Bailey hack's wig has been hung up for good. But when a rather unkempt civil servant is mixed up in the mysterious death of a minor aristocrat, Rumpole seizes the opportunity to escape a life of leisure. He is soon back in court (via a budget airline) to do battle once more with Judge 'Mad Bull' Bullingham.

Desmond Barrit stars as Horace Rumpole in this full-cast, feature-length radio dramaRumpole has no special objection to Christmas - except that with the Old Bailey closed, he has no opportunity to exercise his skills in court.

A sixth collection of captivating courtroom dramas, starring Julian Rhind-Tutt as Horace Rumpole Rumpole and the Way Through the WoodsRumpole makes friends with a dog named Sir Lancelot, and finds himself defending a hunt saboteur who claims to be guilty of murder.

Soon, Rumpole finds himself on trial and facing the end of his career...Rumpole and HildaRumpole's long-suffering wife Hilda (`She Who Must Be Obeyed') narrates a fascinating tale of murder and romance that Horace would prefer to remain untold, and gives Rumpole - and us - a glimpse of her true, passionate nature.

MERCANTILE MANCHESTER was first published in 1896. The first three chapters deal with the growth of Manchester's commercial activities up to the middle of the nineteenth century. The remaining chapters detail the events of the second half of the nineteenth century, such as the impact of the new railway system; the building of the Town Hall and the development of the Cotton Exchange. The author takes the reader on a walk through Manchester and describes its principal features as they existed in the 1890s. It provides a vivid picture of how Manchester operated when the Lancashire cotton industry was reaching its zenith. This edition is newly type-set but retains the same language (and spelling) of the original. A map of central Manchester c1890 has been added to help readers identify some of the streets that John Mortimer described. He should not be confused with the twentieth century author and barrister; John Mortimer was born in Manchester in 1839 and died in 1912.

Zerah Colburn was a well-known nineteenth century locomotive engineer, journalist and publisher. In life he mixed with the famous men of engineering in America and Britain. And he was among 200 leading Americans nominated for New York University's Hall of Fame. But Colburn was an enigma, a dark and irascible man with a violent temper. His work colleagues in London called him the 'Spirit of Darkness'.

Horace Rumpole - witty, eloquent, dishevelled and cynical - is one of fiction's best-loved barristers-at-law. In these twenty classic tales, Rumpole battles through the Old Bailey, whether defending various members of an incompetent South London crime family, taking on haute-cuisine chefs and showfolk or mocking the pomposity of his own profession, all the while being held in check by his wife, Hilda: the wonderful, fearsome She Who Must Be Obeyed.These collected stories, in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time, are a definitive introduction to one of the wisest and wittiest characters in British comic writing and a reminder of what justice should really be about. With a new introduction by Sam Leith, former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph and contributor to the Evening Standard, Guardian and Spectator.

Forever Rumpole - a hilarious new selection of the very best Rumpole stories by John MortimerHorace Rumpole lives alongside Mr Pickwick and Bertie Wooster as one of the immortal comic characters in English fiction. With his curmudgeonly wit, his literary allusions, his disdain for personal ambition and his lack of pomposity, he has, in the words of the Daily Telegraph, 'ascended to the pantheon of literary immortals'.Forever Rumpole contains seven stories originally chosen by the author himself as his favourites, together with a further seven from the later period and the opening chapters of a Rumpole novel that Sir John was working on when he died in 2009. The book also includes a fascinating introduction by Ann Mallalieu, fellow lawyer and for many years Sir John's colleague in practice.'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D James, Mail on Sunday'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole' Clive James, ObserverSir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional trilogy about the inexorable rise of an ambitious Tory MP in the Thatcher years (Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets) has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

Paradise Postponed - John Mortimer's classic novel, now part of the Penguin Decades seriesPenguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed was first published in 1985. At the heart of the story lies a mystery. Why, on his death, has Simeon Simcox, the CND-marching Rector of Rapstone Fanner, left his fortune not to his two sons but to an odious Tory Minister? Paradise Postponed provides a brilliant, hilarious portrait of life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain, as well as an exquisitely drawn saga of ancient rivalries and class struggles, featuring a glorious cast of characters conjured by a master satirist. With a new introduction by Jeremy Paxman, this delicious journey through English country life will be loved by readers of P.G. Wodehouse and fans of Mortimer's Rumpole.'An hilarious novel' Daily TelegraphSir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

Rumpole at Christmas - the hilarious festive stories of John Mortimer's greatest character'Without Rumpole, the world would be a poorer place' Daily MailHorace 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).These seven wonderful Rumpole stories show the great man at his sharpest, wittiest and best. Readers of Sherlock Holmes, P.D. James and P.G. Wodehouse will love this book.'One of the great comic creations of modern times' Evening Standard'There is a truth in Rumpole that is told with brilliance and grace' Daily Telegraph'Rumpole remains and absolute delight' The Times Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

Summer's Lease - the classic, international bestselling novel by John Mortimer'Amusing, entertaining ... and a cracking good read' Sunday Express'And summer's lease hath all too short a date' - Sonnet 18, William ShakespeareIt's high summer when Molly Pargeter drags her amiably bickering family to a rented Tuscan villa for the holidays. Molly is sure that the house is the perfect setting for their three-week getaway, but soon she becomes fascinated by the lives of the absent owners - and things start to go horribly wrong ... 'With a cosy fluency of wit, Mortimer charms us into his urbane tangle of clues' Mail on SundaySummer's Lease, which was made into popular BBC TV mini-series starring John Gielgud, is a delightful novel from Rumpole author John Mortimer: witty, compassionate, humane, perfectly plotted and wonderfully readable. It will be adored by readers of P.G Wodehouse and P.D. James. Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole - a delightful novel starring John Mortimer's iconic character'One of the great comic creations of modern times' Evening StandardASBOs may be the pride and joy of New Labour, but they don't cut much ice with Horace Rumpole - he takes the old-fashioned view that if anyone is going to be threatened with a restriction of their liberty then some form of legal proceeding ought to be gone through first. Not that Hilda agrees, of course, but she's too busy completing her memoirs to dissuade him from taking an interest when one of the Timson children is given an ASBO for playing football in the street. And pretty soon he realizes something fishy is going on. Why are the residents pursuing their vendetta against the Timson boy quite so strongly? Could they have a sinister reason for not wanting him on their street?John Mortimer's hilarious Rumpole novel, which fans of Sherlock Holmes and P.G. Wodehouse will love, sees the magician of the Old Bailey at his unpredictable and brilliant best. Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional trilogy about the inexorable rise of an ambitious Tory MP in the Thatcher years (Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets) has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with his autobiography Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

Horace Rumpole - cigar-smoking, claret-drinking, Wordsworth-spouting defender of some unlikely clients - often speaks of the great murder trial which revealed his talents as an advocate and made his reputation down at the Bailey when he was still a young man. Now, for the first time, the sensational story of the Penge Bungalow Murders case is told in full: how, shortly after the war, Rumpole took on the seemingly impossible task of defending young Simon Jerold, accused of murdering his father and his father's friend with a German officer's gun. And how the inexperienced young brief was left alone to pursue the path of justice, in a case that was to echo through the Bailey for years to come.

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror - a delightful novel starring John Mortimer's iconic barrister'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D James, Mail on Sunday'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole' Clive James, ObserverJustice isn't blind - it's just a little short sighted and weak around the knees ...Just in case Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders gave fans the impression that the Great Defender was resting on his laurels, his new case sends him at full sail into our panicky new world. Rumpole is asked to defend a Pakistani doctor who has been imprisoned without charge or trial on suspicion of aiding Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, on the home front, She Who Must Be Obeyed is threatening to share her intimate view of her husband in a tell-all memoir. The result is Rumpole at his most ironic and indomitable, and John Mortimer at his most entertaining.This hilarious novel will be loved by fans of Rumpole and readers of Sherlock Holmes, P.D. James and P.G. Wodehouse.Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

The abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of John Mortimers brilliantly funny Quite Honestly, read by Marc Warren and Beth Goddard. Life couldnt be better for Lucinda Purefoy. Granted its a little embarrassing, her father being the Bishop of Aldershot, but shes got a steady boyfriend, a degree in social sciences from Manchester University and the offer of a job in advertising. With all that, she felt she should pay back her debt to society and do a little good in the world. Thats why she joined SCRAP (short for Social Carers, Reformers and Praeceptors), an organization which trains girls like Lucy to become the guide, philosopher and friend to ex-convicts coming out of prison, to find them a job, a home and to encourage them to kick the habit of stealing things. And so Lucy finds herself standing outside the gates of Wormwood Scrubs, on a windy March morning, waiting to greet her first SCRAP client, a career-burglar called Terry Keegan. What happens next confounds expectations and produces a story full of surprises. With a cast of characters that rivals anything in his famous Rumpole stories and a compulsive plot, Quite Honestly is a wonderfully comic novel, packed with John Mortimers entertaining reflections on crime.

Rumpole and the Primrose Path - six hilarious crime capers starring John Mortimer's iconic character'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D James, Mail on Sunday'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole' Clive James, ObserverRumpole was last seen in his hospital bed after his sudden collapse in court. Now our hero finds himself in the Primrose Path nursing home - or a hospice as he persists in describing it. Things aren't looking good for Rumpole - until suddenly he begins to sense there's something wrong with the place, and all his intelligence and formidable insight into human behaviour come to the fore again. And once he has solved the mystery of the Primrose Path nursing home, Rumpole finds the briefs fly thick and fast again.This delightful collection of six Rumpole stories shows the legendary advocate on top form. Readers of Sherlock Holmes, P.D. James and P.G. Wodehouse will love this book. Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.

Recounting his solitary childhood in the English countryside, the author presents affectionate portraits of his remote parents - an increasingly unconventional barrister father, whose blindness must never be mentioned, battling earwigs in the mutinous garden, and a vague and endlessly patient mother.