The Third Rumpole Omnibus

Book excerpt: This compilation of witty mysteries captures John Mortimer's deft writing. Rumpole a la Carte, a delightful discourse on the British legal system, takes us from a restaurant battle over Rumpole's mashed spuds to a confrontation with a detective-novelist on a ship. The zany yarns of Rumpole on Trial are ingenious: devil worshippers, Juvenile Court, a mysterious seductress searching for a barrister to defend her husband for a murder not yet committed, and courtroom strategies a little too lunatic force Rumpole to face the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Council. Rumpole and the Angel of Death offers a comic commentary on cruelty to animals, human rights, and the fallibility of the justice system. The Third Rumpole Omnibus promises insight and laughter from the barrister who's "as much a detective as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot" (The Boston Sunday Globe).