Rumpole and the Reign of Terror

By John Mortimer, Viking, New York, 184 pages, $ 23.95

Reviewed by Ronald W. Meister

T
he care and feeding of the literary character in old age has he suffered a near-fatal heart attack. But there is more. Not to be
perplexed many authors, not all of whom succeed in bumped off prematurely, or even seasonably, he escaped his
maintaining a consistent chronology convalescent home in Rumpole and the
when their characters age. British writers, Primrose Path, where Mortimer left him,
in particular, often seem to lose control of apparently rejuvenated, in 2002. Since then, the
their timelines, especially when characters only news of our hero had come in the
they created in the prime of life enjoy retrospective report of his triumph in the early
unexpected longevity. 1950’s, Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow
A prime example is the nautical novelist Murders, published in 2004.
Patrick O’Brian. Having begun his Now, happily, after a literary detour to publish a
Aubrey-Maturin saga too late in the delightful collection of essays (Where There’s A
Napoleonic Wars to accommodate an Will) and a mediocre novel (Quite Honestly), Sir
eventual twenty volumes before Waterloo, John has returned to what he does best. The
he was forced to invent a series of fictional sage of Pomeroy’s Wine Bar re-appears in fine
years, like 1813A and B, to fit in all the fettle in Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, a
action. More subtly, Conan Doyle, having novel centering on the prosecution of a Pakistani
prematurely killed off his hero, was doctor under Britain’s equivalent of the USA-
compelled to compose The Hound of the PATRIOT Act.
Baskervilles as a “memoir” of earlier years. Mortimer’s forte is the short story, and he has
Although he later succumbed to popular only twice before stretched Rumpole across the
pressure and brought Holmes back from the pages of a full-length novel. The stretch marks
dead, Dr. Watson’s continuing carelessness here are apparent, as he fills out the tale with a
with dates (and wives) continues to bedevil dozen chapters from Hilda’s memoirs, which
Holmes’s biographers. add little narrative drive. Hilda had her say

A
gatha Christie seemed to care little years ago, in the form of a long letter included in
about chronology, though she the collection, Rumpole and the Angel of Death,
ultimately geriatrified Poirot and but she is a one-dimensional character unable to
did away with him in Curtain, a novel she support lengthy passages of self-analysis.

I
allowed to be published only after her own death. George MacDonald ndeed, not only Hilda, but most of Mortimer’s characters except
Fraser, whose Flashman books were recently found to be on George the main protagonist have flattened out with age, and their
Bush’s reading list, avoids the problem altogether by haphazardly incidental parts are entirely predictable. The loyal solicitor Bonny
discovering packets of memoirs from random periods of his hero’s Bernard, the clueless colleague Claude Erskine-Brown, the villainous
career. but oddly honorable Fred Timson, and others, have all become stock
C. S. Forester, who wrote about the young Hornblower only after characters, who strut and fret their moment on the stage, signifying
elevating him to flag rank, is that rarity among authors who took pains little. That is their charm.
to adhere to a consistent timeline, and did so with sufficient (though This tale, however, is less about character and more overtly political
not impeccable) care that C. Northcote Parkinson was able to write a than its predecessors. Mortimer takes as his epigraph a quotation from
coherent biography of his fictional character. Joseph Conrad, “The terrorist and the policeman both come from the
The problem of chronology particularly afflicts Horace Rumpole, the same basket,” and his displeasure with British disdain for the rights of
Old Bailey hack whose legal career is catalogued in fourteen volumes the accused, under the guise of combatting terrorism, has a sharp edge.
of stories by the prolific John Mortimer, the author as well of thirteen Mortimer’s views on prosecutorial overreaching are set out in his
novels, eleven plays and three volumes of autobiography. Sir John autobiographical volumes, and in his recent essays. Rumpole himself
has been dealing with a superannuated protagonist for over 25 years, has defended international human rights (Rumpole and the Rights of
in no fewer than 67 stories. Man) and represented refugees (Rumpole and the Asylum Seekers),
If the Mikado’s Pooh-Bah was born sneering, Rumpole was born in and he has made a career of representing the downtrodden and the
late middle age. He was already in his sixties in Rumpole for the accused, but his invocation of Magna Carta and habeas corpus has
Defence (1981), and has been considering hanging up his wig since at extra impact when juxtaposed with current headlines.
least 1979, in Rumpole and the Age of Retirement, when, like Through his usual combination of dogged persistence and incisive
Tennyson, he longed “To sail beyond the sunset and the baths/Of all cross-examination, and his fierce sense of justice, Rumpole positions
the western stars.” Since then, he has retired more times than Bill his case so that a deus ex machina can bring R. v. Khan to a
Parcells. The opening of Rumpole’s Return in 1980 found him and the satisfactory conclusion. No matter that the sub-plots are weak, the
not-so-devoted Hilda, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, at leisure in, of all supporting characters cartoonish and the outcome predictable.
places, south Florida. Ultimately exchanging the dubious pleasures of Rumpole is as comfortable as an old Wellington boot. Neither he nor
Boca Raton for those of Battersea and Brixton, he tried Rumpole’s his favorite vintage, Chateau Thames Embankment, has aged or
Last Case in 1987, only to return in several more volumes, mellowed, and may they never do so.
culminating in Rumpole Rests His Case in 2001, at the end of which
This article is reprinted with permission from the February
Ronald W. Meister, who believes Sherlock Holmes is still
16, 2007 edition of the New York Law Journal © ALM
alive and keeping bees in Sussex, is a member of Cowan,
Properties, Inc. further duplication is prohibited. All rights
Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
reserved