Horace Rumpole ages well. That's true with the character in John Mortimer's stories about a London barrister and with the stories themselves. I just finished reading the three Mortimer story collections that make up “The Second Rumpole Omnibus,” published in 1987.

The stories in “Rumoole for the Defence,” “Rumpole and the Golden Thread” and “Rumpole’s Last Case” do begin to seem a bit predictable when read one after the other, yet that hardly makes them less entertaining. Rumpole is just such an endearing character, sort of like Peter Falk's Columbo, that we don't really care if the stories all seem to follow a similar pattern.

Yet there are exceptions. In "Rumpole and the Winter Break," the briefest story in the book, the aging barrister must take Hilda, better known as She Who Must Be Obeyed, on a vacation that he promised her if he won his case defending a suspected wife murderer. Rumpole never expects to win that case and is greatly surprised when he does. And even bigger surprise happens on their vacation.

Sometimes, as in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread," he successfully defends a client, then discovers that client actually wanted to be found guilty.

In "Rumpole's Last Case," he gets racing tip that he is convinced will allow him to retire with enough money to allow him and Hilda to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Things don't quite work as he plans, which itself is predictable. What may come as a surprise is just how his "last case" becomes only the last case in the book.

No less interesting than Rumpole's courtroom successes are his life with Hilda and with his associates in his law firm. In most of these stories, his life outside the courtrooms in some way parallels his current case.

Leo McKern played Rumpole in the long-running BBC/PBS series based on Mortimer's stories, and it is impossible to read them without seeing McKern in one's mind. It was a character he was born to play. ( )

Some of these are a bit disappointing as before, and they introduce a flagrantly Christian character so Rumpole can score off him. However, there are a few where he is truly triumphant and cross-examines as brilliantly as Perry Mason, notably "Rumpole and the Sporting LIfe." ( )

I just adore Horace and Hilda I feel like a fly on the wall when I read Rumpole Its a shame there will be no more, rest in peace John Mortimer. ( )

Horace Rumpole presents himself as just an Old Bailey hack doing run-of-the-mill burglary defenses and the odd car-heist case. In reality he defends the best in the Anglo-American legal traditions against modern forces (for example, the presumption of innocence) - and this was written 20+ years ago!

Rumpole is the lovable defender of the average man and foe to all stick-in-the-muds. His motto "Never plead guilty." It could just as well be comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Hilarious, warm, human, touching, self-effacing and ever-ready to pierce the pompous gasbag - that's Rumpole of the Bailey. Start with the First Rumpole Omnibus and work your way through the rest.

Guaranteed to tickle your funny bone and warm your heart ( )

Rumpole - a classic and hilarious view of the English criminal legal system through the eyes of one of its practitioners, the fictional Rumpole, and as written by a barrister, John Mortimer. I think even those unfamiliar with the system would find these entertaining. ( )