Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders

by John Mortimer

Book Overview

Now more than ever, thousands of readers delight in the adventures of Horace Rumpole, but despite the publication of more than one hundred stories, his early years have remained shrouded in mystery?until now.In Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders, John Mortimer tells the story of Rumpole?s very first case. Looking back a half century into a very different world, Rumpole recalls a man accused of murdering his father and his father?s friend with...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670033561
• ISBN13: 9780670033560
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

"The best man I've ever known on bloodstains."

Horace Rumpole is a young "white wig," when he has his first chance to assist C. H. Wystan, his head of chambers, on a murder case. Idealistic and committed to providing an active defense of anyone accused of crime, Rumpole is appalled by Wystan's complete lack of interest in the case and by Wystan's attempts to get his client to plead guilty to a crime he insists he never committed. Rumpole's performance on a day when his superior is out of court inspires his young client to fire C. H. Wystan in favor of Rumpole, a breach of etiquette which could have ended Rumpole's career before it even got started. The young client, Simon Jerold, is accused of murdering his war hero father and a fellow RAF pilot with a German Luger which his father kept as a war trophy. Witnesses had seen him threaten both men when they, drunk, had taunted Simon about his lack of "heroism" and made moves to "de-pants" him. C. H. Wystan's open-and-shut case becomes far more complicated when Rumpole investigates the circumstances of the murder, the patterns of the blood stains, and the backgrounds of the two victims. Written as part of Rumpole's memoirs when he was an old man recalling his best cases (and he believes that this one "made" his career), this novel from 2004 includes background information to delight the seasoned Rumpole lover. C. H. Wystan's purposeful daughter, Hilda, watches his performance in court, sets the snares to capture him in marriage, and begins a hilarious "courtship." He first makes the acquaintance of the Timson family of thieves, for whom he continuously performs miracles in court throughout his career. His love of Wordsworth, echoing throughout the novel in his descriptions and asides, is obvious from the outset, and characters who continue throughout the Rumpole series appear here early in his career. Though the story is well executed and great fun to read for its plot, the satire and wry humor are what make the novel come alive. The do-nothing barristers, their avoidance of work (and controversy!), their love of perks, their belief that they deserve them, and their assumption that they really are superior in every way, are fair game for the more dedicated young Rumpole, whose own arrogance is also part of the satire. Sarcasm is taken to new heights in the continuing dialogues in which Rumpole tells off his superiors, then admits that's what he wanted to say but didn't. A classic Rumpole novel, this one connects the early and later phases of Rumpole's career (and his life with Hilda), filling in some blanks and expanding the Rumpole persona. n Mary Whipple Rumpole Misbehaves: A Novel (Rumpole Novels) Rumpole's Return. Felix In the Underworld (Spanish Edition) Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life The Summer of a Dormouse

"Looking back down the long corridor of history."

Horace Rumpole's greatest triumph came a mere eighteen months after he was called to the bar, when he represented the defendant in the Penge Bungalow Murders, "alone and without a leader." In John Mortimer's "Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders," we learn the details of how a nervous and inexperienced barrister managed to pull off a completely unexpected legal victory. Unfortunately, success often has its price. At the time that Horace was reaching for the professional brass ring, he was also being stalked by the daughter of his head of chambers, the pushy and manipulative Hilda Wystan. Little did Rumpole foresee that the very woman who arranged for him to participate in the case that made his reputation would also become his ball and chain, known forever after as "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Now that he is a veteran of the Old Bailey, Rumpole has decided to write his memoirs. He intends to include the Penge Bungalow affair as one of his most gratifying successes. Rumpole proudly recounts how he saved a terrified twenty-one year old man named Simon Jerold from "the great engine of the criminal law [that] was intent on driving him towards a grim execution shed." Simon stood accused of shooting his father, Denis "Jerry" Jerold, and Charlie Weston, both former bomber pilots with the RAF during World War II. If he were to be found guilty, Simon would be sentenced to death by hanging. Simon's brief was entrusted to the head of chambers at 4 Equity Court, C. H. Wystan (father of the aforementioned Hilda), who declared that proving Simon innocent was well nigh impossible. At Hilda's suggestion, Wystan allowed Rumpole to act as his junior; his job was to take notes and look up points of law, but under no circumstances was he to act on his own or express his opinions. However, Rumpole was never one to slavishly obey his superiors. Since he believed in the presumption of innocence, Rumpole decided to examine the evidence thoroughly and objectively. Helped by the industrious clerk, "Bonny" Bernard, Rumpole used his keen powers of observation, skillful interrogation of witnesses, and a budding knowledge of blood spatter (later to become his special area of expertise) to uncover the truth. "Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders" is hilarious and satirical, but it is also a serious look at the travesty that the criminal justice system can become in the hands of incompetent and lazy practitioners. What also makes this book a great treat for Rumpole aficionados is that it traces the roots of his affection for cigars, Pommeroy's Wine Bar (with its "non-vintage Chateau Thames Embankment"), and greasy food, such as bacon, sausage, and eggs. Even in the early years, Rumpole enjoyed nourishment for the mind as well as the body, and he frequently consulted his Oxford Book of English Verse, a constant companion since he was a schoolboy. Rarely was he at a loss for a pertinent literary quotation. Mortimer even treats us to some inside information about young Hora

Five Stars Anyway..

July 2002 was the saddest month of all. Leo McKern -- the quintessential Rumpole -- had died after a long illness and was survived one day by Maurice Denham who played Rumpole on BBC radio. So it seems that the possibility of a revival of visual episodes of has declined to almost zero. Nonetheless, there was always the hope that Sir John Mortimer would pen the story that launched the whole series.. ..and, after two collections of stories, it finally appeared. So it was with some sadness that I took to Reading "The Penge Bungalow Murders" realizing it would probably be the last Mortimer would do for old Rumpole. My sorrow was compounded only slightly because it appears to me that Sir John phoned this one in. As others have pointed out, this episode seemed a somewhat flat and rather perfunctory effort; seemingly a work where all of the questions were being answered and the loose ends were being tied up. We see how Rumpole became involved with the Timpsons. How he and Hilda became entwined (she played a far more important role in Rumpole's success and chambers' affairs than we could ever imagine), what an insufferable, doddering dolt her father and head of chambers, C. H. Wystan, was and how Horace developed his acerbic wit and contempt for the mediocrity passed off as "the finest traditions of the bar". Why the five stars? Because I cannot bear to rate it less. A Rumpole yarn, whether on or off, is a damned good read. Like they say, the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work. It was a marvelous run and sad that it probably has come to an end.

This series will endure the test of time.

This is a wonderful book. I think it's the best in the Rumpole series. John Mortimer is the Shakespeare of courtroom dramas - head and shoulders above anyone else in the field. This particular installment not only contains drama, suspense and comedy, it's also a love story. Here we discover how Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed `'fell in love'` so to speak and got married. In the face of overwhelming obstructionism, pettiness, and arrogance from the powers-that-were in Britain's legal world in the 1950s, Rumpole found himself tasked with the problem of keeping an innocent young man from the gallows, and She alone supported him. Reading news reports from Europe lately, it's possible to wonder whether there will always be an England. However, reading this book makes me certain there will always be a Rumpole.

You Get Justice in the Next World: In This World You Get

Horace Rumpole!!!! And it is a darn good thing for any defendant facing a criminal charge in London to have the rumpled, oft-scorned, and much condescended to Horace Rumpole take up your defense against all comers. John Mortimer's latest Rumpole story, Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders takes us back to the great barrister's first big case. The story is told looking back after a conversation in chambers convinces Rumpole to write his memoirs. The story jumps back and forth between Rumpole's recollections of events interrupted only by the occasional (but highly amusing) bit of conversation with Hilda, she who must be obeyed, and his colleague in chambers. It is the early 1950s and Rumpole is young, eager, and ready to begin his career as a trial lawyer (barrister). He has found himself working for C.J. Wystan, the head of his chambers (firm) and the father of an assertive young daughter named Hilda. Simon Jerrold has been arrested and accused of the murder of his father and one of his father's friends. Each of the deceased flew for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and this was of no small consequence for the national press. All the evidence available points to Simon as the murderer. A conviction seems a certainty to all, including Simon's lead defense attorney, Wystan. Wystan has selected Rumpole to act as a silent assistant after Hilda suggests for some unknown reason that Rumpole is a man with a future in the law. It should surprise no one that Rumpole does not bow down to the conventional wisdom concerning his client's guilt. The story takes us through the remarkable series of events through which Rumpole assumes control of the defense and takes the case through trial. As always, Mortimer writes with wit and verve. Mortimer first describes the appearance of Wystan as one that made him think of a "lobster who had been snatched from a peaceful existence at the bottom of the sea and plunged into boiling water." Followed immediately by a slight retraction, "but I have no wish to be overly critical of my future father-in-law." By taking us back to his first case as a callow, slender youth Mortimer has invigorated and fleshed out (no pun intended) Rumpole considerably. We first came to know Rumpole as an aging overweight, hen-pecked curmudgeon who adheres to obsolete concepts of justice and the presumption of innocence when all around him expediency and decorum prevails. Mortimer shows us flashes of this in Penge Bungalow. We see the character traits: the wit, sarcasm and sense of fair play in its formative stages. We also find out how the young Ms. Hilda Wystan became the infamous she who must be obeyed. It is clear that once Hilda set her mind on something she is not easily denied. The beauty of the Penge Bungalow Murders is our glimpse of Rumpole as a young man. His character is immediately recognizable. His body may have changed but his inner-self has remained constant. As one of Rumpole's favorite auth