Rumpole à la Carte Audiobook By John Mortimer cover art

Rumpole à la Carte

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Rumpole à la Carte

By: John Mortimer
Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.16

Buy for $17.16

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Here are six delightful tales featuring everyone’s favorite barrister for the defense, Horace Rumpole. Eccentric characters such as his wife, Hilda, otherwise known as “She Who Must Be Obeyed”, and his philandering colleague Claude Erskine-Brown are back as Rumpole visits a snooty restaurant where he engages in a battle of wills over his adored mashed spuds, takes the unaccustomed role of prosecutor, and ventures - unwillingly - onto a ship, where he confronts, of all things, a detective novelist.

Included are “Rumpole à la Carte”, “Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent”, “Rumpole and the Right to Silence”, “Rumpole at Sea”, “Rumpole and the Quacks”, and “Rumpole for the Prosecution”.

This masterly blend of humor and mystery makes for irresistible listening.

About the author: John Mortimer (1923-2009) was a playwright, novelist, and barrister. He wrote many radio, film, and television scripts, including the British television series Rumpole of the Bailey, and won the British Academy Writer of the Year Award in 1979. He retired from the bar in 1984 and was knighted in 1998.

©1990 Advanpress, Ltd. (P)1992 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Literature & Fiction Witty Funny Short Stories

Critic reviews

“The eighth collection of stories about the barrister; that they continue to be so enjoyable is a mark of both the author's craftsmanship and his natural talent.” ( The New York Times Book Review)
“Abounds with wit, familiar eccentrics, and those moments of eloquence that make justice seem as simple and desirable as common sense.” ( Publishers Weekly)
“Many of Rumpole’s cases turn out to be ‘whodunits,’ with our hero nabbing the real culprit or finding the crucial evidence that exonerates his client. In a handful of stories (Rumpole solves a missing person case aboard ship in “Rumpole at Sea,” for instance), we are presented with more traditional mystery stories…The real charm of Rumpole is in the writing. John Mortimer combines the verbal play of P. G. Wodehouse with the grubby flavor of middle-class comedy. Individual cases allow Mortimer the opportunity for some mild satire…But the law itself is the most popular topic of Mortimer’s winking eye.” (Mike Pinsky, appellate judge, retired)
Excellent Narration • Classic Tales • Great Fun • Wonderful Writing • Amazing Performance • Humorous Delivery
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Rumpole is one of my favorite characters. This book was enhanced by the wonderful narration. Stories were all great! Loved it!!

Delightful all around

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I always enjoy these productions. Narrator is excellent. I will be looking for another episode.

Enjoyed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was surprised to learn that the stories in this collection—like all in the Rumpole series except the last six books—are based on TV scripts, reversing the usual page-to-stage order of things. They certainly don’t suffer from it. Probably because, rather than assign one or the other to a team of BBC hacks-in-residence, John Mortimer wrote both scripts and stories. Of the six romps with Rumpole I’ve enjoyed, this one includes some of Mortimer's very best efforts. And, as usual, the incomparable Frederick Davidson, like Rumpole himself, does them full justice.

Imagine if TV Always Sounded this Good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Davidson is one of my favorite readers, up there with David case! Good old Rumpole is absolutely awesome! I have been thoroughly entertained by his antics and his brilliant and tenacious defenses! Very, very cool stuff indeed!!!

Awesome reading! I love good old Rumpole

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
My concept of Rumpole was shaped by the wonderful TV adaptation and I wasn’t sure how the audiobooks would stand up to this high standard. However the combination of John Mortimer’s writing and the excellent narration is excellent.

Thoroughly satisfying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved it in all his jurisprudence glory! rumpolebis THE man without a doubt, par excellence!

rumpole: the ultimate defense!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Both entertaining and humorous cases. Very good short stories with solutions which are great fun.

Rumpole delivers

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I think RUMPOLE is amazing!!Frederick Davidson is amazing and I thoroughly enjoy the humor. All the old darlings and quips make me lol!! Wish there were more. I relished a lot. Thank you John Mortimer and Audio.

I LOVE RUMPOLE!!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Frederick Davidson's (a/k/a David Case) narration is a poor fit for Rumpole I'm afraid. Stories themselves were okay, though none were outstanding. If you're really keen on hearing these episodes, rather than reading them in print, keep your expectations low!

Only for true Rumpole fans

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A collection of classic Rumpole tales that are ruined by the narrator. Frederick Davidson does not come up to the standard set by Bill Wallis. I hope I remember to check out the narrator the next time I download a "Rumpole". I tried to return it, but that didn't work for me.

Rumpole spoiled

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews