RUMPOLE A LA CARTE

Half a dozen more stories featuring the inimitable Horace Rumpole, everyone's favorite barrister for the defense. Judged as detective fiction, Mortimer's work is as mediocre as ever: Rumpole's cases, whether pursued in court or on a cruise ship, are seldom mystifying, involving few suspects, fewer clues, and even fewer stock reversals. The mystery is always being crowded out by the background—the threat to allow solicitors to argue cases before the bench; Rumpole's battle of wills with an equally opinionated French-Irish chef; his running arguments with Mr. Justice Graves ("Mr. 'Get into Bed with the Prosecution' Graves"); his colleague Claude Erskine-Brown's witless philandering; the iron whims of his wife Hilda; and the tapestry of witty allusions and ironic remarks—in short, all the features Rumpole's admirers cherish. This collection pinks all the usual targets, provides all the usual pleasures, and includes two gems: "Rumpole for the Prosecution," in which the old reliable switches sides to prosecute a murder case, with amusingly disastrous results; and the title story, whose star performance is turned in by a mouse on luckless Claude's attractive dinner partner's covered tray at that chef's three-star restaurant. The mixture as before, hearty as Rumpole's beloved mashed spuds.