The real and considerable joys here are watching Rumpole spread his wings and observing, in what passes for his courtship of...
Finally, it can be told: the vaunted case that launched the loosest cannon in the English legal system on his nonpareil career (Rumpole and the Primrose Path, 2003, etc.).
Fresh (very fresh) out of Oxford in the early 1950s, Horace Rumpole is farmed out to the chambers headed by C.H. Wystan, Q.C. Under the glazed eyes of risk-averse Wystan and golf-obsessed pupil master T.C. Rowley, Rumpole seems unlikely to get into trouble. Circumstances and Wystan’s spirited daughter Hilda, however, conspire to get Rumpole appointed junior counsel in the defense of Simon Jerold, accused of shooting his father Jerry, an ex–RAF pilot, and Jerry’s rear-gunner Charlie Weston, following a well-witnessed quarrel about military heroism. The boy’s vigorous protests of innocence fail to impress either Barnsley Gough, his solicitor, or Wystan, who agree that the best defense is stiff-upper-lip silence before fearsome Chief Justice Jessup. Nor do Rumpole’s diversions—the defense of a habitual burglar only too eager to plead guilty despite his obvious innocence and the odd breakfast with Hilda—promise much more fulfillment. But irrepressible Rumpole’s soon elbowed his superior out of the Old Bailey, taken over Simon’s defense, and plumbed a mystery that wouldn’t fool anyone but a child, or a senior member of the bar.
The real and considerable joys here are watching Rumpole spread his wings and observing, in what passes for his courtship of Hilda, the seeds of his thrall to She Who Must Be Obeyed.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2004
ISBN: 0-670-03356-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
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