John Mortimer

Sir John Mortimer (1923- ), English barrister, author and dramatist, both on stage and for TV and radio.

Mortimer is a prolific writer, with more than 50 books, plays, and scripts to his credit, but his fame rests on the Rumpole of the Bailey series of TV scripts and short story collections. While not exactly mysteries in the classical sense, his short stories starring Horace Rumpole, a barrister and defending counsel at the Old Bailey criminal court, generally have puzzle elements contained in them, along with lots of comedy. Generally, Mortimer has written Rumpole's adventures in two simultaneous versions---as scripts for the Rumpole TV series (on Thames Television in the UK) and as the published short-story collections. Mortimer has also published nearly thirty plays and three volumes of autobiography as well as 13 non-mystery novels.

You can read a short biography of John Mortimer.

Collections of Rumpole stories:

• The Best of Rumpole: 1983
• The First Rumpole Omnibus: 1983
• Regina v Rumpole: 1981
• Rumpole: 1980
• Rumpole a la Carte: 1990
• Rumpole and the Golden Thread: 1983
• Rumpole and the Age of Miracles: 1988
• Rumpole and the Angel of Death: 1995
• Rumpole and the Primrose Path: 2002
• Rumpole for the Defence: 1982
• Rumpole of the Bailey: 1978
• Rumpole on Trial: 1992
• Rumpole Rests His Case: 2001
• Rumpole's Last Case: 1987
• Rumpole's Return: 1980
• The Second Rumpole Omnibus: 1987
• The Third Rumpole Omnibus: 1998
• The Trials of Rumpole: 1979

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