The Anti-social Behaviour of
Horace Rumpole

by John Mortimer

Viking, £18.99



One hesitates to do down the Great Defender that is Horace Rumpole. His many fans, of whom I have long been one, have happily tracked the career of this most senior of juniors through countless highly entertaining and well-written adventures, but his greatest enemy of all - time (rather than the Mad Bull) - is finally catching up with him, if this latest 'novel' is anything to go by.



The story jumps around between fellow members of Equity Court seeking an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) against Rumpole for smoking and drinking in chambers, acting for a junior Timson facing an ASBO, Hilda's decision to read for the bar, Rumpole's own decision to seek silk, and a murder case on which Rumpole is acting alone, having dispensed as usual with Soapy Sam as his leader. Like the previous Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, Sir John Mortimer makes clear his contempt for aspects of New Labour's agenda.



It may sound action-packed, but the plots are resolved far too easily and predictably, while the minor characters, often the source of great joy in these books, are given little room. This is Rumpole by numbers. But most depressing of all is the attempt to dress up this book as a novel, rather than the long short story it is, with large print and big margins, so that it inches towards the 200-page mark. Do not be fooled - it took less than two hours to read and, as such, is wildly overpriced. Rumpole completists should make a bee-line for their nearest library.



Neil Rose