A CLASSIC COLLECTION OF JOHN MORTIMER'S ICONIC CHARACTER, DISCOVER THE FIRST RUMPOLE OMNIBUS!'One of the great comic creations of modern times' Evening Standard'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D. James, Mail on SundayWho rose to enduring fame on Blood and Typewriters?Who told the pregnant Portia of the Chambers it would come out in the end?Who advise...

The Second Rumpole Omnibus - a classic collection of John Mortimer's greatest character'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D James, Mail on Sunday'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole' Clive James, ObserverHorace Rumpole turns down yet another invitation to exchange the joys and sorrows of life as an Old Bailey hack for the delights of the sunshine state, where Senior Citizens loll on beach...

Horace Rumpole - witty, eloquent, dishevelled and cynical - is one of fiction's best-loved barristers-at-law. In these twenty classic tales, Rumpole battles through the Old Bailey, whether defending various members of an incompetent South London crime family, taking on haute-cuisine chefs and showfolk or mocking the pomposity of his own profession, all the while being held in check by his wife, Hilda: the wonderful, fearsome She Who Must Be Obeyed.These collected stories, in Pengui...

When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected ex...

Following the bestselling SUMMER OF A DORMOUSE, Sir John Mortimer - playwright, novelist, octogenarian and erstwhile QC - offers up more wickedly funny lessons in living and growing old disgracefully. What would we like to leave to our descendants? Not a third-rate painting or our PEPS, according to Sir John, but a love of Shakespeare, a taste for alcohol, the ability to defeat boredom, the importance of never locking the lavatory door, and so on. Owing something to Montaigne's essays, som...

In Other Words - a hilarious book of verse, anecdotes and memories by John MortimerFrom one of Britain's greatest ever raconteurs, these are the stories with which John Mortimer entertained the nation for years: of seedy criminals and the even seedier criminal justice system, of boyhood and his remarkable father, of passion and politics, and most of all English eccentrics from Lord Byron to the present day. Along the way, we meet a motley crew of failed murderers, remorsef...

'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D. JamesHorace Rumpole - dishevelled barrister at law, drinker of claret and smoker of cigars, inveterate quoter of Wordsworth and eternal defender of the underdog - is one of the greatest English comic characters ever created. This is the original volume of Rumpole stories, introducing us to the legal triumphs that first made the Old Bailey Hack's name, along with a host of choice villains, frequent forays...

Charade by John Mortimer - the classic novel first published in 1947Its June 1944 in an English seaside resort and a shy young man has just joined an army film unit making a documentary about army training. While shooting a cliff-scaling exercise a sergeant plunges to his death. It seems like an accident, but the shy young man is not convinced.Like the bestselling Paradise Postponed, Charade is tremendous entertainment brought to life through a ca...

'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole' Clive JamesHorace Rumpole, the irrepressible barrister fuelled by cigars, Tennyson, steak-and-kidney pud and the cooking claret from Pommeroy's wine bar, is back for further misadventures. Amid an unfortunate and temporary downturn in London crime, the Old Bailey Hack sits in Chambers (he never writes at home for fear of She Who Must Be Obeyed) and picks up his pen to recount six classic tales of his...

Paradise Postponed - John Mortimer's classic novel, now part of the Penguin Decades seriesPenguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed was first p...

Summer's Lease - the classic, international bestselling novel by John Mortimer'Amusing, entertaining ... and a cracking good read' Sunday Express'And summer's lease hath all too short a date' - Sonnet 18, William ShakespeareIt's high summer when Molly Pargeter drags her amiably bickering family to a rented Tuscan villa for the holidays. Molly is sure that the house is the perfect setting for their three-week getaway, but soon she becomes f...

When a Tory MP is found dead in a swimming-pool wearing a leopardskin bikini, the embittered Leslie (now Lord) Titmuss sees the ideal opportunity to re-enter the political arena. All he needs is a puppet, and Terry Flitton - inoffensive New Labourite - is perfect. Along with his beautiful, very PC wife, Terry heads blindly for the Hartscombe and Worsfield South by-election. But is he too busy listening for the sound of victory trumpets to notice that the Tory dinosaur is not quite extinct?...