Sir John Mortimer was an English lawyer and author who was best known for his Rumpole series of books. As a young man he had hopes of being an actor and then a writer, but his father encouraged him to get into the law. During his law career he worked in defense of many high profile obscenity cases including defending Gay News editor on charges of blasphemous libel and Virgin Records over their use of the work “bollocks” for the famous Sex Pistols album.

It was the barrister Horace Rumpole that was ultimately Mortimer’s greatest contribution. The character was created based on his father and debuted on BBC Play for Today played by Leo McKern. The short was such a success that it later became it’s own series.

Publication Order of Rumpole of the Bailey Books

Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole’s Return (1980)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Trials of Rumpole (1981)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Regina V. Rumpole (1981)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole for the Defence (1982)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Golden Thread (1983)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole for the Prosecution (1986)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole's Last Case (1988)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Age of Miracles (1989)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Age for Retirement (1989)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole a La Carte (1991)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole on Trial (1992)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Best of Rumpole (1993)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Younger Generation (1995)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Angel of Death (1995)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole Rests His Case (2002)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Primrose Path (2003)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders (2004)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (2006)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Anti-Social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole / Rumpole Misbehaves (2007)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Rumpole at Christmas / A Rumpole Christmas (2009)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Forever Rumpole (2011)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Rapstone Chronicles Books

Paradise Postponed (1985)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Titmuss Regained Tie In (1990)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Sound of Trumpets (1998)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Charade (1947)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Like Men Betrayed (1953)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Narrowing Stream (1954)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Summer's Lease (1985)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Dunster (1992)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Felix In The Underworld (1996)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Quite Honestly (2005)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Chapbooks

The Scales of Justice (2005)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Plays

A Voyage Round My Father. John Mortimer (1971)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

The Fear Of Heaven (1978)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Clinging to the Wreckage (1982)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Character Parts (1986)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Oxford Book of Villains (1992)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Murderers and Other Friends (1994)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
The Summer of a Dormouse (2000)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Where There's a Will (2003)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Zerah Colburn - Spirit of Darkness (2005)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
In Other Words (2008)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

Publication Order of Anthologies

Great Law and Order Stories(1990)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Murder at Christmas(1991)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Death Cruise: Crime Stories on the Open Seas(1999)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
Midsummer Nights(2009)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price
A Christmas Anthology(2011)Best Hardcover PriceBest Paperback PriceBest Kindle Price

If You Like John Mortimer Books, You’ll Love…

Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders is a full-length novel that tells the long-awaited story of Rumpole’s first case. A an is accused of murdering his father and his father’s friend with a pistol taken from a dead German pilot. This is the case and trial that put Rumpole on the map and helped shape him into the barrister that he would become. This book is considered a great jumping on point for new readers as well as a must-read story for fans of the classic character.

The character of Rumpole is very much of his era, but that idea was thrown for a loop in Rumpole and the Reign of Terror as he is given a very modern case in our new world. He is asked to defend a Pakistani doctor who has been imprisoned for suspicion of aiding Al Qaeda. The man has not been charged or put on trial and it is up to Rumpole to set things right. Meanwhile, his wife is causing him some problems as well as she threatens to write a tell-all memoir.

Order of Books » Authors » Order of John Mortimer Books

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