Rumpole and the Golden Thread by John Mortimer

I first heard of the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey about twenty years ago when my friend Mike and I were talking about one of my favorite 1980s movies, Ladyhawke. Mike told me that the cantankerous monk in Ladyhawke was played by one of his favorite actors, Leo McKern, who also played the cantankerous barrister Horace Rumpole. To this day, Mike is still a big fan of Rumpole of the Bailey, having watched all the episodes on VHS multiple times, and having read all the stories in print. I, on the other hand, have yet to see a complete episode of the TV series. But I trust Mike’s taste in British mysteries, so when I saw Rumpole and the Golden Thread in a used bookstore I picked it up and put it on my to-be-read bookshelf, where it has languished for a couple of decades. Until now, that is. Thanks to a couple of reading challenges, I’ve finally taken it off the shelf and read it.

Rumpole and the Golden Thread is a collection of six stories adapted from season three of the TV series:

• “Rumple and the Genuine Article”
• “Rumpole and the Golden Thread”
• “Rumple and the Old Boy Net”
• “Rumpole and the Female of the Species”
• “Rumpole and the Sporting Life”
• “Rumpole and the Last Resort”

As I was reading the book, I didn’t realize that the stories were originally teleplays. Not knowing much about Rumpole, I had assumed that the TV shows were based on the books, and not vice versa. I’m glad I didn’t know ahead of time, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have even bought the book. I’ve not been impressed with book adaptations of movies or TV series, but Rumpole and the Golden Thread proved to be a pleasant exception.

The stories were every bit as literate as the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers, but with a lot more humor. Sometimes, though, they felt a bit padded and formulaic, which, I suppose, is a sign of their TV origins. They typically began with a setup of the mystery and concluded with a trial in which the mystery was revealed. I was often impatient with the side plots and the humor, wanting to get to the trial scenes. I can take a certain amount of British humor (Monty Python or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for instance), but after awhile it got a bit repetitious.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this introduction to Rumpole. I liked the colorful characters and the clever mysteries, and I would probably read another book in the series if it came my way. I’d even like to see a few episodes of the TV series eventually.

Rumpole and the Golden Thread by John Mortimer
New York: Penguin Books, 1984
Print length: 253 pages