Collections of good short stories just keep on coming. One of them is the huge (just over 500 pages) Forever Rumpole: The Best of the Rumpole Stories by John Mortimer. This volume contains 14 of what editor Ann Mallalieu calls “The Best of the Rumpole Series.” That tells you all you need to know right there, but I’ll go ahead and add that seven of the stories originally appeared in a 1993 collection titled The Best of Rumpole. Those stories were chosen by Mortimer himself, and to them Mallieu has added seven more to represent the best of Mortimer’s later work. There’s one other selection, too. When Mortimer died in 2009, he’d begun work on a Rumpole novel, and four pages from that work are included here. Add in Mortimer’s introduction to the 1993 collection and Mallalieu’s fine introduction to this one, and you have a book that any reader of short fiction would be glad to add to the bookshelves.
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Naomi Hirahara’s powerful new book, Clark and Division, follows the Ito family in 1944.
Thursday, 18 October 2018
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
Saturday, 16 June 2018
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Monday, 30 April 2018
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
Thursday, 12 April 2018
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Sunday, 01 April 2018
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
Thursday, 15 February 2018
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Thursday, 27 July 2017
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.