RUMPOLE AND THE REIGN OF TERROR

Grouchy London barrister Horace Rumpole is defending a Pakistani doctor imprisoned on vague terrorism charges. Rumpole despairs that the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights are no longer respected post-9/11. Worse, wife Hilda, aka " She Who Must Be Obeyed," is writing her memoirs about life with Rumpole and her dalliances with a judge. But this is Rumpole -- there will always be an inventive, amusing way out of what ails him. Bill Wallis voices Rumpole with a marvelous cantankerousness; Hilda is younger and milder than Rumpole would lead us to expect. Wallis truly understands the lightness of tone needed to raise a witty novel to a level of high entertainment. A.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 07]