The continuous performance of Rumpole by talented actor Leo McKern is inextricably woven into this mystery. What do we know of John Mortimer from our acquaintance with "The Old Darling"? Is Rumpole the alter ego of his creator?

John Mortimer was in fact, a more successful barrister than Rumpole, gaining the lofty title of QC, but never aspiring to be Head of Chambers, the post Hilda dreamed Rumpole would get one day. After all, her Daddy had been Head when Rumpole joined the firm.

The only child of Kathleen and Clifford Mortimer, John showed signs of high intelligence at an early age. Clifford Mortimer, immortalized by his son John in the award winning play, A Voyage Round My Father, continued to be influential in John's life, long after his death. He rarely conducted a public conversation without a reference to Clifford as the major influence in his life. In retrospect, John wondered if he had truthfully represented his father, or invented him.

At his father's insistence, John became a barrister and QC, practicing in Clifford's Chambers in London. This decision would turn out to be the basis of his phenomenal success in two careers: lawyer and author.

Educated at the best public schools in England, equivalent to America's private schools, he was sent down from Oxford (asked to leave) as the result of some letters which the headmaster interpreted to mean that he was having a homosexual affair.

In the first synopsis of Rumpole of the Bailey, Mortimer "vouchsafed another interesting detail of his history: Rumpole 'got a poor third class degree at Oxford where he had a tendency to prefer young men.'"

Quentin Edwards, a handsome 17 year old when Mortimer met him, later became a barrister and QC. He remembers in his 80's "John and I had, I suppose, a crush on each other: it didn't amount to more than that. ... We'd been to single-sex public schools, where people form romantic friendships which are not really quite homosexual. I was not a homosexual... and neither, the truth is, was John."

Biographer and friend of the family, Valerie Grove, was given the rare privilege of access to all the family journals and letters as well as to their many relatives and friends. From this vantage point, she has given us a detailed voyage through John's life. Despite his success, his private life reveals an insatiable need to be loved.

Grove explores the "relationship between truth and memory" and quotes from Mortimer's own autobiography, Clinging to the Wreckage, "Much more happened that I cannot tell or remember." The advantage of a biographer is in being able to tell it all.

John Mortimer's first wife was Penelope Fletcher Dimont, a fascinating, talented and beautiful woman, When he first met her, she was married to Oxford graduate Charles Dimont and was the mother of two daughters. John was only 19, and was visiting Charles to be schooled in how to present himself as a conscientious objector to the war. John and Penelope did not meet again for five years.

Meanwhile, Penelope had two affairs, each of which produced another daughter. Dimont believed himself to be the father of the third daughter, Julia, but knew he was not father of the fourth, Deborah. He agreed to assume paternity, so she too shared the last name Dimont.

It was during the time of her fourth pregnancy, when the father had deserted Penelope immediately upon learning of her pregnancy, that John began actively courting her.

After her divorce from Dimont, she and John were married. Their marriage proved turbulent, but exciting and fulfilling to them both. Perhaps rivalry over their writing, or the continuing liaisons Mortimer had with beautiful young women, about which he would confide to Penelope, broke her down. Penelope "...knew of his need to keep the love of all the women in his life. She confused this with a belief that he loved women, which is not quite the same. He could not say goodbye without leaving the door slightly ajar."

Mortimer finally divorced Penelope to marry Penny Gollop who was only 4 years older than his daughter Sally, the fifth of the girls in the family in his marriage to Penelope, and the first fathered by John. A son had been born to them later.

A prolific writer, Mortimer admits that all his writing has been about his own life, with names and locations changed. Penelope was also a successful writer whose stories reflected their private life as well. Her most famous book, The Pumpkin Eater, revealed more than most readers realized since, like most all the Mortimers' works, it was published as fiction. In it, the character which represented Penelope confronts the John character and demands to know why he must keep having affairs.

Revelation of their private life in their fiction seems to have been accepted by each, who shared the conviction, and perhaps the unrealistic hope, that it was a necessary and inevitable part of their own attempt to understand life.

For an American audience there are many British expressions and allusions which will not be understood. If one can overlook that difficulty, it is fascinating to see how fact and fiction intermingle, and as John has said, recreate life.

Information gathered from letters, interviews, and the literature has been combined by Ms. Grove in such a way that nothing seems to have been left out, nothing was inviolate. We hear John at his most poisonous when he tells a friend, "Whenever Penelope thinks things are getting boring, she tells another daughter who her real father is."

In his second marriage, two more daughters are born. Mortimer finds that he has a son from one of his earlier liaisons whom he not only acknowledges but befriends. The whole family, including both Penelope and Penny, takes part in his wedding. All relationships seem to be accepted in this large and unique family. Many famous persons are mentioned and will be familiar to the British reader, but perhaps not to the American. All will recognize Sir Laurence Olivier who played John's father in the Haymarket production of A Voyage Round My Father.

Ms. Groves' style of writing, full of parenthetical phrases, some in either French or Latin, may require some effort on the reader's part. Although I am not one of those Americans whom the multi-lingual Mortimer stereotyped, "To an American, England and France are both indistinguishably remote", I did find it frustrating to miss some of the flavor of the story.

As a loyal Rumpole fan, I was fascinated to learn of his genesis and of the comparisons to John's real life revealed by Grove. It was interesting also to see Mortimer's driven personality that resulted in a prodigious output of stories, plays, T.V. and movie scripts. (Incidentally, Grove has pointed out that Mortimer's script for Brideshead Revisted, was not used, although he was given credit for it because of the producer's fear of losing financing of the project.)

Grove has performed a monumental feat of research and has woven so skillfully John Mortimer's careers as lawyer and writer and his private life with his fiction that the book should appeal to the casual reader as well as the dedicated scholar who will find the index especially helpful. The book is further enhanced by many pages of photographs.

If you'd care to learn more about this remarkable man, Sir John Mortimer, QC, take A Voyage Round John Mortimer.

In Emily Dickinson's words: "There is no frigate like a book /To take us lands away..."

As a light reader not familiar with English mysteries, I do not know John Mortimer - or Rumpole....but I do now! Ms. Hicks well written review has inspired me to start reading not only the biography, but also the mysteries. Thank you!

Ms. Hicks' review is a beautifully constructed essay that gives well-organized insight into the main themes running through Mortimer's life and writings. I felt as if I were reading an interview with Mortimer himself in the way Ms. Hicks unfolds the contents of Grove's biography.

This is obviously a clear, insightful and well researched review...Although I have no experience with mysteries or biographies, I enjoyed the review very much!