Rumpole of the Bailey is a series of books created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer based on the television series Rumpole of the Bailey.
Mortimer adapted his television scripts into a series of short stories and novels starting in 1978. A series of anthologies and omnibus editions were also released.
There have been seven collections that have presented previously published Rumpole stories. These comprise three volumes of an "Omnibus" series that each gathered together three previously issued sets of stories into a single book, three books that each presented a collection of tales drawn from across the broad canon of Rumpole short stories and one volume of Christmas-themed stories that had each been previously published in a magazine rather than in a Rumpole book.
The First Rumpole Omnibus (1983) contains all six short stories in the 1978 collection Rumpole of the Bailey; all six short stories in the 1979 collection "The Trials of Rumpole" and the 1980 single-story novel Rumpole's Return.
The Second Rumpole Omnibus (1987) contains all seven short stories in the 1981 collection Regina v. Rumpole; all six short stories in the 1983 collection Rumpole and the Golden Thread and all seven short stories in the 1987 collection Rumpole's Last Case.
The Third Rumpole Omnibus (1997) contains all seven short stories in the 1988 collection Rumpole and the Age of Miracles; all six short stories in the 1990 collection Rumpole ÃÂ la Carte and all six short stories in the 1995 collection Rumpole and the Angel of Death.
The Best of Rumpole: A Personal Choice (1993) contains seven Rumpole stories personally selected as favourites by John Mortimer.
Rumpole (1994) is an illustrated Folio Society anthology comprising Rumpole stories personally chosen and introduced by John Mortimer.
Rumpole at Christmas (2009) is a collection of seven Christmas-themed short stories â some first published in US or UK magazines. (The UK book contained seven stories. The US version â titled A Rumpole Christmas â contained five stories. It omitted "Millennium Bug" and "Christmas Party".)
Forever Rumpole (2012) contains a total of fourteen Rumpole stories, the seven stories that were personally selected as favourites by John Mortimer in the 1993 anthology The Best of Rumpole: A Personal Choice plus the following seven stories selected from the short stories published in the years after the 1993 anthology. (The book also contains the first few pages written by Mortimer for a new story titled "Rumpole and the Brave New World" that he was working on at the time of his death and thus was incomplete.)