Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (2006)

After 12 collections of Rumpole stories, John Mortimer published his first Rumpole novel in 2004; now 82, he's written another, Rumpole and the Reign of Terror — and it may be his finest work yet about the grouchy old London barrister. If things are a mite difficult at home, where Rumpole's tetchy wife, Hilda (''She Who Must Be Obeyed''), is working on her memoirs, they're even worse at work: By defending a Pakistani doctor jailed on trumped-up terrorism charges, he's shunned by colleagues, clients, and even She Who Must... Mortimer delivers another first-class mystery — and a stinging slap at overzealous anti-terrorism laws.