Rumpole has to be the jurist doppelganger of Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Both deal with oddball crimes and defending underdogs: all with a tad of sarcastic wit (a la Evelyn Waugh) targeting the powers in place. Right up my alley! Rumpole, the taxi awaiting hire as he refers to himself, has to defend an alleged terrorist. Supposedly he has shot and pushed an obscure banker in front of a train. Wait! I've read this before. But where? Aunt Agatha, Dottie Sayers? Anyway, after the crime itself, this novel takes a turn that resembles nothing else that I have read. Further, this is one of those cases that Rumpole neither wins nor loses.
Very good story with his typical dry humor. My wife has read the last two books I've had and also enjoyed them. I liked the usual twist at the end.