John Mortimer was the author of fourteen other Rumpole books, many of which formed the basis for the PBS-TV series Rumpole of the Bailey. The first book featuring his most famous character, Horace Rumpole, was published by Penguin in 1980. His work also includes many novels and plays and three acclaimed volumes of autobiography. A former barrister, Mortimer, who was knighted in 1998, lived in Oxfordshire, England. He died in January of 2009. Ann Mallalieu was the first woman president of the Cambridge Union. She has practiced at the Criminal Bar since 1970 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1988. After becoming a Labour Life Peer, she was elected Peer of the Year by parliamentarians in 2004 and in the same year was named Peer of the Year by the Spectator. She lives near John Mortimer’s old house in the Chilterns.