In Brief

Got back into the pleasures of exploring a couple of rich fictional worlds over the last few days via John Mortimer's Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders and Ian McEwan's Black Dogs.  Despite their differences, one being conceived as pretty much pure entertainment and the other earnestly making its seriousness as a novel dealing above all with ideas manifest, they shared some key features in common. Both were short and deftly constructed, both found their centres in the events of the Second World War, and both were eminently readable. Good stuff.