Rumpole of the Bailey

The owner of a three-star Michelin restaurant is devastated when a live mouse is found in one of his dishes. Rumpole discovers that the unlikely culprit is not unsanitary but in love.

Before Mr Justice Guthrie Featherstone, Rumpole defends a trade unionist on charges of recklessly causing the death of a truck-driver who was crossing a union picket-line. Guthrie is thinking about a strike of his own, to hit back at new rights of audience for mere solicitors in court. Meanwhile, chez Rumpole, Hilda declares she is going on strike herself.

The Vice Chancellor of a northern university comes to an untimely end and the accused man exercises his right to silence. Rumpole uncovers a secret society, and, with varying degrees of success, advises his legal partners on the secrecy in marriage.

On a cruise ship in the Adriatic, a judge and a thriller writer construct an elaborate and mistaken theory of possible murder around the disappearance of a fellow passenger. Rumpole unravels the mystery.

One edition of Casanova magazine provides potential evidence for one doctor to be struck off, for another to commit blackmail, for a barrister to jeopardize a marriage, for another to be misjudged, and for yet another to unravel the lot--Rumpole.

Rumpole goes against the principles of a lifetime and agrees to prosecute a murder suspect. He proves the man innocent, solves the mystery of the stolen brief, and resolves never again to act for the prosecution.