"What was I doing, I asked myself, boring myself to death among a lot of geriatrics

and citrus fruits, when the London underground system was still capable of yielding such a fine vintage murder ... I came to the clear conclusion that there was only one way for Rumpole to go ... I would meet my end in the full flood of a final speech, and with my wig on."—from Rumpole's Return

After ten straight losses under the satanic Judge Bullingham, Rumpole decides it is time to retire. Hanging up his wig, Rumpole removes himself to Florida where he spends interminably dull afternoons with wife Hilda amid pools and palmettos.

But when Rumpole reads of the latest London murder, committed deep within the recesses of the Notting Hill Gate Underground, he goes from being bored to just plain homesick. The darlings back at the Old Bailey must be simply desperate for him to return. And so, Bullingham notwithstanding, return he does.