Aunt Bessie enjoys planning for a pleasurable Tynwald Day celebration with her friends. Elizabeth Cubbon is called 'Aunt Bessie' by nearly everyone in the small village of Laxey that she calls home. A number of murders have thrown her normally quiet life into turmoil and at her age (just don’t ask her exactly what age that is), she feels like she’s had enough. Aunt Bessie enjoys getting through the whole day without anyone stumbling over a dead body. It’s her friend John Rockwell’s first Tynwald Day and Bessie is delighted when she, Doona, Hugh and Grace get to share the spectacle and festivities of the Manx National Day with him, without anything going wrong. Aunt Bessie enjoys a quiet breakfast at home, until the police come pounding on her door. It seems someone at Tynwald Day had murder on his or her mind after all, and suddenly Bessie finds herself caught up in the most complicated murder investigation she’s ever had the misfortune to experience. This time Rockwell is doing his best to keep her as far away from the investigation as he can and Doona seems to be trying to keep Bessie under constant surveillance. If there’s one thing Bessie definitely doesn’t enjoy, it’s someone getting away with murder.