Superintendent Alan Markby and his girlfriend, civil servant Meredith Mitchell, are in desperate need of a summer holiday - and a cottage in Parsloe St John is an attractive last-minute prospect. Their temporary next-door neighbour, retired journalist Wynne Carter, is as convivial as the village itself as she indulges in her latest obsession - speculation about a former resident, Olivia Smeaton, a racy old lady whose obituary Wynne has recently compiled and whose life - and accidental death - she believes were not all they seem.