Four weeks of rain have left Mrs. Warboys' basement home under two feet of water and, with nowhere else to live, she has become something of a fixture in the Meldrew House, rather like woodworm. Fortunately, Victor and Margaret are able to get away for the evening to see Great Aunt Joyce – a visit that is rather like filing past the Death Mask of Tutankhamun. 

On their return they find the world almost literally caving in on them but, for once, it is Margaret who bridles while Victor remains a picture of serenity...the result of his recent course of stress-relieving therapy from a local reflexologist. 

But will it last? 

As Victor experiences yet another clutch of misadventures,from a clash with his local newspaper to a brush with a visiting chimney-sweep, he is tempted to wonder whether anything in the world was ever meant to make sense, or whether life – like the baffling murder story he has been watching on television – must forever remain a mystery...