"Roses are red, violets are blue. It's not quite dead, just like you." What was the meaning of Desmond's childish rhyme, phoned to his sisters just days before his death? What unnamed 'treasure' of great value did Bella's crazy great-uncle Desmond bequeath to his family? In a posthumous letter to be hand-delivered to Bella's great-aunts, Gilead missionaries just returned from Peru to Cornwall, England, Desmond Wildeve spoke of a priceless object hidden in the vast, cluttered family mansion - a mansion no one had been admitted in for nearly fifty years. And he gave them only one clue to start the hunt : another childish rhyme. Taking on the challenge, Bella, with the help of family, friends, and eccentric villagers, searches for the meanings to the childish rhymes hidden throughout the mansion by her great-uncle. The search leads Bella into comically bizarre situations, including wrestling with mummies, hidden passages, and genealogical secrets as she plays charades with a lunatic from beyond the grave.