Aunt Bessie Finds

Isle of Man #6

by Diana Xarissa

Aunt Bessie finds herself in need of a change of scenery.Bessie Cubbon, Laxey Village’s “Aunt Bessie,” is feeling overwhelmed by the twists and turns her life has taken recently. When a friend suggests that she look at a flat in Douglas, Bessie is seriously tempted to try relocating to the Island’s beautiful capital city.Aunt Bessie finds another body. This one is still breathing at least, but no one seems to know anything about the man. Could he be tied to the strange things that are happening in Bessie’s friend’s building?Aunt Bessie finds that doing a friend a favour isn’t as easy as it appears.Moving to Douglas turns out to be the easy part. Figuring out what’s going on in the building on Seaside Terrace is far more complicated. With John and Hugh both on their summer holidays and Doona working hard in Laxey, Bessie finds herself calling on other acquaintances for help this time around. The question is, can she trust them the way she knows she can rely on her friends from Laxey?This is the sixth book in the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Series.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Crime, Ebooks, British Literature, Detective

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2015

About the author

Diana started self-publishing in 2013 and over a decade later she now has over a hundred books available for readers. Writing remains her passion and she has no plans to stop writing in the foreseeable future.

Diana grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and earned a history degree from Allegheny College. She met her husband, an Englishman, while living and working in Washington, DC. Following their marriage, she moved to Derbyshire. A short while later, the happy couple moved to the Isle of Man.

During their years on the island, Diana and her husband welcomed two children, and Diana completed a master’s degree in the history of the island. In 2008, the family made the decision to move to the US. Now empty-nesters, Diana and her husband are living in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and contemplating moving somewhere that doesn’t get snow.

Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future as Diana X. Dunn and Young Adult fiction as D.X. Dunn.

Reviews

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sixth book in the series in which Aunt Bessie finds herself a little depressed and looking for a change. Events lead to her going to stay in Douglas to help out a friend who suspects that strange things are happening in her apartment block. The mystery appears to deepen when a seriously injured stranger is found in an empty apartment.

Strangely though that is as deep as it gets. The rest of the book involves shopping, eating meals and meeting friends. This is not a criticism. I enjoy Bessie's life and her friends and have no complaints about spending a few hours being entertained and unstressed. I do wish the author had included Bessie's Lasagne recipe though.

The book finishes well but leaves a number of issues open - presumably for future books. I still have 20 more to read which makes me happy.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

What Aunt Bessie — what everyone calls the elderly Elizabeth Cubbon — finds out is how some seemingly minor incidents at an apartment building in Douglas, Isle of Man, point to some more sinister goings-on.

Author Diana Xarissa is no Agatha Christie, but I enjoyed this sixth entry in the series featuring Aunt Bessie, a native Manx (someone native to the Isle of Man) who has lived her entire life on Isle of Man e except for a few years in America when she was a teenager. Sometimes prickly, but always astute, Aunt Bessie goes above and beyond the call of duty to discover what’s going on at Seaview Terrace, the apartment building in question. However, Aunt Bessie Finds does not rise to the better novels in the series, coming in at three stars.

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real Rating: 3.25* of five

My Review<\b>: I can't say that this series is great literature or even particularly good writing, but they are charming and easy to fall into. Plus they are quite cheap. Worth one's time and gold, if a comfortable cozy blood-free visit to the Isle of Man is what one craves.

This outing is particularly light on any semblance of a puzzle but does mix things up and give us some hints of trouble to come. Deffo not the place to start, nor an especially satisfying entry in what one hopes will be a *mystery* series, but a comfortable

[Mystereity Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunt Bessie Finds I love this cozy series, cute characters, great locales and a relaxing read.  There was no murder in this book, just Aunt Bessie moving temporarily to a neighboring town to investigate strange happenings in her friend's apartment building. There was very little investigating in this one, and a lot of the supporting characters from the other books were not a large part of this book. As such, it felt a little disconnected and wandered a fair amount.
 
Still, an enjoyable read and opened a few new plot lines for the next books in the series. 

[Rae Franco-Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Aunt Bessie Finds herself helping a friend. This friend is, Bahey and wants to know about they mysterious goings on in her Building. The happening seem tohappen all over the building. But most wants to know about the flat below her and next door to her. So Bessie finds herself moving from her beach cottage and to a flat in Douglas. There is a friend she has named Mary, she loans her all the furnishings for this flat. Aunt Bessie only wants to go to Douglas on a holiday. She rents a flat and helps find out what is going on in the building of the new flat she is renting.
You never know who is the culprit of the goings on, until you start asking questions. And you would be surprised what you can find out when you get answers to your questions. I found this book intersting and learned some new words and pharse that are used in Great Britain. So much different than we are use to here in the USA. There is a list in the back of the book.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the punch of #5 in the series this one was pretty lightweight. Not a lot of mystery, more like a breather before the next adventure. A quick, pleasant read. 3.5*

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunt Bessie's friend, Bahey, who has moved to the city of Douglas, tells Bessie that some very strange things are happening in the building where she lives. There are unexplained noises coming from the flat below hers, which is supposedly empty. A decorative wall mirror and welcome mats are moving around seemingly at random. And the mail doesn't seem to be getting delivered regularly.

In need of a holiday after the events which happened earlier in the year (*Aunt Bessie Enjoys*), Bessie decides to rent an unoccupied flat in Bahey's building for a short period of time. That way she can catch up with her friend and investigate the goings-on in the building.

However, before she even moves in, Aunt Bessie Finds the (still-breathing) body of a severely beaten man in one of the empty flats ...

[Cookie M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, poor Aunt Bessie. Author Diana Xarissa needed a reason to get her in a different town to investigate a series of mysterious events, and the only plot device she could come up with was to have her move there. I'm not going to tell what was the cause of the mysterious occurrences because they were silly and ended up being a side show. Other things went sideways. Somebody was stealing the mail. Somebody was living in an apparently empty apartment. Somebody beat up a homeless person. A friend of Aunt Bessie went missing.
It all ends up being silly, though. It wasn't the best book in the series. It reads as if the author was up against a publisher's deadline for another book, and this was the result.
By the way, Aunt Bessie high tails it back to her cottage as soon as she can, leaving the apartment conveniently empty but furnished for a friend who needs a hidey hole.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunt Bessie takes a big leap and moves to an apartment in the city to help an old friend. Her friend, Bahey, has recently moved to a new apartment building but she finds odd things are happening that are scaring her. Nothing big but certainly odd like hall mirrors that move, door mats that are shuffled about and voices in empty apartments. Bessie decides it will be nice to solve something less violent for a change and agrees to help out.

The mystery in this wasn’t entirely engaging and I’m not sure everything is totally explained and wrapped up in the end - especially regarding George and Grant, the investors. However it was fun watching Bessie in her new surroundings and as always it was beautifully written.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still recovering from the events of Aunt Bessie Enjoys, Bessie moves to the capital, Douglas, to investigate some strange happenings in her friend's apartment block. No murder to be found in this book, just some fraudulent activities and elder abuse. I have taken off a star because this book has to have been the worst in terms of lack of editing and proofreading that I've come across in Diana Xarissa's books. The most glaring was the name of the apartment block which started off as the Seaview, then became the Seaside, then back to Seaview, then finished the book as the Seaside. Not good enough!

[A G A VAN DEN BOS · Rating 3 out of 5]

The focus of this book seems to be more on redeveloping the characteristics of the main characters and the relationship between each of them rather than resolving a mystery. A mysterious situation is certainly evident, but solving it seems almost pushed into the background while the main characters concentrate on socializing and head scratching. A result is finally forthcoming, but also leaves further mysteries.
Feels more like a prequel for future stories, rather than a follow through with what had been developed in previous stories.

[Christine Goodnough · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting tale though the pace seemed rather slow

In this story Aunt Bessie moves to a flat in Douglas to help a worried friend figure out some odd happenings in her building. It takes Bessie awhile to make up her mind to move and get settled, meanwhile listening to two other friends with their unique romantic/ marital problems.
So there are several issues on the go, plus the move and the building prankster and the mystery tends to drag on. The book is really more like general fiction than mystery.

[Chaitra · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which Aunt Bessie goes on a forced holiday. Laxey isn't much featured in this book, but the Quayles are. It's not a good trade though, as Bessie drops Mary Quayle's marital troubles just as soon as the trouble with the apartment building is solved and moves back to Laxey. I would have liked to know what George Quayle is involved in, which probably will be dragged into another book.

Which is fine, I always need books by X authors. But it doesn't satisfy much because the mystery here is so slight - I kept thinking Scooby Doo, but they have better setups and a good payoff.

[Crystal Toller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunt Bessie Series

Aunt Bessie's friend is concerned about some strange happenings in the building where her flat is, so Bessie moves to Douglas temporarily to see what she can find out. This was a great addition to the Aunt Bessie series with some different and interesting characters. How the mystery gets solved was very interesting. Highly recommend this book and the series.

[Kathy Fair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining book

I absolutely love everything Diana Carissa has written. This book is well written, as all of her books have been. This story involves Aunt Bessie moving out of her cottage in Lacey, and moving into a small apartment in Douglas. This is an entertaining read that kept me reading and trying to figure out what is going on?!!? I loved this installment of Aunt Bessie's journey of life.

[Tita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor addition to the series

This is not one of the better stories of this series. There are lots of grammatical errors and the ending just fell flat. There were some very funny lines, though, but they were not enough to raise the reading or take away from the lack lister ending.

[Lisa R. Schofield · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was entertaining but didn't seem to have the usual amount of tension in the plot. I guess what kept me reading was waiting to see whether Bessie would definitely move back to her beach cottage.

[Mary Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

I liked this book but with a lol of my favorite characters away I found I missed them. I feel like the story isn't over but I'm glad Aunt Bessie didn't find another body. I also pretty much figured out the mystery before the end.

[Quartknee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a character-driven story. Not much of a mystery for Bessie to solve but I don't mind a break from all the murder and stress she'd have to endure. Corkill basically solves this one and comes up with the answers for a satisfying ending.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent Aunt Bessie story

This time we are introduced to other parts of the island, as well as an intriguing mystery that doesn’t involve murder.
There are also character developments for some people briefly met in previous books.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't find this as a compelling read as the previous novels in the series. Having said that it has not put me off carrying on with the series.

[Linda Wilfert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good series

I am on #7 of Aunt Bessie and really enjoying her. What a charming character. I'm not sure I had ever heard of the Isle of Man before finding this series. Interesting.

[Mrs E Bowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfull

Another wonderful book really enjoyed this story, the characters are really well written . I love the way the all the characters interact with each other.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me until about 3/4 of the way through the book before I realized this was not a murder mystery but instead a general weird things are happening mystery. Either way, it was lovely to spend time with Aunt Bessie and I kind of view this as a transitional book in the series that helps set up future books.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunt Bessie Finds is an Isle of Man Cozy Mystery book six. It is by Diana Xarissa. It is one of the mysteries concerning Aunt Bessie. She seems to be adept at solving mysteries before the police can. Now she is trying to recover from the problems of Tynwald Day. A short holiday may be what it takes.
Bessie heads for Douglas to visit her friend Bahey who lives in the Seaview Terrace. When she gets there, Bahey introduces her to Howard who had just recently moved in next door. Bahey begins telling Bessie about the strange things that are happening at Seaview Terrace and asks her for help in figuring out what was going on. Some of the unusual things are: a mirror keeps moving around the building; welcome mats disappear and reappear; notes left on doors disappear; there are noises coming from the empty apartment downstairs; the empty apartment downstairs and the one next to Bahey have not been on the market when it is a good time for them to be there; the mail is irregular or late; and every time the realtor shows the empty apartment upstairs, the lift catches fire. Bessie is sure there is a reasonable explanation but agrees to try to find out what is going on. Suddenly they hear a noise from downstairs and rush down to the “empty” apartment where they find the body of a man who has been severely beaten but is still alive. This is something to worry about.
Bessie happens to know George Quayle the partner of the building’s owner and ends up getting the opportunity to rent the upstairs apartment for a month before she decides to sell her home in Laxey and move to Douglas. Bessie decides to take this month as a holiday as she has no intention of moving to Douglas. Mary Quayle loans Bessie some furniture so she doesn’t have to move anything from home except her clothes, bedding, kitchen supplies and her books. Mary has also invited her to a barbeque she and George are having at their home. It will give her a chance to meet George’s friend and partner, Grant Robinson who Mary does not like. It also gives Bessie a chance to see that George and Mary’s marriage may be in trouble. Bessie moves into the apartment and meets all the people living in the building by having a housewarming party in her new apartment. What she overhears and sees may help her figure out what is happening.
Can Bessie find out the solution to the mystery before her month is out? Why does Howard suddenly disappear without a note or phone call to Bahey? Why is Nigel, the manager, so creepy? Will Bessie decide to stay in Douglas and sell her home in Laxey?

I loved this book.

[Arliss · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's just something about Aunt Bessie. Every time I listen, via Audible, to an Aunt Bessie book, I smile the whole time. The main characters are manage to be lovely without being too sweet and Aunt Bessie seems to work her way toward a solution in a manner I can imagine a woman of her age doing. I know much has changed on the Isle of Man, but Aunt Bessie certainly makes me want to visit. Overall, it's just an enjoyable read and, in these stressful times, I'm quite happy with that as a reason to read a book.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously I'm enjoying these books as I keep reading series. One thing I find peculiar, though, is Bessie is obsessed with appearance, hers and others. She always assesses people by their height and weight. She is quite judgmental about folks who are overweight, beyond pleasantly plump. She, of course, has always been slender and still is. But there isn't a page that goes by without her eating - sometimes second breakfasts, too. And most meals include dessert. Trifle of this, crumble of that, her weight in fairy cakes. I just find that jarring - the obession with eating juxtaposed against the obsession with weight.

And for someone who thinks a great deal about her not wearing makeup, she's always putting on lipstick, checking her blush. I guess if you aren't wearing foundation and mascara, ole Bess doesn't consider it makeup.

[Julieann · Rating 4 out of 5]

book 6 of the series

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What no murder?! There is more to this story than meets the eye. I've a feeling we'll be coming back to tie up the loose ends in later books. Cozy mysteries are like that, aren't they? It is like reading a diary. Each book builds on the last, characters come and go, and they become more fleshed out as they do. Each book reveals more about the place. In this book, Aunt Bessie helps a friend figure out the strange goings-ons in the friend's apartment building. Plenty of elder abuse, fraud, and domestic upset in this book with a hint of the wonders of the Isle of Man. Makes one want to visit. For a fun, fast read...get to know Aunt Bessie.

[Irene Sauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are cozy readers who will be disappointed in this book, because there is no murder. There is the mystery of the man who was beaten up and found in Flat 5 st Seaview Terrace but that is all as far as a body is concerned. The mystery here is not about murder. To me, this is the epitome of the British cozy - a concentration on setting and characters and mystery of sorts. I enjoyed it, as much because I kept waiting for that body that never happened:) But life isn't always about death, is it. Thoroughly enjoyable, but not necessarily the best of Aunt Bessie. I found it had more editing errors than usual as well. Looking forward to the release of Book 7 next month.