Prologue Summary

Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the 82-year old narrator of this tale, is writing a letter to her attorney, Saxonberg, enclosing her latest file. She decides to send it by way of her chauffeur because she can't stand seeing the stuffy and officious Saxonberg again. The reason she's enclosing this file is to let her lawyer know of the changes she wants him to make to her Last Will and Testament.

Prologue Analysis

This is the first taste the reader gets that there is a narrator other than the protagonist in this story. The narrator sets up the hint of a mystery which whets one's appetite to find out why she wants to change her Will. While the prologue is short, it creates an ominous beginning which starts the tension on the very first page.