Book One, Occam's Razor: Chapters 1-5 Summary

William Henry Devereaux Jr. is the interim chairman of the English Department at Railton College in Pennsylvania. His life is complicated by colleagues demanding information regarding the budget of the department, and what it will mean for them and their livelihood. Rumors are rampant that each department chair has been asked to draw up a list of expendable staff, and the whole of the English department is waiting to see if Hank will do so.

Straight Man begins with Henry Devereaux being driven home by his colleague and the former chair of the English department, Teddy Barnes. Hank is injured, his nose having been impaled on a notebook during a meeting of the personnel committee by Gracie DuBois, another member of the department. Suffocating on the overwhelming scent of Gracie's perfume at the...