Summary

In Chapter 1, Diana Cowper goes to the funeral parlor, Cornwallis and Sons, to arrange her funeral. After doing so, she meets a friend for lunch, attends a meeting at the Globe Theater and returns home. It is here that someone murders her. Her part-time cleaning woman, Andrea, finds her body two days after her death. The author, who also serves as the narrator, tells all of this to readers. He also tells them that at first, the police thought that her death was due to a burglary, but then thought that there might be another cause as the fact that someone kills her six hours after she plans her funeral is too much of a coincidence.

In Chapter 2, the author, who places himself in the book and writes from a first person perspective, tells readers that he remembers the evening when Diana was...