The residents of Chipping Cleghorn receive their morning newspapers. As well as the nationals, each household gets a copy of the local paper, the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette.

Mrs. Swettenham looks at the personal ads in the Gazette. Meanwhile, her son Edmund (an unpublished novelist) reads The Daily Worker. After lamenting the difficulty of hiring servants in the current climate, Mrs. Swettenham reads an advert announcing that a murder will occur at Little Paddocks at 6:30pm. Edmund suggests that it is a game. However, his mother notes that frivolity would be out of character for Letitia Blacklock, the owner of Little Paddocks.

In the Easterbrooks’ home, Colonel Archie Easterbrook rants about a report on India, and his young wife, Laura, reads out the murder announcement from the Gazette. Assuming that it is a themed party, she says her husband should go to make the evening a success.

Miss Hinchcliffe and Miss Murgatroyd live in a large cottage named Boulders. While Miss Hinchcliffe feeds the hens, Miss Murgatroyd tells her about the announcement in the local paper.

Reverend Julian Harmon is the vicar of Chipping Cleghorn. When his wife (affectionately known as “Bunch”) reads the advertisement in the Gazette, she is excited about the event and feels sorry for her husband, who must stay home and write a sermon.