In summer of 1923, Christopher Banks moves from the University of Cambridge to London. There, he encounters his old school friend James Osbourne, who invites him to a classy dinner. Banks remembers how in school he used to envy Osbourne’s “well connectedness,” because Banks became an orphan in Shanghai, where he grew up. He used to copy the mannerism of other boys just to blend in, and it irks him that Osbourne remembers him as an “odd bird.” He remembers his fascination with crime and detection and that his friends gave him a present of a magnifying glass. In Shanghai, he used to play detectives with his Japanese friend, Akira, but living with his aunt in Shropshire, he felt that he had to hide his interests. 

In the present, Banks is a detective. As he arrives to the Charingworth Club that evening, Banks is disappointed that the world of financiers and ministers has no room for great detectives, who belong to a different class of people. He remains “standing about frozen with awkwardness” (13). Banks sees a small, dark-haired woman who captivates him–Sarah Hemmings. He learns from Osbourne that she used to be engaged to a famous composer, but she left him after a disastrous concert.