Double Indemnity Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Summary

When insurance agent Walter Huff has to make a routine call in Glendale, California, he remembers that there's an auto policy renewal pending for a certain Mr. Nirdlinger, who lives close by, so he drives over to see whether his client is home. After a few moments of bantering with the Nirdlinger's maid and pretending to be a friend, she lets him in, even though her employer is not at home. Walter ends up talking to his client's wife, Phyllis who is blue-eyed, blonde-haired, and attractive, but sort of washed-out looking. She keeps Walter talking by saying the Auto Club has been trying to sell her husband their brand of insurance along with a membership. While he is admiring the look of her trim figure under her blue pajamas, Walter senses that she is stalling, until she asks him if he handles accident insurance. He answers that they handle all...
(read more)