Chapters 1-2 Summary

John Corey, the narrator of this novel, is sitting on the porch of a cabin belonging to his Uncle Harry. The cabin is located on part of Long Island called the North Fork, and the cabin is facing the Great Peconic Bay. John is into his fifth month of convalescing from bullet wounds received while on duty as a New York City Police Department Homicide Detective. One bullet pierced a lung, but the recovery is going well. John is watching a yacht in the harbor and listening to the radio when Chief Sylvester Maxwell of the Southold Township Police Department, an old friend, joins him on the porch. Max just came from the Gordon house, about four miles away, where Tom and Judy Gordon have been found murdered. Max wants John to come look at the scene and work for the...