 Tommy Bonn returns to London amidst a pleasure cruise, during which he met his American fiancée, Sally Benner. On the Soho riverfront, his Scotland Yard colleague, Stephen, shows him the latest victim in a series of four silk stocking strangulations, all of whom were thirtyish women roaming the streets alone. The wedding guests begin to arrive, beginning with the Setlins, shipboard acquaintances of the Benners, including Elliot Benner, the best man. Although matrimony is only four hours away, Sally insists upon taking a walk to assuage her premarital jitters. First she visits Guerney and Son Chemists to pick up some cosmetics and a candy bar. Guerney Jr. follows her when she leaves the pharmacy and watches as she passes an antique shop followed by a hi-fi store, briefly chats with a streetwalker, then enters Sutherland s Book Shop. Sutherland recites some Keats to her, the first time a customer has asked for a reading in years; then she buys a rare poetry edition. She then goes to a pub named Whoop and Whine, where she is met by Edward Clarke. Myrna, the cruise social director and maid of honor, arrives for the wedding ceremony, followed belatedly by Tommy. Tommy is concerned by Sally s disappearance, and takes a snapshot of her, along with a description of her wardrobe, and searches for her, eventually encountering Clarke. Clarke acts suspiciously, and soon leads Tommy and Stephen to the banks of the Thames, and shows them where he dumped her body. Stephen dredges the river, while Tommy returns to the wedding party to console the family, but finds Sally waiting for him, anxious to get married. A thirtyish woman is trawled from the water.