Missing men by Vincent Starrett
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"Missing men by Vincent Starrett" is a detective short story written in the early 20th century. It follows the cool-headed sleuth Lavender as he probes a spate of puzzling disappearances in Chicago. The likely topic is a web of vanishing men tied to the theatre, stage identities, and a family secret that has been carefully hidden. When a picture broker named Peter Vanderdonck, a popular comedian named Charles Merritt, and finally the
wealthy Cyril Minor all seem to vanish, Lavender pieces together odd clues: a nearly unused office, greasepaint traces at a washstand, a safe, and a newspaper note about actress Sidney Kane. He deduces that Merritt and Vanderdonck are the same person—and then that Minor is both of them, living a double (and triple) life to avoid publicity while secretly reunited with his former wife, Sidney Kane. A suspicious telegram signed “Father” instead of “Dad” sends Lavender and Minor’s daughter, Shirley, to Kane’s suburban home, where the truth emerges: Kane is Shirley’s mother; she and Minor have remarried, and Minor—struck ill—has been convalescing there under the cover story of an “invalid brother.” The disappearances are thus revealed as a theatrical masquerade rather than crime, ending in a family reconciliation. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Starrett, Vincent, 1886-1974 |
|---|---|
| Title | Missing men |
| Original Publication | New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1925. |
| Series Title | Produced from the April 25, 1925 issue of Short Stories magazine. |
| Credits | Roger Frank and Sue Clark |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 84.5 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories |
| Subject | Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Missing persons -- Investigation -- Fiction |
| Subject | Lavender, Jimmie (Fictitious character) -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 76476 |
| Release Date | Jul 11, 2025 |
| Last Update | Nov 9, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 4756 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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