Books with title A Strange Disappearance

Anna Katherine Green wrote A Strange Disappearance in 1879. It is her second Ebenezar Gryce work in a series of 13. Green is known as one of the first writers of detective fiction in America, and she is credited with influencing later writers Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. She has given us models of nosy spinsters and young female secret sleuths that appear frequently in the mystery genre. In A Strange Disappearance, we have a small cast of characters, richly described and all engaged in discovering how and why a servant woman has disappeared from Mr Blake's mansion in the middle of the night. A classic mystery!

An anthology of unsolved and unexplained disappearances which have plagued law enforcement for decades. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LEAH ROBERTS The case of Leah Robert’s is but one example of a missing person’s case turned cold, with no new leads despite national attention and multiple re-dramatizations on shows like Unsolved Mysteries and Investigation Discovery. Her older sister and brother, Kara and Heath Roberts, are still searching for her although nearly seventeen years have gone by since her disappearance. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SPRINGFIELD THREE In June of 1992, two teenage girls who have just graduated from high school, Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall went to Suzie’s house to spend the night after a really long day of celebration and parties. They were looking forward to moving to the next stage of their life. Suzie’s mother, Sherrill Levitt was at the house as well. All three of them mysteriously vanished in the middle of the night and they have never been seen again. MISSING MISTY Misty Copsey was fourteen years old when she disappeared on September 17th, 1992 after a trip to the Puyallup Fair. Her case remains a showcase of administrative screw-ups and dropped balls. She was initially thought of as a runaway before foul play was finally suspected a month after the fact. Subsequently, there have been at least five people suspected of committing her abduction. But the Puyallup police did not get within sniffing distance of Misty or charging anyone with her disappearance. Three different police chiefs and numerous detectives all took a swing at the case and whiffed. No one in law enforcement has been able to answer the question on everyone's lips. What happened to Misty Copsey? THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PATRICIA MEEHAN The story of Patricia Meehan is a very strange and puzzling one. She seemingly disappeared into the night with little reason. The case has remained unsolved since 1989. With few witnesses, the full events are sketchy at best. What is well known about this case is that our culture has seemingly thought of every possible scenario to explain what happened to her. To understand and possibly solve the case, understanding the person that Patricia Meehan was is of paramount importance. THE ABDUCTION OF BRIANNA MAITLAND On March 19th, 2004, Brianna Maitland disappeared. The 17-year-old girl had just left the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont, where she washed dishes and occasionally served tables, when her car was found abandoned only twenty minutes later. Despite a brief visit from a local police officer, and curious passersby photographing the abandoned Oldsmobile, she was not reported missing for several days. Her parents, Bruce and Kelli Maitland, assumed she was at home, and Brianna’s roommate was out of town at the time. Brianna left a trail of clues behind her, but over 12 years later there is still no official story for what happened that night. As the years pass without any major leads, the investigation has petered out and will soon be coming to a close. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BRITTANEE DREXEL Brittanee Drexel disappeared from Myrtle Beach, SC while on spring break on April 25, 2009. She was 17 at the time and traveled without receiving parental consent. She told her mother that she was staying at a friend's house near their home in Rochester, New York. Brittanee's mother, Dawn, then learned where she really was when her boyfriend, John, called her after he suspected something had happened to Brittanee. Her parents immediately grew angry, scared, and devastated when they received word that their daughter was missing.

In the mood for a masterfully plotted detective story from the golden era of the mystery genre? Try A Strange Disappearance by Anna Katharine Green, who is regarded as one of the most important early innovators in the detective fiction field. The novel features Ebenezer Gryce, a rotund NYC police investigator who became one of Green's most beloved creations.

Anna Katharine Green was the most famous and prolific writer of detective fiction in the United States prior to Dashiell Hammett. Her first novel, The Leavenworth Case, was the bestseller of 1878. Green is credited with a number of “firsts” within the mystery genre, including the gentleman murdered as he makes out his will and the icicle as murder weapon. She created the first female detectives in American fiction. Her amateur spinster sleuth, Amelia Butterworth, became the prototype for numerous women detectives to follow, including Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Nosy, opinionated, and tenacious, Amelia Butterworth engages in a sustained rivalry with Ebenezer Gryce, a police detective. In the interaction between these characters, Green developed two more conventions adopted by future generations of mystery writers: the investigation as battle between the sexes and between the professional and the unexpectedly sharp, observant amateur.

A young woman working as a domestic servant disappears from a wealthy household in New York City. The police investigating the disappearance have few clues, and the other servants working in the mansion, which is owned by a Mr. Blake, seem to know little about the woman in question. Did she leave voluntarily or was she kidnaped? The police suspect the well-to-do owner of the house, and conduct a surveillance of his activities. They realize the connections between the missing woman and Mr. Blake are closer than first thought. What then were the true relations between employer and servant? We learn that the woman had years earlier saved Mr. Blake's life, and this led to a secret liaison that became the motive for blackmail. This exciting story, set in the late 19th century, takes us from the highly privileged and sumptuous surroundings of Fifth Avenue, to the dangerous backstreets of downtown Manhattan, and into the forests and isolated cottages of upstate New York. After the shocking truth about the participants is revealed, the police move to prevent a murder. Part of their plan involves a young detective disguising himself as a consumptive French artist! The author, Anna Katharine Green, excels in her ability to convincingly portray villains as well as heroes. In her dramas, characters struggle with lost opportunities, vengeful motives, hidden agendas, and complex family relationships. This was the second book written by Green after her famous Leavenworth Case, and was originally published in 1880 by New York firm, A.L. Burt.

These mysteries feature my grandsons. The first one introduces Jacob Jones and was written as a gift for his 11th birthday. Others soon followed featuring twins Michael and Matthew. There are four books so far in this series. All of them take place in and around a fictional city on the Western slope of the Colorado Rockies. In this book, Jacob, at the time in fifth grade, is given a series of clues to follow to find the famous but forgotten Mr. Noah. Three of his buddies help him and they discover that figuring out the clues becomes not only a challenge but is also almost as much fun as playing football or video games or going camping in the surrounding Rocky Mountains. Readers, particularly those involved in some way with the upper elementary grades will identify with the students in that fifth grade class and will perhaps recognize friends or teachers in some of the characters. The next book "The Ghosts of Cougar Pass" features the twins and an old miner named Crazy Pete. Sheryl Jones