6 h 7 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 7 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if finding a missing person means discovering whom your heart has been looking for?
In a busy New York, people vanish, reasons stay hidden, and a bureau makes a business of finding the missing. At its centre stands a quiet, shrewd man whose work turns each search into a small adventure. In The Tracer of Lost Persons, Robert W. Chambers brings detective puzzles together with the uncertain business of knowing what you want.
The cases move through short, bright episodes, with danger and courtship sharing the page. A missing person may also be a lost love; a search may reveal a wish someone has yet to recognise. Chambers keeps the tone warm and teasing, making room for mystery without letting its dangers overwhelm the pleasure of following hearts and hidden identities.
What you’ll discover
- A bureau for the missing Enter a New York business where every disappearance gives someone a reason to search.
- A quiet, shrewd guide Meet the man who runs the bureau and follows the mysteries of vanished people.
- Each search, an adventure Follow separate cases that keep the story moving with hidden reasons and fresh questions.
- Love beneath the clues Discover how looking for someone can also mean recognising a long-hidden desire.
- Wit without the gloom Enjoy playful mysteries where danger leaves room for warmth, courtship, and a smile.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy witty New York comedy, matchmaking schemes, and mistaken identities, and anyone who likes a gentle mystery with ciphers, ghosts, and an old Egyptian secret.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A friend sends an idle bachelor upstairs
- Form K and a description that fits too well
- Keen quietly arranges a meeting in the Park
- Captain Harren and the girl who keeps appearing
- The Seal of Solomon and a cipher on glass
- Kerns hides his old wound and takes a wager
- The wrong house and the woman with the pistol
- Burke loves a girl from a buried garden
- Carden, the artist, and a very rare disease
- Love as the cure for idleness and loneliness
- A spider in the center of a web
Who’s who
- Westrel KeenThe courteous manager of Keen & Co., who traces lost people and quietly arranges the loves of his clients.
- John GatewoodA rich, idle bachelor who hires Keen to find his ideal and learns what he really wants.
- Tommy KernsGatewood's witty friend, who pushes him toward marriage and fiercely avoids it himself.
- Miss SoutherlandA young stenographer in Keen's office, promoted to ride in the Park and watch Gatewood.
- Captain Kenneth HarrenAn army officer haunted by a vision of a girl he saw once on Fifth Avenue.
- John Templeton BurkeA soldier of fortune who wants two criminals found because they took something he loves.
- Victor CardenA shy illustrator who must marry within days to keep a legacy and has never met his ideal.
- Dr. Rosalind HollisA young physician devoted to charity and to a rare disease, who has shut men out of her life.
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Spurenleser verschollener Personen
by Robert W. Chambers · 1906
A bored New York bachelor asks Keen & Co. to find his ideal woman, who may not exist.
Easy read5–10 hours to readDeutsch
Excellent
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In short
What if you could hire a firm to find the person you were meant to love? That is the offer on a sign on Fifth Avenue: Keen & Co., Tracers of Lost Persons.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A friend sends an idle bachelor upstairs
At the Lenox Club, John Gatewood, thirty-three, rich and unemployed, wakes in a foul mood. His friend Tommy Kerns watches him over a grapefruit and decides something must be done. He tells Gatewood that wasted men who gaze out of club windows become walking funerals, and that he needs worries, a house, and a family.
Then Kerns mentions a sign on Fifth Avenue. Gatewood scoffs, but he cannot shake the idea. He wanders the avenue noticing every girl whose hair or hands almost match his dream, and then he says aloud that he wants to love somebody. A moment later he sees the white sign with its crimson letters.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1906
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 3 h 55 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Chambers, Robert W. The Tracer of Lost Persons. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tracer-of-lost-persons.
Chambers, R. W. (2026). The tracer of lost persons. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tracer-of-lost-persons (Original work published 1906)
Chambers, Robert W. The Tracer of Lost Persons. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tracer-of-lost-persons.
@book{chambers2026tracer,
author = {Chambers, Robert W.},
title = {The Tracer of Lost Persons},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tracer-of-lost-persons},
note = {First published 1906}
}
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What is The Tracer of Lost Persons about?
It follows Westrel Keen, who runs a firm that finds missing people. Each tale shows a client, such as a bored bachelor, a soldier, or an artist, whom Keen quietly guides toward love, with comedy, ciphers, and an Egyptian mystery along the way.
Who is Westrel Keen?
Keen is the courteous, gray-haired manager of Keen & Co. He gathers information by telephone and through a large staff, reads faces by a system he claims to be scientific, and often arranges meetings so that clients think fate did it.
What is the Seal of Solomon in the book?
It is a six-pointed symbol that haunts Captain Harren, who finds it on everyday objects. In a photograph it becomes the key to a cipher, because its lines can stand for numbers that spell out a message.
The author
Robert W. Chambers
1865–1933 · American novelist and illustrator
Robert W. Chambers was an American writer whose 1895 collection The King in Yellow became a cornerstone of weird fiction, casting its influence over H.P. Lovecraft and generations of horror writers since. He was a successful popular novelist in his day, but this early work is what endures.
More by Robert W. Chambers
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