Summary
Summary of The Tracer of Lost Persons
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Gatewood needs more than comfort
Jack Gatewood is rich, idle and dissatisfied. He has rooms at the Lenox Club but no profession, and he starts his morning by scolding his valet and complaining. He insists that somewhere lives the woman made for him.
His friend Tommy Kerns suggests hiring Keen and Company to find her. Gatewood calls the idea foolish, yet takes the address. Kerns hopes the search will draw his friend away from himself. Love offers a possible purpose where comfort has left only emptiness.
Key idea 2
An unlikely search becomes a bargain
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Key idea 3
His ideal takes on familiar features
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Key idea 4
Keen quietly encourages a growing attachment
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Key idea 5
Harren sees a woman Keen cannot
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Key idea 6
The window turns mystery into evidence
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Key idea 7
Keen's knowledge comes from organized inquiry
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Key idea 8
The searches connect love and understanding
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About 3 h 40 min to read.Who it’s for
You will love this book if you enjoy witty romances, old New York clubs and hansom cabs, ciphers and puzzles, and a clever matchmaker who plans every meeting with the care of a stage manager.
What this book is
Would you hire a detective to find a woman you have only imagined? Robert W. Chambers sends a bored New Yorker to Keen and Company, a firm that promises to find anyone on earth. You get comic romance, a ghost story and a desert mystery.
In this summary
- 1A bored rich man needs a reason to liveFree
- 2A strange bargain with the Tracer of Lost Persons
- 3Form K and the girl who writes down his answers
- 4Keen has a plan, and a private sorrow behind it
- 5A soldier haunted by a ghost and a seal
- 6A cipher on a windowpane gives a lady's name
- 7A bachelor who meddles in love
- 8The other people in the waiting room
- 9The machinery behind Keen's knowledge
- 10What the stories add up to and how they are told
Key point 1 of 10
A bored rich man needs a reason to live
Jack Gatewood is thirty-three, rich and idle. He keeps rooms at the Lenox Club and has no profession. Before breakfast he scolds his valet Henry and complains about the club. Somewhere, he insists, lives the one woman made for him.
His friend Tommy Kerns offers a strange cure. He has seen a sign for Keen and Company, Tracers of Lost Persons. Why not hire them to find his ideal? Kerns wants his friend to care about someone besides himself.
Gatewood calls the idea foolish, yet takes the address. Kerns leaves pleased. Even an impossible search might stir his friend into action. Love offers a way out of an empty life.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Kerns suggest that Gatewood hire Keen and Company?
Right. “Kerns wants his friend to care about someone besides himself.”Not quite. “Kerns wants his friend to care about someone besides himself.”
What helps turn Harren's photograph into an investigation?
Right. “Keen magnifies and copies the scratches.”Not quite. “Keen magnifies and copies the scratches.”
What creates tension between Keen's helpfulness and his methods?
Right. “His clients welcome his help without always welcoming the methods that make it possible.”Not quite. “His clients welcome his help without always welcoming the methods that make it possible.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Tracer of Lost Persons
About 3 h 40 min to read.Questions about The Tracer of Lost Persons
What is The Tracer of Lost Persons about?
It follows a New York detective firm run by Westrel Keen, who finds missing people and also brings lonely clients together with the partners they need. Five linked cases mix comedy, romance, ciphers and a ghost story.
Who is Mr. Keen in The Tracer of Lost Persons?
Westrel Keen is the courtly, silver haired manager of Keen and Company. He reads faces, commands a huge network of agents and quietly arranges happy meetings. He also carries a private sorrow about a lost childhood friend.
What is the Seal of Solomon in the book?
It is a symbol that haunts Captain Harren in his visions. Its crossed and dotted lines work as a number cipher, and Keen and Harren use it to decode a message scratched on a windowpane.
When was The Tracer of Lost Persons written?
Robert W. Chambers published it in 1906. It is a work of fiction set in the New York of hansom cabs, club windows, telephones and Central Park riding paths.
Is The Tracer of Lost Persons easy to read?
The dialogue is lively and the humor is quick. Each client's case forms a self contained story, so you can enjoy the book scene by scene and follow Keen's tricks with ease.
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}
}
