I have enjoyed this series (three and four stars) but this is not one of the best. ( )

Alice Dunbar comes from a family who has plenty of money but is careful spending it. They live in an old brownstone that has belonged to the family for a very long time. The parents are very proper in their behaviour and expect the same from their two daughters.

Alice’s life is dreary at best. A spinster who spends time running errands for the household, her social life is nil. Abigail Tanner, Alice’s newly widowed sister who is staying with the family, is used to a very social life and can’t wait till she can return to her home and her ‘friends.’

It is July and the family would normally be at their cottage in Cape Cod, but a great-aunt has passed away and Mr. Dunbar is the executor of the estate. The parents have chosen to close the Cape Cod place to save money while they are back in New York.

Alice goes missing shortly after the great-aunt’s funeral. The strange thing is that she buys some cheap clothing to dress in. Her wardrobe is all high quality, so why the change? The story line takes the reader into the other world of Alice.

The police can’t seem to figure it out, so they call in Henry Gamadge. What he uncovers is even more surprising. It seems she has been leading a double life!

This is another book from the Henry Gamadge series and another enjoyable read. ( )

A respectable lawyer's spinster daughter vanishes after the death of her great aunt --the younger woman is not the older one's aunt, and aside from the fact that her life with her stodgy parents was dull, there is no obvious motive for her vanishing (though early on it is clear to the reader, though not to Gamadge, that she vanished voluntarily). Meanwhile Gamadge finds the great-aunt had befriended a rather raffish young man. ( )

Old auntie dies, but doesn't leave her money to the family. Does that lead to her death, and that of her niece? ( )