The Woman Who Disappeared

Lenny Samuel #3

by Philip Prowse

The simple, ironic detective story will take your attention in West Los-Angeles in the office of the private eye Lenny Samuel. Once in the door of his office had knocked beautiful blonde woman Helen Garfield, his life became much dangerously. Woman wanted to find her sister Elaine Garfield. They were twins. Elaine disappeared a week ago, sisters had arranged to have dinner together, but Elaine didn’t come. She didn’t answer the telephone. She didn’t come at work, she lift it suddenly in the middle of the day without telling anyone the day before. And of course Helen didn’t find sister in her flat, there was no one there when she came. Such strange behavior wasn’t usual for Elaine, so maybe poor girl was in danger.

[This is an Intermediate Level story in a series of ELT readers comprising a wide range of titles - some original and some simplified - from modern and classic novels, and designed to appeal to all age-groups, tastes and cultures. The books are divided into five levels: Starter Level, with about 300 basic words; Beginner Level (600 basic words); Elementary Level (1100); Intermediate Level (1600); and Upper Level (2200). Some of the titles are also available on cassette.]

Genres: Crime, Fiction, School, Short Stories, Mystery, Literature, Novels

57 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1975

About the author

Philip Prowse, author of the Nick Hellyer espionage series, lived and worked overseas for over a decade including periods in Egypt where Hellyer’s Trip takes place against the background of the 1967 Six Day War, Portugal whose 1974 Carnation Revolution and guerrilla war in Mozambique feature in Hellyer’s Coup, and Greece where the fall of the military junta and the 1974 invasion of Cyprus provide the setting for Hellyer’s Line.

Moving into an unknown country with an alien language and culture, ways of thinking and perspectives on life parallels that of the secret agent’s struggle to swim unobserved in perilous waters. Through the series we follow Nick Hellyer’s development from reluctant accidental academic spy to trained hardened professional. But his depth of experience has been gained at the cost of traumatic incidents which have increased his vulnerability and undermined his self-confidence.

We experience events from Nick’s point of view, knowing and seeing only what he does as he hurtles towards his destiny. We are privy to his thoughts and self-doubt, exhilaration and despair, delirium and delight. We interpret this evidence in our own way and reach our own conclusions because like him we want to know how it will all end.

Reading a fast-moving Hellyer novel will immerse you in a story where accurate historical fact and plausible fiction meld, where with Nick as guide you may uncover fresh truths about the world and even yourself.

Listening to the masterly narration on the top quality audiobooks will bring the characters and action to vivid life.

Reviews

[anon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was 10 years old. The front cover looked terribly boring but I still read it because you should never judge a book by it's cover. Turns out that the book was fabulous. In fact, the book was so good that I could not put it down. I was meant to stop reading at 10 pm but I carried on till 11:30. That is a whooping one nd a half hours extra!!! This magnificent book is filled with excitment as well as curls of thrills. I adored it. Every bit if it.

[Edlira Dibrani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick fun read.

[Anderson Oliveira pinto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a interesting book in special for who is learning english as a second language. The vocabulary used by the author is good and easy to understand.
Talking about the story, is about a classic private eye passionate for solve mysteries. For solve this mystery Lenny Samuel didn't save effort and confusions.
This story contains everything that a good mystery story have to have like a blond and beatiful woman, criminals, action and an old grey Chrysler =)
In the end of the story you can see that private eye works just for pleasure. Good read !

[Yara M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read it when i was 13 years old
what i liked about it that it was simple (easy to read for a kid that doesnt like to read with a dictionary next to her), kinda funny cuz the writer made him a bit stupid 4 a private eye. but the ending was unexpected that she is the same person it was a smart idea to end the story with

[Close Enough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this audio book

[Ahmed Hesham · Rating 3 out of 5]

الرواية دي بتكفرني بأيام المدارس وايام لما الواحد كان بيدرس الحاجات الخفيفة دي
بصراحة القصه مش مبهرة اوي مش حتحبس انفاسك يعني
بس تظل قصة كويسة ومسلية وفيها اثارة
اللغة سهلة وجميله ودة من الحاجات اللي عجبتني فيها
النهاية كانت مفاجئة وصادمة
تستحق القراءة وتستحق 3 نجوم

[Son'a El-Elah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it several times... I really like it !

[Yassmeen Altaif · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good book, you can read it quickly and dont want to use dictionary because the world is east.
If you beginners in English you can read it, it's about some girl is disappeared whta happen with them?

[ink · Rating 1 out of 5]

well that was the worst thing ever

[نهى بسيوني · Rating 3 out of 5]

The so called private detective
the story is good but actually there're some things that I didn't like about it. First of all, the character of the private eye, Lenny Samuel. I do believe that one of the things that a private detective should have is smartness and quick thinking. Lenny Samuel was not smart at all. On the contrary, his mind was a bit limited. Plus he had a weak memory. When he was caught for Benny Greep's murder and brought to the police station, he could not remember important issues related to the case he was working on. That is not good for a private eye. Also, he used to mention some details which were not important at all like the complete description of his office.
I liked the trick that Elaine Garfield made up to protect herself and I liked the serious way she was treating Samuel. I didn't like the villans of course, the red haird man and tall one with the hat.
I would have liked the story more if it was a little more mysterious.

[Hikari · Rating 4 out of 5]

My name's Samuel. Lenny Samuel. You can call me Len.
I was 10 years old when I read this novel for the first time , I am 20 years old . and I still remember this phrase , I was fascinated by the novel , I was to excited . I even read it before studying it at school , and I rarely do that . haha
It is suitable for children , I am giving it 4 stars because I still feel my excitement when I was a kid .

[Mohamed Serry · Rating 3 out of 5]

قريتها وانا عندى 13 سنه وعندى نسخه عربى وانجليزى منها وكل االلى فاكره عنها إنها كانت لذيذه ومشوقه ونهايتها كانت مفاجأه بالنسبه لسنى آنذاك ، القصه كانت مقرر على الصف الاول الثانوى فى مصر فى الستينات والسبعينات :)

[Kholoud Magdƴ · Rating 1 out of 5]

رخمة واحداثها بارده

[Bayan Al-Halabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's my first experience to read in english , and it was very good, I hope to read more philip prowse stories that have woderful events like this.

[Hend Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny, simple detective story
I didn't have to use the dictionary regularly..
Really, it won't be nice to be a private eye if your work is like Samuel's ).
I liked the idea, the explanation and the simplicity of the story 🌻

[maca (taylor's version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo tuve que leer para Inglés pero lo agrego porque estoy atrasadisima con el challenge de lectura jajsjsjjdjsj

[Yancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading the other reviews I get why I didn't like it.
This book is for kids.. I read it because (once again) it was an assignment from my English Teacher but I'm 22 years old.. Maybe I'm being too judgemental but I think the end was very predictable and I did not find any 'mystery' in this story. I hated how the character 'Lenny Samuel' was written, he was a private eye, he was supposed to be clever not dumb. I don't know. I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Najla Al-bluwi · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read it when i was around 12 years old ... it talked about a lady who asked the help of a detective to look for her twin sister who disappeared suddenly. i was not satisfied with the ending of this story..in my opinion most of police and crime novels don't have logic endings ... although it was written for students who want to improve their English... i remember that i have enjoyed reading it

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

a detective short story, I've actually read in an hour or so!
reminds me of a silly Sherlock Holmes story
about a women who claims that her sister has disappeared
i don't want to spoil it .. but it's fun nevertheless!

[Maisoon Osama · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this is a great book to children not to adults :) because it makes their minds ..... exploring to stuff for me when i read it when i was small i felt them writer wanted to give a cultered message for kids and he wanted this book to add entertainment to the adult's mind. :D

[Eman Mostafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a light, funny and interesting Short story about a mysterious disappearce of Helm's sister, so she has decided to go to a private detective to find her. Mr Samuel would get into alot of troubles until he has figured out the truth. 💙

[Purevdorj]

It was really excited for me.

[Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

ok

[Nada Majdy · Rating 2 out of 5]

quick and simple

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the most boring books I have ever read, starting off with the mystery it was very predictable and not that interesting or something I was surprised at. I know this was supposed to be a kids book and I read it at 13 but I wasn’t hooked or interested, secondly the explanation behind the mystery wasn’t believable or something which I would think is logical in any way, paying a guy $50 just for him to keep you safe Mia stupid and doesn’t make sense for her to know that if he can’t find her she is safe, she could do that in sooo many other ways than to use a private detective to yes, I know that slot of people would like this book as it is short and snappy but I found it really boring and not the type of book which I was thinking about all the time, I actually rated it 1.5 stars but here it doesn’t really have that option, but other than that I am sure kids form ages 8-10 might enjoy this book even though I would have liked a bit more explanation and a much more unexplained ending

[Helin Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had such a great time reading it. I was free at the office, so I took the opportunity to dive into the book. It felt so good to finish it quickly. And I was really proud of myself, I could understand every single word,I didn't need a translator at all as the English in the book was so easy, to understand.
Although the story wasn’t bad itself but it was predictable from the beginning that Helen doesn’t exist, I still enjoyed it.

[Rana_Lovz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me just say I hate people who are full of themselves and Lenny was that kind of person and he was also a flirt he literally flirted with Helen/Elein and suzy every chance he could get, And he thought he was SO strong but he actually wasn't I can't say i'm stronger but still you said you got into a lot of fights and won them so why not win the fight against Jo a'd his tall ass friend -_-

[Salma · Rating 4 out of 5]

that was like the first book I ever read or sth?!
WOW I REALLY WASNT A BOOK PERSON AT ALL!!

[Kalyan Jee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is simple and reminds of school days English textbook.

[Noore · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so good .