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Fred Fellows #8
The Missing Man
Police Chief Fred Fellows and Detective sergeant Sidney Wilks meticulously piece together clues to reveal the identity of and find the man who murdered a girl on a Connecticut beach
- GenresMystery
181 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
24 people want to read
About the author
Hillary Waugh
155 books16 followersAka Elissa Grandower (5 books), H. Baldwin Taylor (3 books), Harry Walker (1 book).
Hillary Baldwin Waugh was a pioneering American mystery novelist. In 1989, Waugh was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
During his senior year at Yale, Waugh enlisted in the United States Navy Air Corps and, after graduation, received his aviator's wings. He served in Panama for two years, flying various types of aircraft. While in military service, Waugh turned his hand to creative writing, completing and publishing his first novel Madam Will Not Dine Tonight in 1947. He quickly published two more novels, but they were not very well received.
In 1949, as the result of reading a case book on true crime, Waugh decided to explore a realistic crime novel. With the cooperation of his fiancée, who was a student at Smith College, Waugh set his police procedural Last Seen Wearing... in a fictional women's college. Published in 1952, the book was a significant success and is now considered a pioneering effort exploring relentless police work and attention to detail.
After Last Seen Wearing..., Waugh went on to publish more than thirty-five additional detective novels, many aptly described as "hard boiled". Pseudonyms include "Elissa Grandower," "Harry Walker" and "H. Baldwin Taylor."
Waugh married Diana Taylor, and the couple had three children. Waugh died on December 8, 2008.
Hillary Baldwin Waugh was a pioneering American mystery novelist. In 1989, Waugh was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
During his senior year at Yale, Waugh enlisted in the United States Navy Air Corps and, after graduation, received his aviator's wings. He served in Panama for two years, flying various types of aircraft. While in military service, Waugh turned his hand to creative writing, completing and publishing his first novel Madam Will Not Dine Tonight in 1947. He quickly published two more novels, but they were not very well received.
In 1949, as the result of reading a case book on true crime, Waugh decided to explore a realistic crime novel. With the cooperation of his fiancée, who was a student at Smith College, Waugh set his police procedural Last Seen Wearing... in a fictional women's college. Published in 1952, the book was a significant success and is now considered a pioneering effort exploring relentless police work and attention to detail.
After Last Seen Wearing..., Waugh went on to publish more than thirty-five additional detective novels, many aptly described as "hard boiled". Pseudonyms include "Elissa Grandower," "Harry Walker" and "H. Baldwin Taylor."
Waugh married Diana Taylor, and the couple had three children. Waugh died on December 8, 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 17, 2023
This is the fascinating story of a successful con man, a beautiful corpse, and a murder that almost went unpunished.
In traditional mysteries, crimes are solved by brilliant private or amateur detectives and police officers are corrupt, buffoonish, or both. Police work is a necessary evil, but far too boring to sell books, right? Starting in 1949, Hillary Waugh turned that idea on its head with a series of crime novels set in small Connecticut towns. His heroes are small town police chiefs who solve crimes, not with strokes of brilliance, but with persistence and relentless attention to detail.
Waugh liked and admired cops and spent a great deal of time studying them. He saw himself in the role of a reporter who chronicled the reality of police work in a fictionalized form. His cops sift evidence, conduct interviews, and follow up leads and hunches. Their strength is their intimate knowledge of their town and its people and they have the intuitive understanding of human psychology that doesn't come from a book, but from experience. Slowly and steadily, they chip away at extraneous material until they arrive at the truth. It may be routine, but it's never boring to read about.
Waugh's most frequently recurring character (and my favorite) is Chief Fred Fellows of Stockton. Both Fellows and Waugh were family men and the author gave his son's name (Larry) to Fellow's oldest son. I think Waugh put a lot of himself into Fred Fellows and perhaps that's what makes him such a successful character.
In this book, Fellows is faced with a cop's worst nightmare - a murder with no clues. The beautiful young woman found strangled beside a lake is a stranger in town. Both her name and her background story are false and no one was seen with her before her death. Using a few insignificant clues from her possessions, the Stockton Police Department follows one lead after another to dead ends until one finally pays off.
Instead of being bored, the reader shares Fellow's frustration and his elation when a hunch DOES pan out. The moment when he realizes that he finally has a particularly cold-blooded murderer in his grasp is one of the most satisfying things I've read. And the "perp" isn't just a successful murderer, but one of the slickest con artists you'll ever meet.
It's a crime that Waugh's books aren't available on Kindle, but Harper & Row published this one and LAST SEEN WEARING as Perennial Library paperbacks and you can easily find good used copies for a few dollars. Believe me, if you love a good mystery, it's well worth the effort.
In traditional mysteries, crimes are solved by brilliant private or amateur detectives and police officers are corrupt, buffoonish, or both. Police work is a necessary evil, but far too boring to sell books, right? Starting in 1949, Hillary Waugh turned that idea on its head with a series of crime novels set in small Connecticut towns. His heroes are small town police chiefs who solve crimes, not with strokes of brilliance, but with persistence and relentless attention to detail.
Waugh liked and admired cops and spent a great deal of time studying them. He saw himself in the role of a reporter who chronicled the reality of police work in a fictionalized form. His cops sift evidence, conduct interviews, and follow up leads and hunches. Their strength is their intimate knowledge of their town and its people and they have the intuitive understanding of human psychology that doesn't come from a book, but from experience. Slowly and steadily, they chip away at extraneous material until they arrive at the truth. It may be routine, but it's never boring to read about.
Waugh's most frequently recurring character (and my favorite) is Chief Fred Fellows of Stockton. Both Fellows and Waugh were family men and the author gave his son's name (Larry) to Fellow's oldest son. I think Waugh put a lot of himself into Fred Fellows and perhaps that's what makes him such a successful character.
In this book, Fellows is faced with a cop's worst nightmare - a murder with no clues. The beautiful young woman found strangled beside a lake is a stranger in town. Both her name and her background story are false and no one was seen with her before her death. Using a few insignificant clues from her possessions, the Stockton Police Department follows one lead after another to dead ends until one finally pays off.
Instead of being bored, the reader shares Fellow's frustration and his elation when a hunch DOES pan out. The moment when he realizes that he finally has a particularly cold-blooded murderer in his grasp is one of the most satisfying things I've read. And the "perp" isn't just a successful murderer, but one of the slickest con artists you'll ever meet.
It's a crime that Waugh's books aren't available on Kindle, but Harper & Row published this one and LAST SEEN WEARING as Perennial Library paperbacks and you can easily find good used copies for a few dollars. Believe me, if you love a good mystery, it's well worth the effort.
October 7, 2025
I found this to be quite well-done, the first of the books in the Fred Fellows series I've read. I can see where some might find the chronicling of the police department's tedious tracing efforts to be dull, but I found it extremely interesting. It's not a story with shocking twists, and character development is at a minimum; this is is just a straightforward and effective telling of a murder investigation.
November 11, 2012
I found this book on a list of 50 classics of crime fiction 1950-1975. I found a copy at the library; certainly the book looked like it had passed through many hands. This was a well contructed story of a police investigation into a murder back in the days before DNA and other forensic aids. Besides the obvious police work and mounting clues, the story reflected the times and culture of 50 years ago, so it was interesting also in that respect.
March 10, 2018
A good read written in a more innocent time. I will definitely look for more books by this author. It is enjoyable to read a mystery where sex is referred to, but every detail doesn't have to be spelled out.
December 29, 2024
»»» A compra:
Bons policiais e boas capas de livros são fáceis de encontrar em livros antigos. Este veio em segunda mão do Trade Stories.
»»» A aventura:
Uma jovem bem vestida aparece morta no areal da lagoa.
Apesar de haver várias pessoas no local à hora do crime, ninguém viu algo de relevante, porque o local é frequentado por casais à noite para momentos de namoro.
Quando não se consegue perceber sequer quem verdadeiramente é a vítima, que tinha chegado recentemente à cidade, a procura é alargada para fora do Estado e para perceber quem a terá matado parece ser preciso descobrir quem era e de onde veio.
»»» Sentimento final:
Boa leitura.
Um livro que prova que se pode ter um bom policial em menos de 150 páginas, sem ser preciso chegar às comuns 300 páginas que parece se a moda da década.
Seguimos sempre com interesse as várias linhas de averiguação da polícia e é com surpresa que vamos desvendando tudo ao mesmo tempo que a polícia.
O suspense sobre o sucedido está bem urdido ao longo do livro.
Um autor a reter.
»»» Notas finais:
--- [Capa] – Muito boa. Bem ao estilo estético dos anos 60-70 do século passado, com uma excelente aura de mistério.
Bons policiais e boas capas de livros são fáceis de encontrar em livros antigos. Este veio em segunda mão do Trade Stories.
»»» A aventura:
Uma jovem bem vestida aparece morta no areal da lagoa.
Apesar de haver várias pessoas no local à hora do crime, ninguém viu algo de relevante, porque o local é frequentado por casais à noite para momentos de namoro.
Quando não se consegue perceber sequer quem verdadeiramente é a vítima, que tinha chegado recentemente à cidade, a procura é alargada para fora do Estado e para perceber quem a terá matado parece ser preciso descobrir quem era e de onde veio.
»»» Sentimento final:
Boa leitura.
Um livro que prova que se pode ter um bom policial em menos de 150 páginas, sem ser preciso chegar às comuns 300 páginas que parece se a moda da década.
Seguimos sempre com interesse as várias linhas de averiguação da polícia e é com surpresa que vamos desvendando tudo ao mesmo tempo que a polícia.
O suspense sobre o sucedido está bem urdido ao longo do livro.
Um autor a reter.
»»» Notas finais:
--- [Capa] – Muito boa. Bem ao estilo estético dos anos 60-70 do século passado, com uma excelente aura de mistério.
October 28, 2017
V rámci pročišťování knihovny jsem sáhl po další "Zelené knižnici", tentokrát to byly kriminálky Hillary Waugha. Tenhle román z roku 1964, na Slovensku vydaný jako Nezvestný, je takový předskokan McBaina, přichází s pedantickou prací policejního aparátu. Je to klasika - mrtvá holka, jediná stopa... a nutnost pročesat v podstatě celou Ameriku, aby se člověk dostal dál. Z tohohle hlediska to není zlý, čte se to dobře, ale už se tady střetává realističnost policejních vyšetřování s nerealističností emocí. U kriminálek z čtyřicátých a padesátých let člověk bere, že všichni mají ustavičný hysterický záchvat, tady působí to, jak policisté soucítí s obětí, jak málem roní slzy a slibují pachateli krutý trest, už komicky. Na druhou stranu, i tak to působí moderněji než na rok 1964. McBain to ale dotáhl dál, udělal případy zajímavější a dokázal i jednotlivé detektivy líp odlišit. Proto je taky dodnes slavný a Waugh ne.
August 17, 2019
Read in Danish.
4 minus to 3 1/2
4 minus to 3 1/2
June 11, 2020
Meticulous and absorbing police procedural.
Want to read
May 1, 2019Synopsis: Chief Fellows solves the murder of a woman by slowly fitting together the bits and pieces of evidence. But the guy still proves elusive.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews