The Disappearance by Rosa Guy

First published: 1979

Type of work: Mystery

Themes: Family, crime, death, and race and ethnicity

Time of work: The 1970’s

Recommended Ages: 13-15

Locale: Harlem and Brooklyn, New York

Principal Characters:

• Imamu “John” Jones, a streetwise sixteen-year-old from Harlem, whose father died in Vietnam and whose mother is an alcoholic
• Ann Aimsley, a good mother, wife, and housekeeper, who opens her home to Imamu Jones
• Gail Aimsley, the oldest daughter, who finds her new foster brother both irritating and attractive
• Perk Aimsley, the youngest daughter, who is a talkative and impish child
• Peter Aimsley, the strong and hardworking father, who owns an automobile shop and proudly provides for his family
• Dora Belle, the doting godmother, who is beautiful but vain and craves the company of men

The Story

In The Disappearance, Imamu Jones is found guilty of robbing a grocery store with his friends but innocent of killing the owner. He avoids serving time in a state institution when Ann Aimsley arranges for his release and custody. Uncertain about his newly arranged home, Imamu arrives late and displays impolite manners to the awaiting and skeptical family, including the family friend, Dora Belle. Tempers are contained, and Imamu tries to settle into the family scene.

In the middle of the day he accompanies Ann Aimsley to Dora Belle’s brownstone for lunch. He is struck by the contrast of these two women. The flirtatious Dora Belle dresses with color and flaunts her silky hair. Her home is comfortable and inviting. Ann Aimsley is petite, trim, and efficient. Ashless ashtrays and plastic sofa covers convey her need for cleanliness and order. The tenuous harmony of the afternoon is disrupted at the dinner table by Perk Aimsley’s blunt question concerning the murder. Imamu bolts back to Harlem but is offended by the scenes and smells of the neighborhood.

In the morning Imamu is annoyed when awakened by Perk, who is excited about a party at school. He is relieved when the family is gone for the day. His peace is short-lived: He breaks an expensive wine glass and cuts his hand, which bleeds severely. He hurriedly cleans up the mess and runs to Dora Belle for help and comfort. He encounters a disheveled and belligerent Dora Belle, exiting one of her brownstones under renovation.

That evening, Perk does not show up for supper, and the family searches the neighborhood. They are forced to call the police when their efforts prove unsuccessful. Imamu becomes a suspect when he is unwilling to explain his cut hand, and he is taken into custody. Gail Aimsley believes in Imamu and goes to the station to report that a missing glass corroborates his story. The released Imamu vows to solve the mystery of the missing Aimsley child; he and Gail comb the neighborhood for clues.

The solution of the crime results from Imamu’s overpowering urge to embrace the beauty of Dora Belle. Barging into her bedroom, he finds her nude and bald. From her indignant rage, he deduces the motive and sequence of the crime. Imamu discovers Perk’s body, which is buried in the basement of Dora Belle’s brownstone. Dora Belle confesses that Perk had innocently discovered her secret. In a fit of anger, Dora Belle grabbed and shook her beloved godchild. Perk fell and hit her head. Exonerated, Imamu returns to Harlem to look after his mother.

Context

The Disappearance is the first of three books in the Imamu Jones series. The others are New Guys Around the Block (1983) and And I Heard a Bird Sing (1987), both of which build upon the characters and relationships begun in The Disappearance. In New Guys Around the Block, Imamu is involved with painting his Harlem tenement apartment while his mother is hospitalized for her drinking problem. And I Heard a Bird Sing returns Imamu to Brooklyn, where he and his recuperating mother live in an apartment close to the Aimsley residence. Imamu’s romantic involvement with Gail Aimsley is complicated when his job as a delivery boy involves him in the lives of an established, wealthy family.

The Disappearance is a classic detective story: A crime (typically a murder) is committed, and the protagonist-sleuth gathers and assembles the clues and logically solves the mystery. Unlike classic mystery writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, however, Rosa Guy examines and emphasizes the characters and their relationships more than the puzzle. Rosa Guy joins a select group of authors who have written mysteries for young adults, the most prominent being Jay Bennett, Joan Lowery Nixon, and T. Ernesto Bethancourt. Her creation of a teenage detective of Afro-American background is a significant contribution to this genre.

Rosa Guy is also the author of a trilogy for young adults which includes The Friends (1973), Ruby (1976), and Edith Jackson (1978). These books explore the difficult and lonely lives of three black teenage women growing up in Harlem, their alienated families, and their relationships with other isolated females of minority background. Unlike the Imamu Jones mystery series, these books have a more despondent, less hopeful tone.