One hundred years later, a new book chronicles the tale of a missing millionaire
On Dec. 2, 1919, the wealthy theatre impresario Ambrose Small left his home in the Rosedale neighbourhood of Toronto. He went to the barber for a shave.
He met his wife for lunch and then walked her to an engagement at a nearby Catholic orphanage. At some point that afternoon, he went to the bank and deposited a cheque for a million dollars. He had a quick meeting with his lawyer.
That was the last anyone ever saw of him.
The slight man with a walrus mustache had promised his wife he'd be home for dinner, but he never showed up.
Was he murdered? Abducted? Or did he run off to begin a new life? A hundred years later, no-one knows, and not for want of trying.
In her new book, The Missing Millionaire: The True Story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed With Finding Him, Katie Daubs tells a whodunit story rife with accusations and curious coincidences.
It is as perplexing as it is dramatic — bursting with flamboyant characters, a disgruntled wife, an ex-lover, showgirls, and a smarmy ex-cop turned private investigator.
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