I think this was an English mystery or part of one, maybe from the Golden Age of mysteries (Christie, Allingham, Sayers?) where a City man leaves his home to go to work, is seen by a tradesman at one end of a block, but never reaches the other end and is never seen again. Much publicity about his disappearance. Years later, someone — perhaps a young relative — finds him as part owner of a small circus in France, with his partner the neighbor woman with exotic snakes whose high brick wall in the middle of the block he vaulted over to live with her.
It’s “Flowers for the Judge” by Margery Allingham – a good one!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_the_Judge
Thank you!! I read it within the past 6 months, but my memory is slipping away.