John Grabowski wrote:
try and narrow the problem down to a certain area and play detective. Did
you do any remodeling and accidentally bury an electrical box? Did the
previous owners? Do you have any recessed lighting in the problem area?

No remodeling done for years (and none done in this area of the house).
I looked all around and did not see any missing junction box. The
things on the circuit that are dead a

1.) A number of wall outlets (perhaps 4 total)
2.) One dining room light (two wall switches to control the one light)
3.) One pantry light
4.) One recessed light in the porch area just outside the dining room
5.) Our doorbell / central radio box (that has an internal
transformer)

All seemed 100% dead with no voltage detected around them. A number of
"live" junction boxes around the same area were checked to make sure
they had no loose connections. All were good with live feeds out.

The recessed light in the outside porch area was not removed so I'll
check that later tonight.

Were
you able to determine if the hot wire is dead or is it the neutral
conductor? Or are both wires dead? Did you check the outlets that are
still working?

Yes on checking several of the still working outlets. As to
determining if the hot wire is dead and/or the neutral, the electrician
might have known the answer to that (I'm assuming he checked something
like that). I am not experienced enough to know what to check myself.

JR