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Mabel Seeley

This page lists novels written by Mabel Seeley.

Some of the novels listed have been published a number of times. The cover images shown are, where possible, the first US edition and a recent mass market paperback edition.

 

Mabel Seeley: Novels

The Listening House

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1938

"I am not sure myself (says the narrator of this story) that I should open the door of Mrs. Garr's house, and let you in. I'm not at all sure that the truth about what happened there is tellable. People keep saying to me that the rumours going round are simply goulish, and ought to be laid. But I've heard those rumours, some of them at least, and they're not a bit more nightmarish than the truth."
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The Crying Sisters

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1939

Also published by the Afton Historical Society Press in 2000.

"In The Crying Sisters the author sets the atmosphere and characters for this compelling story in her opening words: 'I still pinch myself and say it isn’t true. I still wake at night to reach for the tangible proof within touch of my hand. Because what happened to me last August went so far outside anything I’d known all the rest of my life that even while it was going on I often thought I must be imagining.'."
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The Whispering Cup

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1940

"The central character of her new story is Solveig Nayes, who came back to her native village wearing the mantle of scandal. There she was confronted with the vicious gossip and animosity which only a small village can bring to its ultimate perfection. There too she was faced with a deadly hatred whose roots went far back into the past. Then murder struck, not once but twice, and gossiping tongues lost no time in naming Solveig the murderer. Solveig succeeds in clearing herself and uncovering a murderer whose motives were deeper than even she originally suspected."
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The Chuckling Fingers

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1941

Also published by the Afton Historical Society Press in 1998.

"The Chuckling Fingers is set at a summer estate on Lake Superior north of Grand Marais. The heroine is Ann Gay, a stenographer in an insurance office, who rushes to the North Shore after learning that her beloved cousin Jacqueline, newly married to a lumbering heir, may be in danger: 'Other people may think they’d like to live their lives over, but not me—not if this last week is going to be in it. Out of what has just happened at the Fingers both Jacqueline and I got something worth keeping, but Heaven defend me from ever again having to stand helplessly by while it becomes more and more apparent to almost everyone but me that the person I love most in the world is murderously insane'."
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Eleven Came Back

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1943

"Mary Seeley presents a new novel with the wild and sometimes malevolent beauty of the mountains of Wyoming as a background. The Lady Luck ranch is owned by the wealthy and ambitious Mrs Parent, who likes to entertain her guests on her vast Western estate. One night twelve persons set out to enjoy a moonlight ride in the mountains - and the title tells what to expect. Mabe Seeley's story is studded with dramatic incidents, excellent characterisation, lots of suspense, and the definite Seeley mark in style."
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Woman of Property

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1947

"From poor beginnings, from a house brutalized by a boorish father, from complete social ostracism, Frieda slowly and steadily fought her way to wealth and position. Money was all. Without it there was nothing. At first there were nickels and dimes hoarded from a tiny salary frienda earned as a clerk in the dry goods store. Then, years later, there were thousands of dollars each month from the exclusive dressmaking establishment that Frieda built almost from nothing. In the beginning Frieda's desire is an understandable thing, even a sympathetic one. Gradually, however, it grows to be an overpowering thing, conquering even the one genuine love she ever admitted. There is subtlety in the development of this character - a delicate revelation of a character that was, in its own way, symptomatic of the fiercely acquisitive moral climate of half a century ago. Money. It was all. And in the end it was nothing."
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The Beckoning Door

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1950

Also published by the Afton Historical Society Press in 1998.

"Set in a mid-Minnesota resort community. The heroine is quiet Cathy Kingman, who resents the circumstances that have kept her in the small town of Long Meadow. Her hard feelings extend to her stylish cousin Sylvia who, having inherited the estate that Cathy wanted, returns to Long Meadow and callously breaks up Cathy’s romance. Then Sylvia hints that she could open the door to the outside world, and Cathy thinks the moment of escape has come. But–a fortuneteller prophesies that Sylvia will not live long, and the prophecy comes violently true. The town, knowing the jealousy that existed between the cousins jumps to a quick and easy accusation. Cathy knows that to prove her innocence, even to those who love her best, she must find the murderer."
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The Stranger Beside Me

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1951

"This is the story of a strangely idealistic marriage hindered by success as well as failure. It is a sensitive and compelling love story told in exciting counterpoint to the colourful behind-the-scenes history of a large department store, complete with personal rivalries, sharp business practices, and constant readjustments to meet the demands of changing customs and modes. And, above all, it is a sympathetic picture of a mediocre man tragically driven by futile ambition."
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The Whistling Shadow

Mabel Seeley

Doubleday, Doran & Company

1954

Also published by the Afton Historical Society Press in 1999.

"In The Whistling Shadow, heroine Gail Kiskadden finds herself at the very center of a vortex of violence and impending disaster in her own Lake of the Isles neighborhood in Minneapolis."
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Last updated February 2018