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The Listening House
Down and out in the Depression, Gwynne Dacres moves into a seedy and sinister boarding house, where she exposes deadly secrets in this classic mystery by Mabel Seeley
After losing her copywriting job, young Gwynne Dacres seeks a place to live when she stumbles upon Mrs. Garr’s old boarding house. Despite the gruff landlady and an assortment of shifty tenants, Gwynne rents a room for herself. She spends her first few nights at 593 Trent Street tensely awake, the house creaking and groaning as if listening to everything that happens behind its closed doors.
A chain of chilling events leads to the gruesome discovery of a mutilated body in the basement kitchen, dead of unknown circumstances. Was it an accident or murder? Under the red-black brick façade of the old house on Trent Street, Gwynne uncovers a myriad of secrets, blackmail, corruption, and clues of a wicked past. As she closes in on the truth, the cold, pale hands of death reach for Gwynne in the night…
After losing her copywriting job, young Gwynne Dacres seeks a place to live when she stumbles upon Mrs. Garr’s old boarding house. Despite the gruff landlady and an assortment of shifty tenants, Gwynne rents a room for herself. She spends her first few nights at 593 Trent Street tensely awake, the house creaking and groaning as if listening to everything that happens behind its closed doors.
A chain of chilling events leads to the gruesome discovery of a mutilated body in the basement kitchen, dead of unknown circumstances. Was it an accident or murder? Under the red-black brick façade of the old house on Trent Street, Gwynne uncovers a myriad of secrets, blackmail, corruption, and clues of a wicked past. As she closes in on the truth, the cold, pale hands of death reach for Gwynne in the night…
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
88 people are currently reading
1466 people want to read
About the author
Mabel Seeley
14 books29 followersMabel Seeley was born Mabel Hodnefield in Herman, Minnesota. Her family moved to St. Paul in 1920, and she attended Mechanic Arts High School. Her first book, The Listening House, was published in 1938. In 1941, she won the Mystery of the Year Award for her book The Chuckling Fingers. Over the course of her career, she wrote seven mysteries, all between 1938 and 1954, and all of them period pieces set in the Midwest.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
May 31, 2021
✦ 3.5 Stars ✦ First published in 1938, THE LISTENING HOUSE was the debut crime novel of Mabel Seeley, who came to be known as “The Mistress of Mystery.” I'm glad Berkley is reissuing some of her books, because before spotting this one I was not familiar with Seeley's work.
The main character Gwynne Dacres is a young, independent woman, making her way through the Depression years. After losing her job as a copywriter, she moves into a creepy boarding house run by a grumpy, paranoid woman who's convinced her tenants are snooping through her things.
Gwynne, too, feels like there's something off about the house, that something or someone is always listening. Her situation becomes more precarious when back to back suspicious deaths occur at the house. Gwynne gets wrapped up in the investigation when someone targets her, and uncovers some sinister secrets tied to the past.
There was a big group of potential suspects, and I enjoyed their characterizations. I definitely felt like I was sitting among a group of real folks from the 1930s. The mystery was dark and intricate, though I think it dragged in some places. There was even a romance for Gwynne, and plenty of humor mixed in. I'd recommend to fans of mysteries who enjoy the golden age of detective fiction.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The main character Gwynne Dacres is a young, independent woman, making her way through the Depression years. After losing her job as a copywriter, she moves into a creepy boarding house run by a grumpy, paranoid woman who's convinced her tenants are snooping through her things.
Gwynne, too, feels like there's something off about the house, that something or someone is always listening. Her situation becomes more precarious when back to back suspicious deaths occur at the house. Gwynne gets wrapped up in the investigation when someone targets her, and uncovers some sinister secrets tied to the past.
There was a big group of potential suspects, and I enjoyed their characterizations. I definitely felt like I was sitting among a group of real folks from the 1930s. The mystery was dark and intricate, though I think it dragged in some places. There was even a romance for Gwynne, and plenty of humor mixed in. I'd recommend to fans of mysteries who enjoy the golden age of detective fiction.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 29, 2022
Despite its 1938 release, Mabel Seeley’s classic The Listening House will please modern readers just as much as those who devoured Seeley’s debut during the Great Depression. Recently fired copywriter Gwynne Dacres moves into Luella Garr’s boardinghouse; she soon discovers that her landlady is paranoid about snooping. The discovery of a dead gangster outside of the boardinghouse is just the first event that persuades the reader that Mrs. Garr fears something real.
Set in a thinly disguised St. Paul, Minn., The Listening House evokes that Golden Age of mysteries while also remaining accessible to 21st century readers. So much suspense and so many twists! I loved Gwynne Dacres, who’s plucky without being foolhardy or implausible. Seeley wrote other mysteries, but she never wrote a sequel to The Listening House; more’s the pity, as I would have loved to see more of Gwynne.
Set in a thinly disguised St. Paul, Minn., The Listening House evokes that Golden Age of mysteries while also remaining accessible to 21st century readers. So much suspense and so many twists! I loved Gwynne Dacres, who’s plucky without being foolhardy or implausible. Seeley wrote other mysteries, but she never wrote a sequel to The Listening House; more’s the pity, as I would have loved to see more of Gwynne.
February 23, 2022
If you like your Gothic suspense sprinkled with humor (so that you can chuckle between shivers), this novel is for you. This is an unconventional Gothic – no Thornfield Hall, no wuthering moors – but rather a decrepit former mansion turned boarding house in the capital city of a midwestern US state. We’re living in the late 1930s, hanging out with Mrs. Gwynne Dacres, a twenty-something divorcee who reminds me of the heroine of a Mary Stewart novel: clever, resourceful, kind, and determined (that is, determined to solve the mystery, while trying to avoid getting killed in the process). I found her first-person narrative to be funny and charming, while keeping me in nail-biting suspense.
“Why don’t you put the steamer trunk in back and let me sit with you?” I asked him, with an eye to his own comfort.
“Lady, that’s against the rules,” he reproved me. “You stay in back.”
We started off. I looked in my handbag mirror to see if I looked like a seducer of taxi drivers, but I didn’t, so I just took my foot out of the teakettle every time it jounced in, resigned. The driver evidently felt sorry for me when he saw what I’d come to. In front of 593 Trent Street, he helped me out of the kitchenware with a flourish.
Completely addictive, super suspenseful, couldn’t put it down. This mystery puzzle (no spoilers, I promise) reminded me a bit of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” in that the crimes of the present are inextricably tangled with the sins of the past, so there’s some sadness and darkness in the resolution.
We waited a good long time. Long enough to take in the flyspecks on the light globes, and the general hopelessness of everyone who straggled past the door. I felt, as I always feel when I’ve been in the courthouse, that I needed to be fumigated before I’d really be clean again.
Recommended for: fans of Gothic suspense or Mary Stewart’s suspense novels or atmospheric locked-room mysteries.
Where I found it: Free ebook loan from my public library. Berkley Prime Crime republished this 1938 novel in 2021, as well as another Mabel Seeley novel, which I can’t wait to read!
Content: a few curse words, mentions of extramarital sex and mentions of prostitution (nothing shown to the reader).
“Why don’t you put the steamer trunk in back and let me sit with you?” I asked him, with an eye to his own comfort.
“Lady, that’s against the rules,” he reproved me. “You stay in back.”
We started off. I looked in my handbag mirror to see if I looked like a seducer of taxi drivers, but I didn’t, so I just took my foot out of the teakettle every time it jounced in, resigned. The driver evidently felt sorry for me when he saw what I’d come to. In front of 593 Trent Street, he helped me out of the kitchenware with a flourish.
Completely addictive, super suspenseful, couldn’t put it down. This mystery puzzle (no spoilers, I promise) reminded me a bit of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” in that the crimes of the present are inextricably tangled with the sins of the past, so there’s some sadness and darkness in the resolution.
We waited a good long time. Long enough to take in the flyspecks on the light globes, and the general hopelessness of everyone who straggled past the door. I felt, as I always feel when I’ve been in the courthouse, that I needed to be fumigated before I’d really be clean again.
Recommended for: fans of Gothic suspense or Mary Stewart’s suspense novels or atmospheric locked-room mysteries.
Where I found it: Free ebook loan from my public library. Berkley Prime Crime republished this 1938 novel in 2021, as well as another Mabel Seeley novel, which I can’t wait to read!
Content: a few curse words, mentions of extramarital sex and mentions of prostitution (nothing shown to the reader).
September 14, 2013
I first read this 25 or 30 years ago and wanted to see if it was still as thrilling. It is, though perhaps not as shocking as it was back then. Written in the 1930s, but has a modern sensibility. And the narrator's voice, and her interaction with one of the other inmates of the listening house, is funnier than I remembered. Lots of twists and turns; definitely hard to put down!
November 21, 2021
This was OK. I kept getting caught up on its 1938-ness, like when the author gets choked and the policeman's first reaction is to admonish her that she shouldn't let strange men in. Weird times.
March 28, 2020
I loved this book!
This book is a mystery, written in 1938. The cover calls it a gothic suspense novel, but to me it seemed like just a mystery, and a very well-written mystery.
Very exciting. Lots of humor! Even romance. A good story. Lots of characters that are memorable and intent on being themselves.
This book is a mystery, written in 1938. The cover calls it a gothic suspense novel, but to me it seemed like just a mystery, and a very well-written mystery.
Very exciting. Lots of humor! Even romance. A good story. Lots of characters that are memorable and intent on being themselves.
August 15, 2023
Midnight, August 15th, 2023: I finally finished this book. It took forever (over two weeks) and I don't know why, possibly due to the brain-melt in the Texas heat. It did keep my interest the whole time and I didn't want to DNF but it was NOT a page turner. It was too long, and it was rather slow though there were plenty of creepy and untrustworthy characters. The romantic storylines were fun but also dripping in sexism. So my streak of fun sounding books that end up sloggy continues... It's probably me, and not the books.
July 31, 2023: After the stifling world of Tina in Diary of a Mad Housewife, I was craving something absorbing, page-turning and a little creepy. This certainly fits the bill. This was a runner-up in the Shedunnit Book Club selection poll a few months ago and I found it a much more compelling premise than whatever had been picked.
A down on her luck young woman, Gwynne Dacres, moves into a cheap boarding house after being unfairly fired from her job as a result of a mistake her boss made but wouldn't admit, and the creepy stuff starts right away. The landlady is a paranoid weirdo, there's a mystery closet Gwynne is not allowed to open, other tenants creep around and act oddly, the house makes a bunch of strange noises at night... and now there's a dead body! Love it.
July 31, 2023: After the stifling world of Tina in Diary of a Mad Housewife, I was craving something absorbing, page-turning and a little creepy. This certainly fits the bill. This was a runner-up in the Shedunnit Book Club selection poll a few months ago and I found it a much more compelling premise than whatever had been picked.
A down on her luck young woman, Gwynne Dacres, moves into a cheap boarding house after being unfairly fired from her job as a result of a mistake her boss made but wouldn't admit, and the creepy stuff starts right away. The landlady is a paranoid weirdo, there's a mystery closet Gwynne is not allowed to open, other tenants creep around and act oddly, the house makes a bunch of strange noises at night... and now there's a dead body! Love it.
August 1, 2021
The Listening House by Mabel Seeley was an unexpected treat of a mystery novel. I'd never even heard of Mabel Seeley before, despite her apparent success as a mystery writer in her lifetime. But when this book came through my library, and caught my eye with its slightly retro cover, I was curious. The back cover alludes to the Great Depression, an era I find fascinating, and calls this a classic mystery, but it wasn't until I did a little more poking around online that I realized that The Listening House is indeed a reprint of a classic novel not only set in the 1930s, but also written then. Plus, the story itself sounded intriguing, so I checked out a copy of it.
At a point in time where I still struggle to concentrate on reading anything longer than social media posts, I finished this book in about 2 days. I hated having to put it down for adulting and work. I stayed up far too late at night reading it (and was a little jumpy as a result). The setting is richly atmospheric and mildly ominous. The mystery was well-plotted and kept me guessing until the very end. The primary characters are interesting and complex, with a strong, sassy, and independent heroine I would swear had been written today, did I not know otherwise. There's a romance, but it's not the focus of the story, and felt rather unconventional. I didn't love the very end of the story for reasons related to the romance, but I think that manner of romantic resolution was a trope of the time. It was otherwise a satisfying ending.
I was nervous that the generalized racism of the era would be reflected in this story, but then it turned out that there was no diverse representation among the characters, which did reduce the chances of anything racist being said. The worst comments in the book were the implication that a character being French Canadian was part of the reason she was slovenly, and some descriptions of a very fat character that seemed unnecessary and uncomfortable. Of course there's sexism present that the main character, young and unemployed divorcee Gwynne, had to deal with, but it's mostly presented as an annoying inconvenience. My only other warning would be that some pets, to whom the main characters are not attached, meet an untimely end, although off page.
So overall this is a fun, fast-paced, atmospheric mystery novel that I would definitely recommend. I'm looking forward to reading more of Mabel Seeley's work. My biggest complaint right now is that Berkley denied my request for an advanced copy of her next book that they're rereleasing (The Chuckling Fingers), so I'll have to wait until it hits the local library, like everyone else. For now, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy, but do so on a day when you have time to read it, because you're probably not going to want to put it down either.
At a point in time where I still struggle to concentrate on reading anything longer than social media posts, I finished this book in about 2 days. I hated having to put it down for adulting and work. I stayed up far too late at night reading it (and was a little jumpy as a result). The setting is richly atmospheric and mildly ominous. The mystery was well-plotted and kept me guessing until the very end. The primary characters are interesting and complex, with a strong, sassy, and independent heroine I would swear had been written today, did I not know otherwise. There's a romance, but it's not the focus of the story, and felt rather unconventional. I didn't love the very end of the story for reasons related to the romance, but I think that manner of romantic resolution was a trope of the time. It was otherwise a satisfying ending.
I was nervous that the generalized racism of the era would be reflected in this story, but then it turned out that there was no diverse representation among the characters, which did reduce the chances of anything racist being said. The worst comments in the book were the implication that a character being French Canadian was part of the reason she was slovenly, and some descriptions of a very fat character that seemed unnecessary and uncomfortable. Of course there's sexism present that the main character, young and unemployed divorcee Gwynne, had to deal with, but it's mostly presented as an annoying inconvenience. My only other warning would be that some pets, to whom the main characters are not attached, meet an untimely end, although off page.
So overall this is a fun, fast-paced, atmospheric mystery novel that I would definitely recommend. I'm looking forward to reading more of Mabel Seeley's work. My biggest complaint right now is that Berkley denied my request for an advanced copy of her next book that they're rereleasing (The Chuckling Fingers), so I'll have to wait until it hits the local library, like everyone else. For now, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy, but do so on a day when you have time to read it, because you're probably not going to want to put it down either.
March 9, 2022
This cover + it being written in the 1930s meant I desperately wanted to get my hands on a copy. Also I love a story where a place of residence plays a central role. I didn't quite love it in the way I was hoping, but I did really like it. I found myself extremely immersed in the world and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. The end had me cackling.
June 27, 2022
I really enjoyed this vintage mystery - so much so that I'm contemplated going on either an interlibary loan or Abebooks kick to find some more Seeley's, if it turns out that only this and the Chuckling Fingers are being reprinted. I do so love a boarding house story and this one went in all sorts of directions I didn't anticipate. Of course, some of them I did, but it was never enough to distract from my enjoyment. It could probably have been a wee bit shorter and I'm not sure that the romance storyline played out the way I wanted it to (but maybe?), but those are quibbles. Super glad I've got at least one other Seeley at my fingertips.
That said, super annoyed at almost every cover that exists for it. None of the houses resemble the way the building is described, except maybe for one that looks like the characters are dressed for in Colonial garb.
That said, super annoyed at almost every cover that exists for it. None of the houses resemble the way the building is described, except maybe for one that looks like the characters are dressed for in Colonial garb.
June 6, 2023
Suspenseful!
June 7, 2025
Well, this book was mighty fine. The writing style—as many older books are—was a little hard to get me into the story. However, it was a great mystery with a satisfying end.
December 10, 2022
A bit of a disappointment. Seeley is a good writer, but I didn't quite take to this book for other reasons. It's quite similar to a later-era Mary Roberts Rinehart book—the spunky female narrator trapped in the terrifying house where everybody is a suspect in a gruesome crime—but a little more on the coarse side. I've noticed that American mysteries of this period are always a little more hard-edged than their British counterparts: more swearing, more innuendo, just a slightly coarser tone in general. The Listening House is a good example of that. I could have been in the wrong mood for it, but it just left a slightly sour taste in my mouth. (And I didn't find the romantic subplot convincing.)
December 29, 2021
This was amazing. Enteraining through & through. Twist after twist, turn after turn. Highly recommended. Written in 1938 it really holds up.
November 21, 2021
Originally published in 1939. Wow! What a good scary story.
January 22, 2023
Really good mystery!
April 11, 2023
Seeley is quickly becoming a favorite author even after only two books read. This was an utter delight - like reading a screwball comedy/drama from the 1930s, when it was indeed written. The narrator is fantastic; she is smart, funny, and almost unbelievably modern. Her inner dialog feels like it was written today. This is a wonderful hidden gem.
June 11, 2022
A good mystery from the 1930s.
June 14, 2022
Sometimes I wish I had notes on my 'To Read' list so I could go back and reference what made me want to read a book. This was mildly enjoyable and the writing witty but it belabored nitty details far too often. Why in the world did I want to read a murder mystery from 1938? Only my past self will ever know.
October 2, 2022
The period charm of The Listening House is delightful, and so is its spunky, snoopy, independent heroine. It's definitely too rambling, though, and too reliant on coincidence.
My first book by Seeley, won't be my last.
My first book by Seeley, won't be my last.
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August 24, 2021UMMMMM?! frankly, delicious. glittering, in its dingy, foggy, city setting. has some, not all of the pitfalls of its publication time but egads i love a mystery
March 27, 2023
Wow, I loved this! Where has Mabel Seeley been all my life? Thank you to NYT Read Like the Wind recommendation, I will be reading more of her books for sure.
July 7, 2021
Gwynne Dacres loses her job and comes to live in the Listening House, the rooming-house of Mrs. Garr where prowlers and blackmailers and a very determined murderer abound. All the tenants are suspicious and Gwynne is a feisty and nosy character who keeps ending up in sticky situations. The dreadful atmosphere of the house is exquisitely captured but balanced nicely with banter like this:
"Mrs. Sorry-for-the-Underdog speaks up from her corner. She's sorriest of all when the underdog chloroforms her." "It was ether. A dry cleaner." "Well, you never heard of anyone being ethered, did you? Or dry-cleaned, did you? There isn't any verb for that. It doesn't sound lethal enough."
June 30, 2021
How on earth has this been out of print so long? Delightful heroine/narrator, great story, fabulous dialogue, superb atmosphere and a great cast of characters in the titular house. All in all a delight, and Mabel Seeley is now the object of much searching for further books. Should be 4.5 stars.
January 7, 2022
It made me so disgusted with logic I almost decided I’d give it up forever.
Notes: Splendid mystery, tautly written, terrifically funny, and with a shockingly modern (smart, cutting, confident—if I didn’t know the novel was published in 1938 I would’ve guessed it was part of a contemporary series) lady protagonist in the form of Gwynne Dacres.
Notes: Splendid mystery, tautly written, terrifically funny, and with a shockingly modern (smart, cutting, confident—if I didn’t know the novel was published in 1938 I would’ve guessed it was part of a contemporary series) lady protagonist in the form of Gwynne Dacres.
March 18, 2022
Very slick little 1930s mystery, with an alarmingly gruesome crime scene (thankfully only implied, not graphically depicted) and a horribly tragic back-story. And yet, for all that, the narrative stays pretty light and stylized and readable. If you're in the mood for something that puts you squarely in the middle of a fast-talking black-and-white movie where the heroine is plucky and her main man needs a good hard kick for how often he calls her "baby," you'll probably enjoy this.
April 9, 2022
Superb little thriller by the estimable Seeley with a plucky, smart 30s heroine solving a mystery in her creepy boarding house with the world's WORST landlady. A treat and I reread while stuck on a public library desk shift during a rainstorm, the perfect read!
February 13, 2013
loved this spooky mystery
April 23, 2022
"Now, this is the way I look at it. One person kills another, willfully or accidentally. Society feels, naturally, that such a crime should be punished. But look at that punishment. It usually consists, or is supposed to, of removal from society — complete excision — either by life imprisonment or death. Why — punishment? Vengeance? Retribution? Not entirely. To cure the murderer of murdering? We haven’t found that murder is curable. To stop other people from murdering in their turn? It doesn’t work that way; new murderers spring up under the harshest laws. No. It’s because a person who has killed once, and gotten away with it, is so likely to kill again."
It's 1938 and young divorcee Gwynne Dacres finds herself in an unfortunate situation: she's lost her job and needs to find a new places to live. She reluctantly takes a two-room unit in an old mansion-turned-boarding house run by the elderly but rather unfriendly Mrs. Garr. Gwynne's relief at finding an inexpensive rental is short-lived, however, when a series of mysterious events starts to unfold. Soon after she's overcome with the feeling that a presence in the house is "listening" to the nightly comings and goings, she walks outside to find a man lying dead at the bottom of the hill the house overlooks. Mrs. Garr — watchful over something unnamed that she's hidden within the house and convinced one of her is boarders snooping around looking for it — vanishes and is also found dead in a gruesome scene not long after. And as Gwynne becomes more entwined in the case, the attacker makes desperate, violent attempts to get rid of her as well.
It's a twisty mystery, with the several boarders who live in the house with Gwynne as suspects: there's maid Mrs. Tewman and her husband; Mrs. Garr's niece Mrs. Halloran and her lazy husband; newspaper printer and wannabe charmer Hodge Kistler; the twitchy Mr. Grant; worn-down saleswoman Myrtle Sands; retired cop Mr. Waller and his wife; and standoffish Mr. Buffingham, whose son is a criminal. The local Lieutenant Strom becomes a frequent presence in the house as Gwynne uncovers more evidence and theories, and the more involved Gwynne becomes with the mystery, the more she learns about Mrs. Garr's past and the old lady's connection to an infamous kidnapping that took place 20 years earlier. But what does the past have to do with the present murders, and what was Mrs. Garr hiding in her home that was worth killing her for?
Gwynne's grit and determination to solve the mystery, her refusal to accept unsatisfying answers, is really what drives this novel. She's smart and can hold her own against the unfriendly boarders, the dismissive police, and the anonymous presence out there trying to kill her. It's a witty read, too — Gwynne's voice is often dryly humorous and sarcastic, and although some of the male characters feel smart-alecky and sexist, she does have a good repartee with them.
Certainly, Strom's methods in this case had depended strongly on accusation of everyone who came under suspicion.
The men stood about in the hall after that, talking with that insufferably superior indulgence men often use when some woman has exhibited weakness.
“Mrs. Sorry-for-the-Underdog speaks up from her corner. She’s sorriest of all when the underdog chloroforms her.”
“It was ether. A dry cleaner.”
“Well, you never heard of anyone being ethered, did you? Or dry-cleaned, did you? There isn’t any verb for that. It doesn’t sound lethal enough.”
I did find parts of this book to be quite slow; at points it felt like an endless parade of the cops coming and going, interviewing the boarders again and again, with no new information or events to spark up further interest. I also thought there were maybe too many characters; some of the boarders feel indistinguishable from one another, some of them play no significant role, and I had a hard time remembering who was who.
Overall, though, a witty, intriguing read, with an unexpected but sharp ending.
It's 1938 and young divorcee Gwynne Dacres finds herself in an unfortunate situation: she's lost her job and needs to find a new places to live. She reluctantly takes a two-room unit in an old mansion-turned-boarding house run by the elderly but rather unfriendly Mrs. Garr. Gwynne's relief at finding an inexpensive rental is short-lived, however, when a series of mysterious events starts to unfold. Soon after she's overcome with the feeling that a presence in the house is "listening" to the nightly comings and goings, she walks outside to find a man lying dead at the bottom of the hill the house overlooks. Mrs. Garr — watchful over something unnamed that she's hidden within the house and convinced one of her is boarders snooping around looking for it — vanishes and is also found dead in a gruesome scene not long after. And as Gwynne becomes more entwined in the case, the attacker makes desperate, violent attempts to get rid of her as well.
It's a twisty mystery, with the several boarders who live in the house with Gwynne as suspects: there's maid Mrs. Tewman and her husband; Mrs. Garr's niece Mrs. Halloran and her lazy husband; newspaper printer and wannabe charmer Hodge Kistler; the twitchy Mr. Grant; worn-down saleswoman Myrtle Sands; retired cop Mr. Waller and his wife; and standoffish Mr. Buffingham, whose son is a criminal. The local Lieutenant Strom becomes a frequent presence in the house as Gwynne uncovers more evidence and theories, and the more involved Gwynne becomes with the mystery, the more she learns about Mrs. Garr's past and the old lady's connection to an infamous kidnapping that took place 20 years earlier. But what does the past have to do with the present murders, and what was Mrs. Garr hiding in her home that was worth killing her for?
Gwynne's grit and determination to solve the mystery, her refusal to accept unsatisfying answers, is really what drives this novel. She's smart and can hold her own against the unfriendly boarders, the dismissive police, and the anonymous presence out there trying to kill her. It's a witty read, too — Gwynne's voice is often dryly humorous and sarcastic, and although some of the male characters feel smart-alecky and sexist, she does have a good repartee with them.
Certainly, Strom's methods in this case had depended strongly on accusation of everyone who came under suspicion.
The men stood about in the hall after that, talking with that insufferably superior indulgence men often use when some woman has exhibited weakness.
“Mrs. Sorry-for-the-Underdog speaks up from her corner. She’s sorriest of all when the underdog chloroforms her.”
“It was ether. A dry cleaner.”
“Well, you never heard of anyone being ethered, did you? Or dry-cleaned, did you? There isn’t any verb for that. It doesn’t sound lethal enough.”
I did find parts of this book to be quite slow; at points it felt like an endless parade of the cops coming and going, interviewing the boarders again and again, with no new information or events to spark up further interest. I also thought there were maybe too many characters; some of the boarders feel indistinguishable from one another, some of them play no significant role, and I had a hard time remembering who was who.
Overall, though, a witty, intriguing read, with an unexpected but sharp ending.
August 19, 2021
So glad I stumbled across this little gem. For the lover of Golden Age mysteries you cannot go wrong with Seeley's The Listening House.
Published in 1938, this book has all the great verbal byplay between characters you'd expect in a Nick and Nora, or a Katherine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy film. When men called girls "sister" or cops called them "lady" this is a mystery packed with nostalgia. Gwynne is a grown-up Nancy Drew, ready to take on the bad guy, if she could only discover who the bad guy (or gal) is.
See my highlights but for example these lines:
“If you weren’t at the bottom now I’d have you demoted.”
"I’d never been either place before, which shows how much money the men I know have."
- are 1930's spunk in a bottle.
This was a real page-turner for me. The creepy boarding house with its more creepy female manager, along with rooms filled with suspects. Pet lovers be aware that the animals in this book don't fare well.
The only think that was a bit huh was when Gwynne was attacked and wasn't immediately sent to the hospital. Don't put much stock in the medical side of things for the doctors (who are mostly off screen) seem to be idiots. I would guess Seeley knew little of medicine. Other than that it is a A+ for those who love the Golden Age mysteries.
Interestingly enough women in society had more freedom in the 30's, than they had later in the 50's. Which might be a carryover from the 20's when women were breaking stereotypical roles (see the women directors of black and white films during this time to get an idea of how their history was later wiped out). They held down jobs and were treated almost as equals to the male characters in the story. It's something refreshing with these 1930 mysteries.
A big step up from Gladys Mitchell (who always posed an interesting mystery but lets you down hard on the carry-through with stupid endings) and Patricia Wentworth (who can write lines that are gems but sticks to heroes who are Men and women who are wet hankies). Comparable to Elizabeth Daly and her Gamadge series, but she deals with high society (mostly) and this book is about the true working class.
Published in 1938, this book has all the great verbal byplay between characters you'd expect in a Nick and Nora, or a Katherine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy film. When men called girls "sister" or cops called them "lady" this is a mystery packed with nostalgia. Gwynne is a grown-up Nancy Drew, ready to take on the bad guy, if she could only discover who the bad guy (or gal) is.
See my highlights but for example these lines:
“If you weren’t at the bottom now I’d have you demoted.”
"I’d never been either place before, which shows how much money the men I know have."
- are 1930's spunk in a bottle.
This was a real page-turner for me. The creepy boarding house with its more creepy female manager, along with rooms filled with suspects. Pet lovers be aware that the animals in this book don't fare well.
The only think that was a bit huh was when Gwynne was attacked and wasn't immediately sent to the hospital. Don't put much stock in the medical side of things for the doctors (who are mostly off screen) seem to be idiots. I would guess Seeley knew little of medicine. Other than that it is a A+ for those who love the Golden Age mysteries.
Interestingly enough women in society had more freedom in the 30's, than they had later in the 50's. Which might be a carryover from the 20's when women were breaking stereotypical roles (see the women directors of black and white films during this time to get an idea of how their history was later wiped out). They held down jobs and were treated almost as equals to the male characters in the story. It's something refreshing with these 1930 mysteries.
A big step up from Gladys Mitchell (who always posed an interesting mystery but lets you down hard on the carry-through with stupid endings) and Patricia Wentworth (who can write lines that are gems but sticks to heroes who are Men and women who are wet hankies). Comparable to Elizabeth Daly and her Gamadge series, but she deals with high society (mostly) and this book is about the true working class.
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