The Listening House
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
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…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in 1938, this smart, stylish debut from Seeley (1903–1991)—the Mystery Writers of America's inaugural director—finds 26-year-old divorced copywriter Gwynne Dacres unemployed after an embarrassing typo slips past her into the newspaper. To stretch her savings until potential employers forget the gaffe, Gwynne trades her apartment for a room in a converted mansion owned by Harriet Garr—an older woman who seems extraordinarily paranoid about tenants snooping through her things. Gwynne's quarters are pleasant, but she frequently feels like the place is somehow aware of her every move. When a string of unsettling crimes occur in and around the house, Gwynne resolves to let the Gilling City police investigate. Then Mrs. Garr dies under suspicious—and gruesome—circumstances, prompting Gwynne to team up with roguish ex-reporter Hodge Kistler to probe their fellow lodgers' histories and alibis. Secrets abound, studding Seeley's multilayered mystery with red herrings. Like her tenacious heroine, Seeley's writing showcases intelligence and a razor-sharp wit. This exceptional reissue is certain to win Seeley a whole new generation of fans.
