The Chuckling Fingers

this is an intricate mystery that is so well written, with perfect twists and red herrings plus an atmospheric small place with only a handful of suspects. she also did a masterful job with those suspects - i kept going back and forth between feeling like it was impossible for all of them to have done it to actually any of them could have done it, again and again. even though i was right in thinking i figured out the murderer pretty early on, i second guessed myself so many times that by the time it was revealed it was back to being a total surprise for me. the policeman was a great character as well, as one of the only ones who isn't part of the core group of suspects, and his unusual demeanor and the way he ran the case was great. i show more really enjoyed him, as well as the others. a great cast of characters, not all of whom were likable, but all of whom were perfectly written. it's 1941 and so unfortunately is not free of small racist statements. i think that's my only complaint about this, the writing and the mystery are otherwise so beautifully handled. plus this is chock full of strong women, not something we see often then, and definitely not an entire cast of them.

"My head ached, and my mouth felt like the inside of a ski boot, including the extra woolen sock." show less

Howard Haycraft was enthusiastic about Mabel Seeley, so I borrowed this book from the Open Library. I was surprised to find that it was a Had-I-But-Known, because Haycraft commented scathingly on this sub-genre of detective fiction, but I don't mind a good HIBK, and this was a good one.

The setting is a huge old house called The Fingers after the geological feature where it is sited, a rock formation on the shores of Lake Superior where the moving water makes an eerie, chuckling noise. The house is occupied by two branches of the Heaton family: the two daughters, Myra and Octavia, and son, Phillips, of Charles Heaton, and Bill, the son of Charles' brother, Dan Heaton. Charles' branch is declining, while Dan's branch is flourishing.

Bill show more has recently married Jacqueline, the widow of Myra's son, who has a little daughter, Toby, the loved grand-daughter of Myra. Things aren't going well at Fingers. Ann Gay, Jacqueline's cousin, as close as a sister, receives a letter telling her that Jacqueline needs her help. Jacqueline certainly does! There are some very nasty things going on at Fingers, and Jacqueline is the scapegoat.

I enjoyed this atmospheric, forties mystery, and will read more by Mabel Seeley. Many, many typos, however, in this epub. Not enough recognition in the OCR. show less

I adored Mabel Seeley’s most famous book, The Listening House, so I jumped at the chance to read The Chuckling Fingers when it was reissued.

The novel begins with a bit too much dum-dum-DUM foreshadowing. Our protagonist, Ann Gay, has rushed to Minnesota’s North Shore because her cousin Jacqueline has been subject to some dirty tricks. As soon as Ann starts seeing the dirty tricks for herself, though, things really get going. Someone’s trying to frame Jacqueline for some nasty vandalism — and eventually much worse. I won’t ruin the surprise by delivering more details. I will say that Seeley packs the novel with plenty of twists, and I never, ever guessed the culprit.

I had to give 4½ stars to The Chuckling Fingers by Mabel Seeley, which is a book I borrowed thanks to the NY Times 'Read Like the Wind' newsletter. She wrote this in 1941. I have to say that once again* the lack of technology made this one very enjoyable. I think the characters in this book have less depth than Du Maurier's books do, but the pacing of the action was awesome.

*I said the same thing about The Scapegoat.