Eleven Came Back

 Eleven Came Back (1943) by Mabel Seeley

When Martha and Dane Chapple, owners of a small radio network in the Minneapolis area, receive a phone call from their top investor, George Talbot, telling them that he's pulling out and selling his share to Mrs. Parent, a power-mad, vindictive woman, they have his call traced. It winds up he was calling from Delphine Parent's Wyoming ranch, the Lady Luck. So, the Chapples hustle on out to the ranch to try and talk Talbot out of the deal.

But Talbot is adamant that he wants out and Delphine is on a mad, power-seeking trip. She wants to hold the strings to a radio network that will allow her to control what the people hear. The Chapples try to convince her that their small network will never give her the influence she seeks, but Delphine knows what she wants and refuses to be swayed. She tries to smooth everything over by inviting Martha and Dane to join her house party as guests. They grab at the chance to have more time to persuade either Talbot or Delphine.

The other guests include what appears to be hangs-on, sycophants, or victims of her dictatorial ways. Among them are her current husband, the rich Jim Parent (from whom she gets the funds to pursue her "interests"); Delphine's ex-husband Jock Huddleston and his gold-digging trophy wife Deidre; Rolf Gaden, a Norwegian refugee who speaks in aid of a fund for other refugees, Evelyn Anson, Delphine's secretary, and Lolly Sheehan who seems to have been invited purely for entertainment value. After a somewhat intense dinner, where Delphine reveals that she once knew a blackmailer who had photographic proof that someone was a murderer. Martha is sure the story was told for a purpose and the atmosphere immediately changed from that moment on. 

The group is maneuvered into a moonlight ride up the mountain. Twelve riders (ten house guests and their hosts plus two ranch hands to guide and manage the horses) head up the mountain, but only eleven come back. In the middle of a (insane to my mind) madcap game of hide and seek in the darkness, Lolly falls to her death from a bridge overlooking a falls. When the sheriff and park rangers who are called to the scene investigate it appears that no one was close enough to have had a hand in the death. A verdict of suicide is brought in. But Martha is sure it was murder and so is Dane and others in the party. When Delphine is killed next, the evidence all seems to point to Dane. After all, he really didn't want the deal between George and Delphine to go through did he? Martha knows he didn't do it, but can she find a way to prove it?

There are several things to like about this one. First, the setting and atmosphere are terrific. Set in the shadow of the Grand Tetons, Seeley does a great job setting her scene. And tense atmosphere is also built and managed well. Seen through Martha's point of view, we really get the feeling that Dane is going to be railroaded into being arrested. It was very interesting that the first death was not the expected death. It took a while to figure out why Lolly had to die and the explanation works. But the reader still expects Delphine to be bumped off first.

A few things kept this from rating any higher. Although Martha's point of view helps set up the atmosphere, she isn't really a lead character that I took to. I definitely didn't want Dane set up for a crime he didn't commit, but I was pretty meh when it came to rooting for Martha. She comes across as very scatter-brained and indecisive. Dane must be the brains behind their radio network success. And I'm baffled by this bunch of adults playing hide and seek on the mountainside. I'm not saying that adults might not be silly and do such a thing, but after meeting this group I really find it difficult to believe that they would. It's a perfectly good  device for getting the group separated and nobody really knowing where anyone else was--but it would have gone down better if the groundwork had been laid that made me believe they would do it. 

Side Note: I'm really curious how Jim Parent managed to get so rich. He's Native American and stereotypically depicted (disappointingly so) as illiterate, drunk, and lazy. Did the man get lucky and just trip over a hunk of gold?

This was the first Seeley mystery I ever read. Somehow, even though my brief pre-blogging review said "Not quite as good as anticipated. But a solid mystery," it spurred me on to look for other mysteries by her. I'd say my feeling is about the same. It's a good solid mystery--one I'd like to be able to rate higher, but just can't. ★★★

First line: To begin with, there wasn't anything about our going to the Lady Luck to indicate that we were getting into murder

Last lines: Free. That was a word. Free.

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Deaths =  5 (one fell from height; one alcohol poisoning; one hit on head; one suicide; one shot)