Mabel 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.