Doppelganger, mousy woman, heart attack, poss. 1970's

I don't remember a lot about this book but here goes:

A very plain, mousy woman (mousy brown or dirty blond hair, dresses conservatively and mono-chromatically) has a doppelganger that is following her around. Finally she goes to a cabin or cottage by the sea and faces the doppelganger. I think the doppelganger might have been a person trying to scare her rather than a real ghost. At the end either the woman or her double dies of a heart attack because she had a weak heart. I believe the cover was mostly black, with some green and other dark colors. IIRC it had a drawing of a woman walking down a dark street in the rain. The cover was very 1970's.

This is a very, very long shot and highly unlikely, but perhaps The Woman In White? A few of those covers match your description, and the story has the same plot points you remember.

Also a long shot but could it be 'The Crystal Mouse' by Babs H Deal?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/crystal-mouse-Babs-Hodges-Deal/dp/0385058756/ref=sr_1_2?
s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327861021&sr=1-2

The protaganist does die of a heart attack, but in a carpark of a deserted condo.

Jacket Blurb;

The Crystal Mouse takes the reader to Cape Haze, Florida, a small coastal resort town, to unfold a tale of growing terror amid the luxurious surroundings of a retirement colony. It is the story of Sara Hillstrom, whose husband's unexpected death suddenly leaves her alone as the only resident in the newly completed high rise condo to which the couple had planned to move.

Covering a period of three days, days which become increasingly tense as sara hears voices and footsteps in the supposedly empty apartment next door, the book traces the rising panic as she begins to lose the composure and facade she has so carefully built up over the years.
While long forgotten events flood Sara's mind everyone she encounters in her daily life becomes suspect to her. And when she finds her crystal mouse, the prizeiece in her crystal collection, with it's head neatly severed from it's body she sees her very life at stake in the working out of events that take her on her final, terrible journey into fear.

Neither of those are it. The woman was a young woman, probably in her 20's, and not married. Now that I think about it more, the ending may have been that she thought she saw the doppelganger at the cottage during a storm and had a heart attack, but it was really her image in a mirror.

Ahh, sorry camracrazy from what you've written it seems a similar type of story. I'd be interested to know the title too. It sounds though that you might enjoy The Crystal Mouse ....sorry I couldn't help you :s

Sounds like the plot from a Hitchcock film!

I am wondering if it could be Doppelganger by Peter Van Greenaway but I can't find a description of the book. It was published in 1977.

I found this ;

http://www.librarything.com/work/6369626 but the covers don't match your description. You could try another LT group such as;

http://www.librarything.com/groups/booktalk; or

http://www.librarything.com/grohttp://www.librarything.com/groups/booktalkups/bo...

if you haven't already tried, these might be able to help;

http://www.goodreads.com/

...goodluck with your search. If you do find it would you post it's title ...i'd love to read it :)

>6 DugsBooks: Which plot were you referring to ...? I agree, I think would make an excellent film ;)

I haven't posted here for awhile, but I was thinking about this book the other day. The name Faustina popped into my head. I think the woman's name was Faustina or Faustine. Unfortunately most of the books I have been able to pull up with that name in the subject are religious books.

This might be Through a Glass Darkly about a woman named Faustina Crayle. It has a seaside cottage and a doppleganger (sort of). There's lots of info about it here.

Wow, I think that is the one I am looking for! Our library doesn't have it, but I should be able to get it through ILL. Thanks!

This cover looks like the one I was thinking of: http://www.amazon.com/Through-Glass-Darkly-HELEN-MCCLOY/dp/B001CEPDIW