The Haunted Hotel

 

Image credit: Dymocks

After the various bouts of fantastical adventures I’ve recently been on, I thought this week’s book needed to be different; a real change of pace. And so I lovingly fingered the spines of my library for quite a while before I plucked this week’s choice off the shelf: The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins. 

It’s a story about murder, madness, and memories that won’t rest… even in death. When the sinister Countess Narona marries Agnes Lockwood’s fiancé, she takes him to live with her and her brother in a rundown palace in Venice. Whilst there, a servant mysteriously disappears and the husband dies. Years later the palace is turned into a lavish hotel that manages to draw the Countess, Agnes, and the dead husband’s entire family to it. As the Countess slowly descends into madness, Agnes and the family suffer from various strange events in one room of the hotel and soon an investigation is underway to find out what really happened to the late Lord Montbarry and his servant. 

 This is a delightful little ghost story that reads a bit like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Deeply dramatic, but written in quite a nonchalant tone, The Haunted Hotel has everything you could want for a good afternoon read. 

Murder, mystery and madness flavour the story immensely as well as two heroines that are chalk and cheese in character and work to scare each other more than the ghost.

Image credit: GradeSaver

But perhaps what is best about this book is that it is left to the reader to determine the nature of the goings on and whether there is logic behind them or no. A Sherlock Holmes mystery minus the great detective, The Haunted Hotel is classically gothic in its sinister and mysterious central story, all of which is excitingly revealed in the climactic 'Fourth Part'. However, the book cleverly leaves off with a grand tie-up and characters are left with only their limited knowledge of the strange events to either dwell on or simply forget. Secrets are kept, horrors are hidden, and at the end of it all there is happiness and a tender little ending. 

Despite its seemingly dramatic content, I found The Haunted Hotel to be a really light and enjoyable read: engaging, filled with great imagery, and actually rather fun. Would recommend. 

Author: Wilkie Collins, 1878

Published: First published as a penny-dreadful serial series. Published in its entirety in 1889. This edition published by Penguin Group 2009.