The Lodger

“Marie Belloc Lowndes' story explores the psychology of survival in the face of agonizing moral conflict.” -AudioFile

"One of the best suspense novels ever written."—The New York Times

"This is a beautifully wrought novel of psychological suspense that should have a place on any mystery buff's shelf of classics."—Chicago Sun-Times

The Ripper murders still arouse excitement, and The Lodger has lost none of its hushed, chilling terror over the years."—The Drood Review of Mystery

Inspired by the notorious Whitechapel murders, this 1913 thriller first appeared when Jack the Ripper's brutal crimes were well within living memory. Time has done nothing to diminish the popular fascination with the serial killings. This gripping tale of an elderly English couple's growing suspicions of their sinister boarder has served as the basis for several movies, including one of Alfred Hitchcock's first films.

The Lodger—Lowndes first novel and inspiration for the early Hitchcock film—is a story of suspense based on the Jack the Ripper murders. When two struggling hoteliers receive a new tenant, willing to pay a month in advance, they are thrilled by their good luck. But they soon begin to suspect that their mysterious new lodger might be the serial killer they keep hearing about in the papers. And if he is, can they afford to know?

“Marie Bellow Lowndes made use of the Ripper persona to such an extent that her preeminent novel ‘The Lodger’ has formed the basis of many of the speculative performances depicting the Ripper. Appearing first as a short story in the January 1911 edition of McClure’s magazine, her story was so effective in reaching the more or less contemporary audiences of the Ripper that she expanded it into a novel, which saw publication two years later. Detective fiction critics Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler describe ‘The Lodger’ as, ‘A psychological suspense thriller rather than a tale of detection,” and they point out that its effect is ’more a why-done-it’ than a ‘who-done-it.’ It is this approach, they argue that forms the basis of Bellow Lowndes’ best works.”

-Gary Coville, Patrick Lucanio, Jack the Ripper: His Life and Crimes in Popular Entertainment, 1999