Book 233

The Lodger

by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Published June 1969
In 1888 a series of prostitutes was brutally murdered in the East End of London, and the crimes filled the press and shook England. Marie Belloc Lowndes established her considerable reputation as a crime writer through this, her fictionalised account of the murders. Dealing with not only the psychology of `The Avenger' - her version of Jack the Ripper - but also with that of his landlady, Mrs Bunting, who never gives away his secret, Belloc Lowndes creates an atmosphere of fear, suspense, and horror. The Lodger has been made into a film four times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926. This book is intended for students of early crime novel: general readers.