Wilkie Collins, The Haunted Hotel
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darkling_talesLJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dfordoom)
Such fame as Wilkie Collins enjoys today rests mostly on two books, The Woman in White (1859) and The Moonstone (1868). these sensation novels were immensely popular and were also an important stage in the development of modern crime fiction. His later works were less commercially successful and are much less highly thought of today, but The Haunted Hotel (published in 1878) is both surprisingly interesting and highly enjoyable.
It’s a fascinating mix of mystery fiction and the gothic, although of course such genres were quite unknown at the time. What makes it intriguing is that it takes Collins a very large portion of the book’s fairly short length to let us know exactly what type of story it is. And even at the end there remains some doubt. Until quite late in the tale we’re not even sure that anything criminal or mysterious has actually happened. We have a series of mildly questionable occurrences that appear to have plausibly innocent explanations, but while one such event might not arouse our suspicions, it’s the combination of events that causes us to have doubts. This technique actually works extremely well.
Lord Montbarry had been expected to marry his virtuous cousin Agnes Lockwood but a chance meeting in a casino with the exotic Countess Narona changes all that. He loses his head completely, his engagement with Agnes is broken off (much to the disapproval of his family) and he marries the countess despite her notorious reputation as an adventuress. Her brother the Baron Rivar has an equally unsavoury reputation, and when this ill-matched threesome sets up housekeeping in a run-down Venetian palace tensions begin to mount. Lord Montbarry’s family are increasingly uneasy, and this disquiet seems to be justified when the inexplicable disappearance of one of Lord Montbarry’s English servants and the precipitate departure of another is followed by news of his lordship’s death. His life had been insured for a considerable sum, but investigators can find no grounds for regarding his death as being due to anything but natural causes. A death certificate signed by one of the most eminent physicians in Italy seems to put the matter beyond doubt.
Some time after these sad events the palace in Venice has been transformed into an exclusive luxury hotel, and coincidentally one of the major shareholders in the hotel project is the brother of the late Lord Montbarry. This brother had as been in love with Agnes, and indeed still is in love with her. When the entire family, including Agnes, are invited to Venice for the grand opening of the hotel strange things start to happen. Are there supernatural influences at work? Was Lord Montbarry’s death as innocent as it appeared to be?
By the standards of many later crime novelists Collins was more interested in character and in social relations than in merely creating a puzzle to be solved. The Countess Narona is certainly a memorable personality. The combination of mystery and gothic elements and the introduction of what seem to be ghostly influences are handled quite skillfully. The way in which Collins unfolds his plot is more interesting than the plot itself, but it’s still an effective and highly entertaining story. Definitely a worthwhile read for fans of both mystery fiction and the gothic.
x-posted tovintage_crime
dfordoom)Such fame as Wilkie Collins enjoys today rests mostly on two books, The Woman in White (1859) and The Moonstone (1868). these sensation novels were immensely popular and were also an important stage in the development of modern crime fiction. His later works were less commercially successful and are much less highly thought of today, but The Haunted Hotel (published in 1878) is both surprisingly interesting and highly enjoyable.
It’s a fascinating mix of mystery fiction and the gothic, although of course such genres were quite unknown at the time. What makes it intriguing is that it takes Collins a very large portion of the book’s fairly short length to let us know exactly what type of story it is. And even at the end there remains some doubt. Until quite late in the tale we’re not even sure that anything criminal or mysterious has actually happened. We have a series of mildly questionable occurrences that appear to have plausibly innocent explanations, but while one such event might not arouse our suspicions, it’s the combination of events that causes us to have doubts. This technique actually works extremely well.
Lord Montbarry had been expected to marry his virtuous cousin Agnes Lockwood but a chance meeting in a casino with the exotic Countess Narona changes all that. He loses his head completely, his engagement with Agnes is broken off (much to the disapproval of his family) and he marries the countess despite her notorious reputation as an adventuress. Her brother the Baron Rivar has an equally unsavoury reputation, and when this ill-matched threesome sets up housekeeping in a run-down Venetian palace tensions begin to mount. Lord Montbarry’s family are increasingly uneasy, and this disquiet seems to be justified when the inexplicable disappearance of one of Lord Montbarry’s English servants and the precipitate departure of another is followed by news of his lordship’s death. His life had been insured for a considerable sum, but investigators can find no grounds for regarding his death as being due to anything but natural causes. A death certificate signed by one of the most eminent physicians in Italy seems to put the matter beyond doubt.
Some time after these sad events the palace in Venice has been transformed into an exclusive luxury hotel, and coincidentally one of the major shareholders in the hotel project is the brother of the late Lord Montbarry. This brother had as been in love with Agnes, and indeed still is in love with her. When the entire family, including Agnes, are invited to Venice for the grand opening of the hotel strange things start to happen. Are there supernatural influences at work? Was Lord Montbarry’s death as innocent as it appeared to be?
By the standards of many later crime novelists Collins was more interested in character and in social relations than in merely creating a puzzle to be solved. The Countess Narona is certainly a memorable personality. The combination of mystery and gothic elements and the introduction of what seem to be ghostly influences are handled quite skillfully. The way in which Collins unfolds his plot is more interesting than the plot itself, but it’s still an effective and highly entertaining story. Definitely a worthwhile read for fans of both mystery fiction and the gothic.
x-posted to
vintage_crime
