First published in 1913, The Lodger is a psychological crime novel inspired by the real-life Jack the Ripper murders. It follows the story of the Buntings, a struggling couple in London who take in a mysterious lodger just as a string of brutal murders terrifies the city. As suspicions mount, the tension between morality, survival, and fear grips their home. 🕯️ A mysterious lodger. A city in fear. A landlady torn between suspicion and survival. In The Lodger , Marie Belloc Lowndes crafts a chilling psychological thriller rooted in Victorian London’s fog-shrouded streets. When Mr. Sleuth—a strange, secretive man—takes up residence in the Buntings’ home, a series of grisly murders begins to haunt the neighborhood. As the landlady slowly pieces together unsettling clues, she faces an agonizing moral dilemma: expose her guest or protect her family from ruin? 🕵️♂️ Inspired by the legend of Jack the Ripper, The Lodger delves deep into fear, guilt, and conscience, creating an atmosphere thick with dread and ambiguity. 🔪 A forerunner of the modern psychological thriller, this classic influenced Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent film and remains a landmark in crime fiction history.