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The Lodger (novel)The Lodger is a novel by English author Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes. The short story was first published in the January, 1911 edition of McClure's Magazine, in 1911. Belloc Lowndes wrote a longer version of the story, which was published as a series in the Daily Telegraph in 1913 with the same name. Later that year, the novel was published in its entirety by Methuen Publishing.

The story is based on the Whitechapel murders of 1888, committed by Jack the Ripper. While some of the traits of the novel's killer has been attributed to Forbes Winslow's findings about the original murderer, Lowndes was also influenced by the Lambeth Poisoner's physical appearance.

The book tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting, owners of a failing lodging in London, who see in Mr. Sleuth, their only guest in a long time, their chance to salvage their business. As new murders happen in the surrounding neighborhoods, the couple slowly begin to suspect their lodger might be the one responsible for them.

The Lodger is the first known novelization based on the Jack the Ripper story. The novel has been considered an example of how to write a psychological suspense due to its focus on the effects the serial killer has on the main cast of characters, instead of on the murders themselves. The novel was adapted multiple times to the cinema and radio, including Alfred Hitchcock's first publicly available film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog.

Plot
Illustration of the lodger by Henry Raleigh, 1911
The story is told from the point of view of Ellen Bunting, a former maid, and her husband and former butler, Mr. Bunting, who together are trying to manage a lodging. Struck by bad luck at their first attempt, as an epidemy develops near where their first lodging is, they decide to try one more time, with the remaining of their savings. When they are close to giving up on this endeavour, Mr. Sleuth appears and decides to stay there. He pays a month upfront and asks not to be disturbed while conducting his experiments.

Mrs. Bunting becomes increasingly suspicious of Mr. Sleuth, as he arrived at the same day a gruesome murder happened, and, while staying there, several more women are killed by a mysterious man. She notices that the man only leaves after it's dark and his experiments consists of burning his clothes. Despite her growing fear, she lets Mr. Sleuth stay, as they need the money.

Mr. Bunting, having received some extra money after working as a waiter for a party, invites his daughter from a previous marriage, Daisy, to come visit them for a few days during her 18th birthday. That night, while going home, he finds Mr. Sleuth on his way to the lodging. After a brief conversation, he passes Mr. Sleuth to open the lodging's front door, and accidentally touches Mr. Sleuth's pocket. The butler becomes suspicious after realizing it was drenched in blood, and even more so when two more bodies are found nearby on the next morning.

At the day of Daisy's birthday, both Mr. and Mrs. Bunting leave the house at the same time. When they meet each other and realize they left Daisy alone with Mr. Sleuth, they run back and, arriving there, the girl tells them about the conversation she had with the lodger, during which he asked if he could go to Madame Tussauds with Daisy and Ellen. While in the museum, they see the Head Commissioner of Police and other officers leaving. Believing he was betrayed by Mrs. Bunting, Mr. Sleuth threatens her and disappears, only for his body to be found five days later, having drowned in a river.

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