The Lodger refashions the Ripper myth into domestic terror. When the cash-strapped Buntings let a room to the reserved Mr. Sleuth, a series of 'Avenger' murders in fog-bound London creeps toward their doorstep. Lowndes sustains dread through tight focalization-chiefly Mrs. Bunting's anxious gaze-measured rhythms, and scrupulous detail. An heir to sensation fiction and a precursor to psychological noir, it probes respectability, class precarity, and the press's manufacture of panic. Marie Belloc Lowndes-a Franco-English Catholic and seasoned journalist-drew on reportage and notorious crimes for narrative spark. A dinner-table tale of a landlady who suspected her lodger prompted a 1911 story, expanded into this 1913 novel. Sister to Hilaire Belloc, she brought a sharp sense of female domestic vulnerability and the ethics of witness, repositioning crime from the alley to the parlor. For readers who prize atmosphere over puzzle, this novel remains a bracing study of complicity, fear, and urban modernity's psychic toll. The Lodger is essential for students of crime fiction, admirers of Hitchcock's early cinema, and anyone curious how a quiet room can become the most perilous space in London. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.

Marie Lowndes Belloc (1868-1947) was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc. Active from 1898 until her death, she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incidents with psychological interest. Lowndes Belloc produced mainly mysteries, well-plotted and on occasion based on real-life crime, though she herself resented being classed as a crime writer. Her best known work is The Lodger, a haunting mystery tale that revolves around the Jack the Ripper murders.