The Haunted Hotel

'The Haunted Hotel' is a suspenseful and captivating story of a family who has been told of their relative's sudden death whilst on his honeymoon in Italy. Feeling rather suspicious of his new wife, Countess Narona, they decide to set out to Italy themselves to uncover the mystery behind his death. On reaching his palace of residence in Venice which is converted into a hotel after his death each of them starts experiencing something strange and paranormal, and they begin to question whether their relative, Lord Montbarry, really died in the way that have been described to them...

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was an English novelist, playwright and short story writer best known for 'The Woman in White' (1859) and 'The Moonstone' (1868). The last has been called the first modern English detective novel. Born to the family of a painter, William Collins, in London, he grew up in Italy and France, learning French and Italian. He began work as a clerk for a tea merchant. After his first novel, 'Antonina', appeared in 1850, he met Charles Dickens, who became a close friend and mentor. Collins achieved financial stability and an international following with his best known works in the 1860s. His works were classified at the time as 'sensation novels', a genre seen nowadays as the precursor to detective and suspense fiction.