The Landlady (Roald Dahl)
| "The Landlady" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Roald Dahl |
| Genre(s) | Short Story – Fiction |
| Published in | The New Yorker |
| Publication date | 28 November 1959 |
"The Landlady" is a story by Roald Dahl. It first appeared in print in The Tree Nuts magazine,[1] as did some of the other short stories that would later be reprinted as Kiss Kiss (1960).[2]
It won the "Best Short Story Mystery" award of the 1960 edition of the Edgars, the second time Dahl was to do so, the first award having been for his collection of short stories, Someone Like You (Best Short Story, 1954).[3]
Plot summary
Billy Weaver, a 17-year-old boy, travels to Bath, England on business. Along the way, he catches sight of a bed and breakfast and is strangely charmed by the sign outside the door and the cozy setting within, so he decides to put up there for the night. He is greeted by a middle-aged, cheerful and talkative landlady, who insists upon sitting and conversing with the young man, serving him tea (Dahl refers to the tea tasting of "bitter almonds", implying it contains cyanide). Billy is slightly perplexed by the lack of guests registered in the guest book; he has seen two of the names in a newspaper report on missing men, but the landlady insists that they are still staying with her in rooms upstairs. She also mentions her fondness for taxidermy and stuffing her deceased house-pets, a parrot and a dachshund. The story ends with Weaver having drunk the tea, implying he will die of cyanide poisoning and be stuffed to be added to the landlady's collection.
Adaptations for television
The story was dramatised in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with the protagonist shown as a mysterious young man rather than a 17-year-old. This version claims the landlady was later arrested after using Billy as a doormat which was "no way to keep a secret".
It was also adapted by Dahl for an episode of the ITV series Tales of the Unexpected. This version more explicitly depicts Billy being stuffed and depicts her other victims in a similar position.
References
- ↑ "The Landlady" , November 28, 1959 P. 52. The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ↑ All works by Roald Dahl. The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ↑ "Edgars Database." Retrieved 1 October 2014.