One of Wilkie Collins' shorter novels, The Haunted Hotel was published in 1878 as a monthly serial in six parts in Belgravia magazine. Most of the dramatic and sensational parts of the novel are set in Venice, and feature more of an emphasis on the supernatural than is usual in Collins' work. The story deals with the death of the wealthy Baron Montbarry in a hotel in Venice. This follows his inexplicable breaking-off of a previous engagement to a pretty young woman and his subsequent marriage to a mysterious Countess, an unhealthy-looking widow. Montbarry's younger brother, and the young woman he had spurned, set out to discover more about his death. The novel is considered by at least one biographer to be something of a potboiler, written because Collins was desperate for money. So desperate was he that he subsequently sold the translation and international rights to the novel, getting himself into legal trouble with the original publisher for doing so without their permission. Wilkie Collins (died 1889) was one of the most distinguished authors of the Victorian age. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, The Haunted Hotel exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.
