Line #10 Literature/TheLodger

Context Literature / TheLodger

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1	[[quoteright:314:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_lodger.jpg]]
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3	''The Lodger'' is a 1914 novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, and the inspiration for the Creator/AlfredHitchcock film and subsequent films of the same name.
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5	The story revolves around a retired couple, both formerly servants who make extra income by renting out rooms in their home. Unsuccessful as landlords and facing the prospect of hard times, they are saved when a single gentleman rents their upstairs rooms. This young man is eccentric and has unusual requirements, but he pays very handsomely. Meanwhile, a series of murders are being committed by "The Avenger"...
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8	!!This novel contains examples of:
9	* AccompliceByInaction: A major source of guilt for the Buntings.
10	* AffablyEvil: The lodger is polite, quiet, and regularly pays rent. He's also [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper]].
11	* AntiClimax: See ContrivedCoincidence below for the exact details, but the short version is that [[spoiler: ''none'' of the Buntings are ever genuinely physically endangered by the Lodger, who [[DirtyCoward not only runs away]] at the first sight of the law but is also KilledOffscreen before he can even ''think'' of making good on his payback threat.]]
12	* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler: By sheer happenstance the Buntings and Mr. Sleuth visit Madame Tussauds on the same day as London's Head Commissioner of the Police and the Paris Prefect of Police. Sleuth assumes Mrs. Bunting ratted him out to them and flees.]]
13	* TheEyesHaveIt: Played with. One of the first things Mr. Sleuth does upon arriving at his new rooms is turn all the pictures of women to face the wall, claiming that the "women's eyes follow him".
14	* GenreSavvy: The Buntings are quick to suss out the [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper identity of their lodger]], and the subsequent drama comes from them coping with the situation.
15	* HeManWomanHater: Mrs. Bunting notices early on that Mr. Sleuth obsessively reads the most misogynist passages of the Bible.
16	* MeaningfulName: The lodger gives his name as "Mr. Sleuth". The story is about the Buntings' accidentally sleuthing out his identity.
17	* OhCrap: At one point the Buntings inadvertently go out to run errands at the same time. Upon seeing each other in the street they realize they just left their daughter [[AloneWithThePsycho alone with their lodger.]]
18	* SelectiveObliviousness: The Buntings deliberately turn a blind eye to Mr. Sleuth's odd behavior, such as going out at odd hours, burning his clothes, coming home with blood on his jacket...
19	* UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming: Mrs. Bunting does this at one point when Mr. Bunting discusses the latest "Avenger" killing, presumably to assuage her guilt about hosting her murderer under her roof.

Context Literature / TheLodger