«The Landlady» is a short story by Roald Dahl, about a young Billy Weaver who, during his business trip in Bath, ends up in a very strange Bed and Breakfast. The woman who owned the motel offered Billy a «fantastically cheap» price for his stay. The landlady’s behavior was odd from the beginning but as their conversation proceeded it got even more strange. After Billy looks into the guestbook and sees the only two names written there, we can assume who the landlady really is. With neither of the previous guests checked in it is not difficult to guess, that both of them to that day remained in the motel.
The story remains unfinished, letting the readers figure out how it ends themselves. Since the landlady got very close to murdering our main character, the ending is most possibly a traumatic one. Roald Dahl has many reflections of his traumatic childhood in his stories. I found the landlady to be very interesting, with the perfect mystical storyline, which allows you to solve the crime before it is revealed.
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