The Landlady (short story)

"The Landlady"
Short story by Roald Dahl
Language	English
Publication
Publisher	The New Yorker
Publication date	28 November 1959

The Landlady is a short story by Roald Dahl. The story focuses on a 17-year old boy named Billy Weaver who has just stepped into the world of work. Arriving in Bath for a business trip, he looks for a place to stay, notices a bed and breakfast sign and "his eye was caught in the most peculiar manner by the small notice (...) forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house". He presses the bell and before he can lift his finger from the bell-button the door opens and the middle-aged landlady appears. She treats him generously, giving him a floor of his own to stay on, and charging him much less than he expected. However, she also gives off a creepy feeling (foreshadowing), which although apparently Billy does not catch, appears quite evident to the reader. In the logbook he sees that only two other guests have stayed there, one older, the other younger, and both having arrived earlier than 2 years prior. Billy finds the names familiar from the newspaper, and on further reflection considers that they "were both famous for the same thing". Suspicion continues to generate in the reader when the landlady makes a comment about one of the two boys in past tense, to which Billy comments that he must have only left recently. The landlady replies that he never left, and nor had the other. Billy then notices that the dog by the fireplace and the parrot he had noticed earlier were stuffed. The landlady says that she did it herself, and he is impressed. She then tells him, "I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away", and offers him more tea. Billy refuses because the tea "tasted faintly of bitter almonds", which is characteristic of potassium cyanide.

"The Aftermath"

Though it is never said in the story, the most common guess from most readers is inferred when the character, "Billy" mentions that his tea has a "bitter almond" taste which is a notable event. In many suspense and mystery stories, potassium cyanide is said to have a "bitter almond" taste, such as the one Billy described. Knowing this, the reader can infer that the woman has poisoned Billy, and will proceed to stuff him as if he were a dead animal. There is also a comment that one of the other guests had perfect skin, with no marks at all. Though, some suggested that the landlady has necrophilia, as she stores dead bodies and preserves them with taxidermy, which may result as necrophilic actions. Her fingernails were red, which may suggest that she had painted her nails with the blood of her victims, but probably not because the last victim was over 2 years old. One may also note that her hands were so white because the formaldehyde, used for stuffing, bleaches the hands. Also to be noted: When Billy sits close to his landlady, he noticed a smell "like pickled walnuts, new leather, or hospital halls". This could provide to the fact that she smells of the formaldehyde used to preserve her victims. No one is ever certain. There are different theories for her motive, one is that she had lost a seventeen year old son in the war (inferred from her saying that Billy's age is perfect and his age is 17) and did not get his body since it was probably blown up. So she waits until she finds a young man that looks like her dead son, and warmly welcomes him into her home. Another possibility is that the old lady is just off her rocker. Another assumption is that the lady plays with her victims since she seemed lonely.