The Haunted Hotel the tale of a haunting -- the tale of a crime. The ghost of Lord Montberry haunts the Palace Hotel in Venice ---. Montberry's beautiful-yet-terrifying wife, the Countess Narona, and her erstwhile brother are the center of the terror that fills the Palace Hotel. Are their malefactions at the root of the haunting -- or is there something darker, something much more unknowable at work? With a title like The Haunted Hotel you might be forgiven if you expected this book to be a ghost story. The books does have some dark and nasty scenes, -yes-there is a ghost as well, but The Haunted Hotel is a gothic mystery as well as a ghost story. The story is set in 1960 and the heroine is a lady named Agnes Lockwood, whose fiance; Herbert Westwick (Lord Montbarry) jilted her for the rather sinister Countess Narona. He died shortly afterwards, under suspicious circumstances, while the couple were on an extended stay in Venice, accompanied by the Countess" equally sinister brother (Baron Rivar). A further mystery surrounds the disappearance of Lord Montbarry's courier (Mr Ferrari). While in Venice Lord Montbarry stayed-and died-in an old, decaying palace. Later in the book the palace is refurbished as a hotel. Lord Montbarry's brother Henry has money invested in the project so, when his nephew gets married, and honeymoons in Europe, it seems only natural that the newlyweds should spend a little time at the new hotel. The rest of the family agree to meet the happy couple in Venice and...