The Grand Babylon Hôtel

Arnold Bennett stepped away from his usual careful realism to spin this brisk comic thriller about money, luxury, and mischief. When the American millionaire Theodore Racksole is refused a plain steak and a bottle of Bass at London’s most fashionable hotel, he buys the place outright on the spot. His whim quickly turns strange: a headwaiter who winks at the wrong moment, a clerk who vanishes, a German prince who never arrives, and a body that will not stay hidden. With his spirited daughter Nella, Racksole plunges into a plot of blackmail and royal intrigue that runs from the grand suites down to the Thames. Written in 1902, it remains one of Bennett’s most purely entertaining books. Free to read in PDF and EPUB.