“The Landlady” is a wonderfully suspenseful story because of the tension Dahl creates using various literary techniques. Although readers are never directly informed of young Billy Weaver’s fate, the suspense builds through juxtaposition, characterization, and setting.

The landlady’s boarding house appears to be a bright and joyful place of respite, its yellow chrysanthemums juxtaposed against the surrounding buildings, which consist of peeling paint and cracked facades. Even the weather provides a juxtaposition of setting. While Billy steps off the train into the “deadly cold” and “wind . . . like a flat blade of ice,” the boarding house provides a warming fire and a seemingly calm reprieve from the harsh elements outside. It is because of this contrast that the landlady is able to easily convince Billy to step inside and quickly “come in out of the cold,” which proves to be a fatal mistake. Before deciding to stay there, Billy also must consider his options. The landlady’s quiet boarding house is juxtaposed with The Bell and Dragon, a lively environment full of people and entertainment. This sense of community would actually provide Billy with a layer of safety and camaraderie, yet Billy chooses the anonymity of the landlady’s boarding house. This juxtaposition further highlights Billy’s naive understanding of the world; he is unable to comprehend the dangers he faces by isolating himself. Dahl highlights Billy’s sense of youthful innocence by contrasting him with the older landlady, who uses her experience to manipulate Billy through action and in conversation. She lures him in with a “fantastically cheap” price and then steers the conversation as Billy begins to question the identity of her former guests. Billy trusts her completely, in part because of her age, and is unable to foresee his own demise at the hands of a woman who seems akin to a friend’s mother.

Therefore, Dahl also uses this juxtaposition in age to further the suspense through the characterization of both the protagonist and antagonist. Billy demonstrates a sense of complacency when faced with warning signs that his perception of the landlady does not correspond to the evidence in front of him, and this creates a growing tension in the story. Instead of investigating her oddities, Billy dismisses her as “slightly dotty,” content with the cheap price he has secured for lodging. He notices that the house lacks any sign of other guests, yet when the landlady informs him that her two previous guests never left—that they are “on the third floor, both of them together”—Billy doesn’t press her further. The landlady then begins to speak of Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple in the past tense, commenting that “Mr. Temple . . . was a little older.” Still, Billy continues to sip his presumably poisoned cup of tea. The landlady recognizes that Billy views her as an authority figure and uses his sense of respect and decency to manipulate him. Her sexual objectification of Billy demonstrates a further sense of control that she exerts over him. The landlady requires a certain physical form in her victims, commenting to Billy that she keeps a room ready just in case an “acceptable young gentleman” will appear for a stay and that Billy is “just exactly right.” She allows herself to scrutinize Billy’s entire body as she takes him to his room. Billy remains fairly oblivious to her gestures, demonstrating his blind faith in a woman he categorizes as a motherly figure who will protect and safeguard him, a teenage boy traveling alone. As Billy continues to place faith in this woman despite a growing body of evidence that she is not trustworthy, the suspense intensifies.

The setting of the...