The Beetle
Richard Marsh
(Independently published, March 16, 2020)
The story is told from four points of view, which generally flow from each other with limited scene repetition. In order, the four narrators are Robert Holt, Sydney Atherton, Marjorie Lindon, and Augustus Champnell.[2] The story is written down as elaborate testimonies gathered by Champnell, who is a detective and who, despite only appearing during his own narration, provides the context of the antagonists' motives and the wrap-up of how the rest of the cast fared after the adventure. The events described are insinuated to be based on fact and several names used in the novel are supposedly altered to protect the identities of those involved. The year is not given, or rather left ambiguous at 18—, but everything takes place over a three-day period around 2 June on a Friday.Robert Holt, a clerk who has been looking all day for a place to work, which he hasn't had for a long time, seeks shelter and food at a workhouse in Fulham. He is, however, denied, and in the dark and rain walks on looking for another place to stay. He comes upon a road occupied by only two houses, one of which in terrible state. He finds that one to have the window open and invites himself in. This proves to be a mistake, as he comes face to face with what is later revealed to be a beetle. He is hypnotised into paralysis and the beetle takes their human form again, if covered largely by a blanket; an unsightly man with distinctly female behaviour who is later referred to as the Arab. The Arab accuses Holt of being a thief and promises to treat him like one, though they make clear they have use for them.