Jamaica Inn

by Daphne du Maurier (1936):

The Jamaica Inn in Daphne du

Maurier’s book exists in real life in Cornwall, Britain, proudly touting itself as “the most famous smuggling inn” and is open all year. Du Maurier’s novel is a period story set in the early 17th century about a group of wreckers who are out for blood. Wreckers run ships aground in the shallows by placing lights in the wrong places along the coast, kill the sailors as they attempt to swim to the shore, and steal the cargo on board.

Mary Yellan finds herself in this godforsaken place after the death of her mother, an inn where there are no guests and where an almost-seven-foot-tall bully seems to have everyone under his thumb.