Halloween Horror: The Hungry Goblin by John Dickson Carr (1972)

It is 1896. Christopher 'Kit' Farrell arrives in London after years in the US where working as a newspaper-reporter, he had covered the civil war. His destination is Hotel Langham where he is supposed to meet old chum, Nigel Seagrave. Seagrave, an explorer, had been given up for dead in Africa soon after his marriage …