Mussoorie's grande dame Victorian hotel with a genuine Agatha Christie connection
The Savoy is one of the oldest hotels in Mussoorie, built in 1902 in the grand colonial hill-station style — white-painted stone, wide verandahs, manicured gardens, views over the Doon Valley. It has been through several incarnations and management changes over the decades, but retains the atmosphere of a place with a long and occasionally scandalous history.
Even if you are not staying here, the hotel is worth a look — the public areas and gardens recall the era when Mussoorie was a summer retreat for British India. Tea on the veranda with the valley laid out below is a particular pleasure. The hotel is on the Mall Road near Library Bazaar.
A story
In 1911, a wealthy American visitor named Frances Garnett-Orme was found dead in her room at the Savoy with an almost empty bottle of prussic acid beside her. The Savoy's resident doctor was later arrested for poisoning her. The case became one of colonial India's most sensational murder trials, and is said to have inspired Agatha Christie's first novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" — though Christie is also associated with the Savoy in London. The Savoy Mussoorie's connection is a matter of some debate, which makes it no less enjoyable to believe.