I just finished Hotel Dusk, and one thing was still unclear to me.

Where/how did Grace get that tape? Did she get it from somewhere? How, and from who?

Here's what's on the tape


Seems like Dunning talking to someone about his painting, right? But Grace only got involved in the whole Nile and Osterzone thing after Kevin lost the lawsuit 2 years ago, right? And by this time Osterzone isn't painting anymore. So I don't think she was the one who bugged the room.

Dunning said Grace came up to him 2 years ago and asked for a painting, so I assumed Grace got the money by selling that painting. At first I thought she was blackmailing when she said she knew his secret, but then he doesn't have that much money, so I don't think that was it. So then, why did she mail the tape to Iris and tell her to give it to the man who paints angels if she doesn't hear Grace by Christmas?

Was Grace planning on something that was gonna be done by Christmas?

Also, Dunning presumably stole the tape and listened to it, was that an important plot point? How did he know about the tape in Iris's room to steal it?

Yeah, I seriously didn't understand this part either. There is no reason I can think of for Grace to want to blackmail Dunning further, and I have no idea how she got the tape or how in the hell Dunning knew it was in Iris's room.

There might be hints pointing to a real answer, but all I can figure is that they just threw it in there to further clue you in on the fact that Dunning is Osterzone+to give you an excuse to dig into Iris (her past). Just a convenient plot device that doesn't make a ton of sense, much like many of the guests.

Yeah, thinking on it, it's almost as if the tape is there to get Iris to Hotel Dusk so we can dig up Grace's past and unlock Kevin's secrets too... and make yet another connection to the angel painting... still, kinda disappointing it doesn't really have a good explanation =(

Yeah, but wasn't the tape sent to Iris by Grace, who had told her to meet at Hotel Dusk, but actually never made it there?
Though, we don't know why Grace did what she did.