SOLVED. Book about a boy who is sent to serve in a strange hotel. [s]

[Jeremy]

The book I'm looking for is a book that was made after 2000 at least. It is a teen/young adult fiction novel about a boy (possibly named Edwin) who is sent away to serve in a huge hotel by the sea. The hotel is powered by steam, and during the setting of the book, it's revolutionary. People are traveling from all around the world to soak in the hotel's pool, as they have some magic quality to them. On his way to the hotel, on a train the protagonist meets a sergeant in the army, who he befriends. At the hotel he's the resident magician's back stage assistant. The magician's stage hand is a beautiful redhead, who turns out to be a cursed doll from a ship wreck, and is killed by a three bladed dagger, given to the protagonist by the magician or sergeant, I don't really remember. The owner of the hotel never sleeps save for a five minute nap every hour. At one point in the novel the protagonist and his friend fight a giant crab in the lower recesses of the hotel. This is really all I remember about the book.

[Kris]

Withering-By-Sea by Judith Rossell? There are different cover images.

[Jeremy]

Kris wrote: "Withering-By-Sea by Judith Rossell? There are different cover images."

No, but thank you though!

[Ayshe]

The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor maybe?

[Kris]

That's a much better suggestion.

[Jeremy]

Ayshe wrote: "The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor maybe?"

Yes!!! Thank you very much!!!