Those of us who are voracious readers can never get our fill. There is always some intriguing new mystery or riveting new thriller to devour, and an endless stream of new releases to add to our reading wish lists.
But sometimes you just crave a classic. These are the books that created the scaffolding for the genres we know and love—and they are just darn good.
Every month, we’re bringing you a selection of free ebooks to read that are perfect for all you timeless sleuths out there—lovers of all things mysterious and thrilling.
The Secret Agent
This 1907 political thriller follows a secret agent, Mr. Verloc, as he reluctantly becomes involved in an anarchist attempt to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. When the intended plot goes horribly wrong, this seemingly simple tale quickly spirals into a dark, deceptive world made of politicians, policemen, diplomats, and London’s fashionable society.
The Crime in Car 13
Published in 1930, this classic mystery introduces readers to Hamlin Douglas, a New York City reporter who constantly finds himself in trouble. After being placed on suspension for losing his temper at work, Ham decides to flee the city and retreat upstate. But as Ham boards his train at Grand Central, a ticket mix-up causes him to switch births with a strange Englishman. The next morning, the Englishman is found strangled to death and his portfolio, that he kept suspiciously close, is nowhere to be found.
Ham is now thrown into a hunt for the dangerous killer on board. He’ll have quite the story for the paper, if he survives…
The Crime at Black Dudley
Margery Allingham's first novel, published in 1929, follows George Abbershaw as heads out for a weekend at Black Dudley Manor, where his elderly Uncle Colonel Combe is hosting a lively social event. George is excited to spend some quality time with the woman his heart is set on, Meggie Oliphant. But his hopes are dampened when a murder spoils the party, and it soon becomes apparent that the house is under control of notorious criminals, with a killer in the group’s midst.
Trapped, George teams up with Albert Campion—a chatty party-crasher skilled in sleuthing—to try and stop the criminals’ diabolical plans and protect Meggie.
Witness on the Roof
In this 1925 work of classic crime fiction, Annie Haynes brings to life a woman, Lady Warchester, whose past childhood secrets threaten to haunt her.
Years after witnessing a brutal murder from a London rooftop as a little girl, Lady Warchester is forced to confront the killer she never reported when he re-emerges in her new life of high society.
