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 Mystery of a Hansom Cab
When an unidentified man is murdered with chloroform inside a moving horse-drawn carriage in 1880s Melbourne, a leading citizen is accused of murder.
Upon further investigation, the mystery takes a series of strange and unsettling turns, leading the investigators into dark, secret places they never imagined they would go.
Monsieur Lecoq
This 1868 French detective novel follows a young, ambitious police officer investigating a brutal triple murder at a notorious Parisian dive bar.
When the gravely wounded suspect claims to have acted in self-defense, but dies before he can say anything else, Monsieur Lecoq must search for the true identities of everyone involved to solve the case.
Rope
They believed they had committed the perfect crime. In fact, university students Wyndham Brandon and Charles Granillo were so assured of how expertly they had covered up their heartless murder of a fellow undergraduate, they decided to throw a dinner party. Using the wooden chest that contains the corpse as a table, they invite everyone the victim knew, including his father.
But the gruesomeness of their depravity soon proves to be their undoing…
Twenty-Four Hours
Who knew attending the dinner party of a scion from an old New York family could have such life-altering effects?
In this Jazz Age novel originally published in 1930, an evening of jealousies and social tensions over dinner on Sutton Place comes to an end but it’s the twenty-four hours that follow that prove most challenging for the guests, who confront infidelities, romance and for one hapless husband, accusations of murder.
