Classic Mysteries: 140 books

The edgiest pulp novel ever written. Fast One was originally a collection of stories featuring the gambler/gunman Kells. This work has been occasionally republished. Raymond Chandler considered this novel "the high point in the ultra hard-boiled manner." Little is known about the life of...

Lord Peter Wimsey investigates the sudden appearance of a naked body in the bath of an architect at the same time a noted financier goes missing under strange circumstances. As the case progresses it becomes clear that the two events are linked in some way. Lord Peter Wimsey is first introduced in...

The girl's name is Penny Lane (really!). Homicide Johnny West had been called in to solve the murder of Harry Waters whose newspaper columns had ruined many men. But the web of violence grew and murder followed murder until Johnny and his co-worker, Penny Lane, found out they were next in line.

SHE WAS FIFTEEN AND RATHER YOUNG TO DIE... but the syndicate had so ordained. For beneath that gorgeous hide of Leda's lay all the instincts of a Borgia. Extraordinarily, she knew enough to be blackmailing some very big boys, and for that her pretty neck had to be snapped. They chose Steve Garrity...

A most ingenious and absorbingly interesting story. The readers are held spellbound until the last page.

The story opens at the tables at Monte Carlo where a young Englishman is succeeding in breaking the bank. That evening a murder is committed in a villa near the town, under the most curious circumstances, in which a girl is deeply involved. Hanaud, the great detective, is put upon the trail. Through...

Marty Donovan is a cop who happens to be in love with Lenore, his partner's wife. When the two cops can't crack a tough case, Lenore suggests a stakeout that's not approved the the department. Her husband is killed, and Marty begins a complicated cover-up as the tries to find the killer.

Seven lurid sexy crime/detective tales by Paul Cain.

It happened in Hotel Duarte, a bullet length from the Great White Way, where life begins at eight-forty—and often ends by midnight with a couple of murders. For instance, the murder of a dumb welterweight who took his dive—and got paid off in lead. He was the brother of Johnny Killain's gal, and...

Featuring the first appearance of Hercule Poirot. In the midst of World War I, the residents of Styles wake one morning to find Emily Inglethorpe has been fatally poisoned. Captain Hastings, staying with the family, enlists the help of his old friend, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. With the evidence...

This was one of the first books published about the UFO phenomena. On one hand we can see the birth of a key modern mythology. On the other, there is a body of almost naive evidence in this text unpolluted by that very mythology. The case studies are real. The witnesses were highly reliable. These...

A uniquely intriguing tale of mystery and suspense, by Edgar Wallace.

Slightly tragic romance full of action, adventure, mystery and suspense.

Two wealthy sisters run into a nightmare of trouble when a scheming husband dishes up a murder and blackmail stew, and it's up to private detective Lacey to serve the solution!  It begins with Lacey discovering a dead body in his office...