25 Suspense Books for Free! [PDF]

Dr. Watson meets a strange man named Sherlock Holmes, and together they take on a murder case that leads from London to the American desert. A Study In Scarlet is the novel where it all started.

Arthur Conan Doyle published this in 1887 and created the most famous detective in the world. If you love mysteries, this is where to begin.

A broke student in St. Petersburg talks himself into committing murder, thinking he is too smart to feel guilty. Crime and Punishment follows the slow unraveling of a mind that cannot escape what it has done.

Fyodor Dostoevsky gets inside your head in a way few writers can. Published in 1866, this novel about pride, guilt, and what it costs to believe you are above the rules has not aged a day.

A young lawyer visits a castle in Transylvania and discovers his host is not quite human. Dracula is the vampire novel that started it all, and it is scarier than any movie version.

Bram Stoker published this in 1897, told through letters, diaries, and newspaper clippings. The format makes you feel like you are piecing the horror together yourself.

A young scientist builds a creature from dead body parts, then runs away in horror. Frankenstein is a story about what happens when you create something and refuse to take care of it.

Mary Shelley wrote this when she was just 18 years old. It became one of the first science fiction novels ever written, and it still makes you think about right and wrong.

Twelve cases, twelve puzzles, and the detective who sees what everyone else misses. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the collection that made Holmes a household name.

Arthur Conan Doyle gave readers short, sharp stories you can finish in one sitting. This is the perfect place to start if you've never read Holmes.

Medical students need bodies to study, and they don't ask where they come from. The Body Snatcher is a horror story rooted in real crimes that shook Edinburgh.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this chilling tale about how far people go when science needs what graveyards have. The final scene will give you chills.

A giant helmet falls from the sky and crushes a prince on his wedding day. The Castle of Otranto is the book that started the gothic horror genre.

Horace Walpole published this in 1764 and pretended it was an old Italian manuscript. Without this book, there would be no Dracula, no Frankenstein, no haunted house stories.

In a remote New England village, a strange boy grows at an unnatural rate, and something worse lives in the barn. The Dunwich Horror is a horror story about what happens when humans mix with forces beyond our world.

H.P. Lovecraft builds dread slowly, then lets it loose all at once. This is one of his most popular stories, and the final reveal is worth the wait.

A dying man is hypnotized at the moment of death, and something keeps him trapped between life and death for months. The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar is one of Poe's most disturbing stories.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote this so convincingly that some readers thought it was a true report. The final paragraph is one of the most horrifying endings in all of short fiction.

A crumbling mansion, a dying family, and a buried secret that won't stay buried. The Fall of the House of Usher is gothic horror at its finest, where the house itself feels alive and sick.

Edgar Allan Poe created an atmosphere so heavy you can feel it pressing down. This is one of the most famous horror stories in the English language, and it earns that reputation.

A dried-up human hand hangs on a wall as a trophy, but it may not be as dead as its owner thinks. The Hand is a creepy short story that moves fast and ends with a chill.

Guy de Maupassant was a master of the short story, and this tale proves he could write horror just as well as realism. You can finish it in one sitting.

A family curse says a giant hound haunts the moors and kills every Baskerville heir. The Hound of the Baskervilles sends Sherlock Holmes to find out if the danger is real or just a clever trick.

Arthur Conan Doyle mixed detective fiction with gothic horror in this novel. It is the most famous Sherlock Holmes story ever written, and for good reason.

A scientist finds a way to make himself invisible, but he cannot figure out how to turn back. The Invisible Man is a thriller about what happens when power comes without limits.

H. G. Wells published this in 1897, and the question it asks still matters. If no one could see what you did, would you still do the right thing?

A shipwrecked man lands on an island where a scientist is turning animals into creatures that walk and talk like humans. The Island of Doctor Moreau is a horror story about science going too far.

H. G. Wells published this in 1896, and it sparked debates about ethics that are even more relevant now with modern genetic research.

Something ancient and evil lives beneath the English countryside. The Lair of the White Worm is a gothic tale about a creature hiding in plain sight among polite society.

Bram Stoker wrote this as his last novel before he died. It is strange and wild, and fans of Dracula will find the same dark energy here.

A holy man everyone admires gives in to temptation and falls into crimes so dark they shocked readers in 1796. The Monk is gothic horror at its most extreme.

Matthew Gregory Lewis wrote this when he was only 19 years old. It is wild, scary, and still one of the boldest gothic novels ever published.

A huge diamond stolen from India goes missing on the night it is given as a birthday gift. The Moonstone is often called the first detective novel in the English language.

Wilkie Collins published this in 1868, and it set the template for every mystery novel that followed. The clues are fair, the suspects are many, and the solution is a genuine surprise.

Two women are killed in a locked room in Paris, and the police have no idea how. The Murders in the Rue Morgue is widely considered the first modern detective story ever written.

Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective genre with this 1841 tale. The solution is wild, and you can see the roots of Sherlock Holmes and every mystery that came after.

A woman is attacked inside a locked room with no way in or out. The Mystery of the Yellow Room is one of the most famous locked-room mysteries ever written.

Gaston Leroux, the same author who wrote The Phantom of the Opera, crafted a puzzle that plays fair with the reader and still manages to surprise.

A masked figure lives beneath the Paris Opera House and will do anything to make the woman he loves a star. The Phantom of the Opera is a story of obsession, music, and hidden darkness.

Gaston Leroux published this in 1910, and it inspired the famous musical and many films. The original novel is darker and more suspenseful than any stage version.

A beautiful young man wishes his portrait would age instead of him, and he gets what he wants, but the price is his soul. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel about vanity, pleasure, and moral decay.

Oscar Wilde shocked Victorian England with this story in 1890. It is witty, dark, and asks a question we still think about: what would you give up to stay young forever?

A respected doctor creates a potion that sets free the darkest part of himself, and he cannot put it back. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story that gave us the most famous split personality in all of fiction.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this in 1886, and it can be read in one sitting. It is a fast, chilling look at the good and evil living inside every person.

A man kills his neighbor, hides the body under the floor, and is sure he got away with it until he starts hearing a sound. The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about guilt that eats you alive from the inside.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote this in 1843, and it still makes hearts race. It takes only minutes to read, but the ending stays with you for years.

A young governess arrives at a country house and begins to see ghosts that threaten the children in her care. The Turn of the Screw is a ghost story that keeps you guessing what is real and what is not.

Henry James published this in 1898, and readers still debate its meaning. It is one of those rare horror stories that scares you with what it does not say.

A drawing teacher meets a strange woman dressed in white on a dark road, and his life is never the same. The Woman in White is a mystery built on secrets, stolen identities, and a villain you will love to hate.

Wilkie Collins published this in 1859, and people lined up to read each new chapter. It is one of the first suspense novels ever written, and it still keeps readers up at night.