The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Amazon | Project Gutenberg

This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous.

And with that begins a mystery that falls into the entertaining "mysterious house" category. Noises in the night, guests and servants who disappear, reappear, and generally behave oddly...it's all there. One of Rinehart's first novels, likely to entertain lovers of old-fashioned mysteries.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Project Gutenberg
"Oh, what I know about myself isn't really worth telling," said Anne eagerly. "If you'll only let me tell you what I imagine about myself you'll think it ever so much more interesting."

One of the most beloved characters in literature, red-headed orphan Anne Shirley (Anne with an e, that is) transforms the lives of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert and the little town of Avonlea with her zest for life, her vivid imagination and her knack for getting into comical scrapes. Anne and her adventures are nearly impossible to ever forget.

A free edition is not currently available in the Kindle store, though there are a number of inexpensive ones.

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

Project Gutenberg
A delightful little book for lovers of books—the story of a middle-aged spinster who impulsively buys a traveling bookshop, and learns the joys of sharing good literature from its pleasant, quirky former owner, "the Professor." There is currently no free edition in the Kindle Store; this inexpensive one is well-formatted.

My review of this book.

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Trollope's keen, low-key satire of 19th-century English high society and business centers around a wealthy financier of slightly doubtful origin, who nevertheless is able to persuade more and more prominent men to invest in his schemes, and whose daughter becomes the prize for those looking to make a wealthy match. Subplots and supporting characters also abound in this hefty, interesting Victorian novel.

My review of this book.

Wild Card Wednesday: The Complete Works of Jane Austen

Project Gutenberg
Today's Wild Card Wednesday features the complete works of another well-beloved author (whose complete works are well worth reading). Note that the large file from Project Gutenberg will probably take a long time to download. A search of the Kindle Store reveals many different inexpensive edition of Austen's complete works, but I have not tried out any of them and therefore can't say which has the best formatting (if you have a recommendation to make, let us know in the comments section!).

Fräulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
A delightful little book, told entirely through the sprightly letters of a German girl to a young Englishman. Though their relationship to each other undergoes changes during the course of the book, Rose-Marie's perceptive, often humorous and sometimes bittersweet chronicling of the ups and downs of her life is the book's center and its chief charm.

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
A beautifully written novel tracing the story of a Bohemian farm girl, Antonia, and how her life intertwines with that of the novel's narrator Jim Burden, an orphan raised on his grandparents' Nebraska farm.