Project Gutenberg | Kindle
An ambitious young reporter and a famous police detective attempt to solve a mysterious murder attempt on a woman in what is regarded as one of the first "locked-room" mystery novels, from the author of The Phantom of the Opera.
(Also available in the original French.)
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
For the first time, I'm breaking tradition here at Toll Free Books and sharing a book I haven't read myself. But knowing how cat-lovers abound, and seeing the names of some of the authors in this anthology, I ventured a guess it would be fun. Thirteen stories by a range of authors including Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Honoré de Balzac, Mary Wilkins Freeman and Booth Tarkington, all on the subject of cats!
Amazon (Translation I) | Project Gutenberg (Translation II)
Orphaned Heidi, sent to live with her reclusive grandfather in the Swiss Alps, quickly grows to love her mountain home—but then is whisked away to the city, where she finds new friends and adventures, but still longs to return to the mountains.
Note: the Project Gutenberg edition (and a second free edition on Amazon labeled 'Gift Edition') is an entirely different translation. The first Kindle edition appears to be the same or very similar to the version I read and loved as a child, and my own personal opinion, after comparing the opening page of both versions, is that it's the better one. Your choice!
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
In this classic 18th-century satire, a comedy of mixed identities results when Captain Jack Absolute's father announces that he wants to arrange a marriage for him...with the very same girl Jack has been secretly courting under an assumed name. The most hilarious scene-stealing character is Mrs. Malaprop, whose constant misuse of words led to the coining of the term "malapropism" after her name!
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Margaret Junkin Preston, the wife of Virginia Military Institute founder Colonel J.T.L. Preston and sister-in-law of Stonewall Jackson, was known as the "Poetess of the Confederacy" for her epic poem Beechenbrook and other war-related poems (some of which are included in this volume). Beechenbrook follows the fortunes of a Virginia soldier's wife and her family through the hardships and heartaches of the Civil War—a moving, poignant story in verse.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
In this collection of short mystery stories, an old man sits in the corner of a café, tying knots in a bit of string, and discusses baffling crimes with a lady journalist, offering his own suggestions about the true solutions.
Project Gutenberg
When timid Elizabeth Ann's aunt becomes ill, she is sent to live with cousins she has never met on their Vermont farm. Though she dreads it at first, Elizabeth Ann—now called Betsy—gradually comes to love her new home and discovers confidence and adventures she could never have dreamed of.
A free edition is not currently available on Kindle.
Amazon | Project Gutenberg
A charming short comedy of what ensues when a distracted young playwright and an egotistical actor both become infatuated with a young understudy actress in their play.
