Library
Discover romance stories by category.
Mystery & Suspense
The House of Mirth
She was born to marry rich, until society destroyed her. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Mill on the Floss
Love, pride, secrets, and second chances collide in a timeless emotional drama. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Circular Staircase
A secretive house, a dangerous clue, and a truth no one wants exposed. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Man in Lower Ten
A secretive house, a dangerous clue, and a truth no one wants exposed. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Bat
A secretive house, a dangerous clue, and a truth no one wants exposed. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
A secretive house, a dangerous clue, and a truth no one wants exposed. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Secret Adversary
A secretive house, a dangerous clue, and a truth no one wants exposed. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Everyone lied. One murder changed everything. A classic public-domain story presented for modern NovelLuma readers who love emotional tension, secrets, society drama, mystery, and unforgettable heroines.
Mystery & Suspense
Anne Hereford
MRS. EDWIN BARLEY. An express train was dashing along a line of rails in the heart of England. On one of the first-class carriages there had been a board, bearing the intimation 'For Ladies Only,' but the guard took it off when the train first started. It had come many miles since. Seated inside, the only passenger in that compartment, was a little girl in deep mourning. All was black about her save the white frills
Mystery & Suspense
The Woman in White
(of Clement’s Inn, Teacher of Drawing) This is the story of what a Woman’s patience can endure, and what a Man’s resolution can achieve. If the machinery of the Law could be depended on to fathom every case of suspicion, and to conduct every process of inquiry, with moderate assistance only from the lubricating influences of oil of gold, the events which fill these pages might have claimed their share of the public a
Mystery & Suspense
Jezebel's Daughter
In the matter of Jezebel's Daughter, my recollections begin with the deaths of two foreign gentlemen, in two different countries, on the same day of the same year. They were both men of some importance in their way, and both strangers to each other. Mr. Ephraim Wagner, merchant (formerly of Frankfort-on-the-Main), died in London on the third day of September, 1828. Doctor Fontaine--famous in his time for discoveries
Mystery & Suspense
The Law and the Lady
“FOR after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands; even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” Concluding the Marriage Service of the Church of England in those well-known words, my uncle Starkweather shut up his book, and looked at me ac
Mystery & Suspense
Lost Man's Lane
Amelia Butterworth enters a case that has made Lost Man's Lane a name whispered with fear. Principled, observant, and unwilling to accept easy answers, she is drawn toward a mystery shaped by secrecy, local dread, and the uneasy behavior of people who know more than they say. As private histories and public respectability begin to clash, she tests every clue, every silence, and every social performance around her. The atmosphere is tense, personal, and full of danger hiding behind ordinary manners.
Mystery & Suspense
Armadale
ARMADALE By Wilkie Collins TO JOHN FORSTER. In acknowledgment of the services which he has rendered to the cause of literature by his “Life of Goldsmith;” and in affectionate remembrance of a friendship which is associated with some of the happiest years of my life. Readers in general--on whose friendly reception experience has given me some reason to rely--will, I venture to hope, appreciate whatever merit there may
Mystery & Suspense
East Lynne
THE LADY ISABEL. In an easy-chair of the spacious and handsome library of his town-house, sat William, Earl of Mount Severn. His hair was gray, the smoothness of his expansive brow was defaced by premature wrinkles, and his once attractive face bore the pale, unmistakable look of dissipation. One of his feet was cased in folds of linen, as it rested on the soft velvet ottoman, speaking of gout as plainly as any foot
Mystery & Suspense
Elster's Folly
BY THE EARLY TRAIN. The ascending sun threw its slanting rays abroad on a glorious August morning, and the little world below began to awaken into life--the life of another day of sanguine pleasure or of fretting care. Not on many fairer scenes did those sunbeams shed their radiance than on one existing in the heart of England; but almost any landscape will look beautiful in the early light of a summer's morning. The
Mystery & Suspense
Henry Dunbar
AFTER OFFICE HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF DUNBAR, DUNBAR, AND BALDERBY. The house of Dunbar, Dunbar, and Balderby, East India bankers, was one of the richest firms in the city of London—so rich that it would be quite in vain to endeavour to describe the amount of its wealth. It was something fabulous, people said. The offices were situated in a dingy and narrow thoroughfare leading out of King William Street, and were certa
Mystery & Suspense
Lady Audley's Secret
LUCY. It lay down in a hollow, rich with fine old timber and luxuriant pastures; and you came upon it through an avenue of limes, bordered on either side by meadows, over the high hedges of which the cattle looked inquisitively at you as you passed, wondering, perhaps, what you wanted; for there was no thorough-fare, and unless you were going to the Court you had no business there at all. At the end of this avenue th
Mystery & Suspense
No Name
TO FRANCIS CARR BEARD; (FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND) IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE TIME WHEN THE CLOSING SCENES OF THIS STORY WERE WRITTEN. PREFACE. The main purpose of this story is to appeal to the reader’s interest in a subject which has been the theme of some of the greatest writers, living and dead—but which has never been, and can never be, exhausted, because it is a subject eternally interesting
Mystery & Suspense
St. Martin's Eve
THE LITTLE HEIR. The dull sombre light of a November afternoon was rapidly giving place to twilight. The day had been wet and cold; and the sodden leaves that strewed the park of one of England's fair domains did not contribute to the cheerfulness of the scene. The mansion belonging to it stood on a gentle eminence, well open to view, and looking boldly down on its lands: a long but not high house of red brick, with
Mystery & Suspense
The Filigree Ball
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM I. “THE MOORE HOUSE? ARE YOU SPEAKING OF THE MOORE HOUSE?” For a detective whose talents, had not been recognized at headquarters, I possessed an ambition which, fortunately for my standing with the lieutenant of the precinct, had not yet been expressed in words. Though I had small reason for expecting great things of myself, I had always cherished the hope that if a big case came my way I should b
Mystery & Suspense
The House of the Whispering Pines
SMOKE I THE HESITATING STEP To have reared a towering scheme Of happiness, and to behold it razed, Were nothing: all men hope, and see their hopes Frustrate, and grieve awhile, and hope anew; But-- _A Blot in the ’Scutcheon._ The moon rode high; but ominous clouds were rushing towards it--clouds heavy with snow. I watched these clouds as I drove recklessly, desperately, over the winter roads. I had just missed the de
Mystery & Suspense
The Lamp in the Desert
BEGGAR'S CHOICE A great roar of British voices pierced the jewelled curtain of the Indian night. A toast with musical honours was being drunk in the sweltering dining-room of the officers' mess. The enthusiastic hubbub spread far, for every door and window was flung wide. Though the season was yet in its infancy, the heat was intense. Markestan had the reputation in the Indian Army for being one of the hottest corner
Mystery & Suspense
The Leavenworth Case
THE PROBLEM SOLVED XXXIV. MR. GRYCE RESUMES CONTROL 332 XXXV. FINE WORK 351 XXXVI. GATHERED THREADS 364 XXXVII. CULMINATION 373 XXXVIII. A FULL CONFESSION 384 XXXIX. THE OUTCOME OF A GREAT CRIME 405 Illustrations PAGE “I did not go, but stood watching the firelight flicker on her black dress” Frontispiece “What was my astonishment to come upon Miss Eleanore Leavenworth standing at the side of her uncle’s bed, with hi
Mystery & Suspense
The Moonstone
FOURTH NARRATIVE FIFTH NARRATIVE SIXTH NARRATIVE I II III IV V SEVENTH NARRATIVE EIGHTH NARRATIVE EPILOGUE I II III PROLOGUE THE STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM (1799): _(Extracted from a Family Paper.)_ I I address these lines—written in India—to my relatives in England. My object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin, John Herncastle. The reserve which I have hit
Mystery & Suspense
The Trail of the Serpent
THE GOOD SCHOOLMASTER. I DON’T suppose it rained harder in the good town of Slopperton-on-the-Sloshy than it rained anywhere else. But it did rain. There was scarcely an umbrella in Slopperton that could hold its own against the rain that came pouring down that November afternoon, between the hours of four and five. Every gutter in High Street, Slopperton; every gutter in Broad Street (which was of course the narrowe
Mystery & Suspense
The Knave of Diamonds
THE MISSING HEART There came a sudden blare of music from the great ballroom below, and the woman who stood alone at an open window on the first floor shrugged her shoulders and shivered a little. The night air blew in brisk and cold upon her uncovered neck, but except for that slight, involuntary shiver she scarcely seemed aware of it. The room behind her was brilliantly lighted but empty. Some tables had been set f
Mystery & Suspense
That Affair Next Door
When an unsettling discovery occurs next door, Amelia Butterworth refuses to remain merely a curious neighbor. Intelligent, opinionated, and alert to every contradiction, she steps into a mystery of family tension, hidden movements, and suspicious behavior behind respectable walls. That Affair Next Door turns domestic observation into detective work, following a woman whose sharp eyes and stubborn instincts challenge the men who think they already control the case. The suspense grows from drawing-room details, family secrets, and one woman's refusal to look away.
Mystery & Suspense
The Danvers Jewels
The Danvers Jewels by Mary Cholmondeley centers on intimate choices, social pressure, and the search for a freer life. Its characters face love, duty, ambition, and the expectations placed on women, often discovering that independence has a cost. The story suits readers who enjoy emotional growth, complicated relationships, and thoughtful drama with a strong inner life.
Mystery & Suspense
The Italian
The Italian by Ann Radcliffe draws readers into a shadowed world of secrets, forbidden rooms, dangerous loyalties, and emotions that refuse to stay buried. Its atmosphere is tense and romantic, with mystery pressing against every private choice. Readers who enjoy old houses, moral danger, hidden identities, and love tested by fear will find a richly dramatic story shaped by suspense and longing.
Mystery & Suspense
The Romance of the Forest
The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe draws readers into a shadowed world of secrets, forbidden rooms, dangerous loyalties, and emotions that refuse to stay buried. Its atmosphere is tense and romantic, with mystery pressing against every private choice. Readers who enjoy old houses, moral danger, hidden identities, and love tested by fear will find a richly dramatic story shaped by suspense and longing.
Mystery & Suspense
A Sicilian Romance
A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe draws readers into a shadowed world of secrets, forbidden rooms, dangerous loyalties, and emotions that refuse to stay buried. Its atmosphere is tense and romantic, with mystery pressing against every private choice. Readers who enjoy old houses, moral danger, hidden identities, and love tested by fear will find a richly dramatic story shaped by suspense and longing.
Mystery & Suspense
The Mysteries of Udolpho
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe draws readers into a shadowed world of secrets, forbidden rooms, dangerous loyalties, and emotions that refuse to stay buried. Its atmosphere is tense and romantic, with mystery pressing against every private choice. Readers who enjoy old houses, moral danger, hidden identities, and love tested by fear will find a richly dramatic story shaped by suspense and longing.
Mystery & Suspense
The Eustace Diamonds
The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope follows characters navigating reputation, money, family pressure, and the quiet rules of society. Behind polished drawing rooms and respectable choices, private desire and ambition create conflicts that can change a life. This is a layered story for readers who enjoy inheritance, marriage, social expectation, and emotional decisions with lasting consequences.
Mystery & Suspense
The Last Man
The Last Man by Mary Shelley draws readers into a shadowed world of secrets, forbidden rooms, dangerous loyalties, and emotions that refuse to stay buried. Its atmosphere is tense and romantic, with mystery pressing against every private choice. Readers who enjoy old houses, moral danger, hidden identities, and love tested by fear will find a richly dramatic story shaped by suspense and longing.