By Sir Walter Scott.

“The Author, on a former occasion, declined giving the real source from which he drew the tragic subject of this history, because, though occurring at a distant period, it might possibly be unpleasing to the feelings of the descendants of the parties. But as he finds an account of the circumstances given in the Notes to Law's Memorials by his ingenious friend Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., and also indicated in his reprint of the Rev. Mr. Symson's poems, appended to the Description of Galloway as the original of the Bride of Lammermoor, the Author feels himself now at liberty to tell the tale as he had it from connections of his own, who lived very near the period, and were closely related to the family of the Bride.

London: Collins Clear -Type Press, 1900. 416p.

By Arthur B. Reeve..

The early exploits of Craig Kennedy, scientific detective. Contents: Craig Kennedy's theories.--The silent bullet.--The scientific cracksman.--The bacteriological detective.--The deadly tube.--The seismograph adventure.--The diamond maker.--The azure ring.--"Spontaneous combustion."--The terror in the air.--The black hand.--The artificial paradise.--The steel doorNew York: Harper and Brothers, 1910. 390p.

By Arthur Conan Doyle..

13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904. The first story is set in 1894 and has Holmes returning in London and explaining the period from 1891–1894, a period called "The Great Hiatus" by Sherlockian enthusiasts. Also of note is Watson's statement in the last story of the cycle that Holmes has retired, and forbids him to publish any more stories. (Description from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The stories: The Empty House. The Norwood Builder. The Landing Men. The Solitary Cyclist.. The Priory School. Black Peter. Charles Augustus Milverton. Six Napoleons. Three Students. Golden Since-Nez. Missing Three-Quarter. The Abbey Grange. The Second Stain

NY. Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. .(1903-1904) 289 pages.

By Freeman Wills Crofts.

When a cask breaks open in a busy London shipping yard, the discovery of its contents leads to a puzzling case for Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard. As the Inspector begins to trace the mysterious movements of the cask, his investigative procedures bring him to Paris and onto the path of a meticulously plotted murder, one step at a time.

New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1924. 342p.

By Chester K. Steele.

Being a Somewhat Different Detective Story. The Diamond Cross Mystery is an excellent detective novel for adults published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Chester K. Steele – one out of the many pen-names used by the producer. The story starts with a murder – a woman is found dead in her own jewelry shop. Her cousin, Mr. Darcy is suspected to have committed the murder, but the first and most obvious suspect is always innocent in good murder mysteries, so the suspect’s fiancée hires the American version of Inspector Clouseau, Colonel Lee Ashley to carry out an investigation of his own. Though everything continues to point to Darcy, the Colonel eventually reveals the identity of the murderer, but not before lots of suspense, unexpected twists and some amazing action. The murder is surrounded by some very strange circumstances – the cause of death is difficult to identify and all the clocks in the shop stop at different times, to mention just two of the puzzles to be ingeniously solved. The detective’s private interests are also involved in the investigation – it is Ashley’s his passion for fishing will help him solve the case eventually.

New York: George Sully & Co., 1918. 331p.

By Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas W. Hanshew.

“…every moment that passes! I am terribly afraid for Father's life, even as I have told Mr. Narkom here. But there are some things which a woman cannot tell. Those things which she feels in her heart--and has no concrete facts with which to explain them. Father will die if you do not come to my rescue immediately. He will die, and by no natural means. I tell you, my father is being poisoned slowly, and because of his very taciturnity none of us can save him! Even now, as I sit here, something tells me that things are not right with him, or with Ross, my brother! All my life long I have had these premonitions. There must be gipsy blood in me, I think. But there it is. Oh, help me to save him, to save my brother Ross's inheritance. And my blessing will go with you to the end of your days!"

Garden City, NY: A.L. Burt, 1922. 328p.

By. A.A. Milne.

This is probably one of the top classics of "golden age" detective fiction. Anyone who's read any mystery novels at all will be familiar with the tropes -- an English country house in the first half of the twentieth century, a locked room, a dead body, an amateur sleuth, a helpful sidekick, and all the rest. It's a clever story, ingenious enough in its way, and an iconic example of Agatha Christie / Dorothy Sayers -type murder mysteries. If you've read more than a few of those kinds of books, you might find this one a little predictable, but it's fun despite that. It's particularly of note, however, because Raymond Chandler wrote about it extensively in his essay "The Simple Art of Murder." After praising it as "an agreeable book, light, amusing in the Punch style, written with a deceptive smoothness that is not as easy as it looks," he proceeds to take it sharply to task for its essential lack of realism. This book -- which Chandler admired to an extent -- was what he saw as the iconic example of what was wrong with the detective fiction of his day, and to which novels like "The Big Sleep" or "The Long Goodbye", with their hard-boiled, hard-hitting gumshoes and gritty realism, were a direct response.

New York: E.P. Dutton, 1922. 277p.

By Freeman Wills Crofts.

When a mutilated body is found beside a railway tunnel in Groote Park the tragedy appears a straightforward case of accidental death, but Middeldorp police Detective-Inspector Vandam senses foul play. Vandam begins an investigation into the dead man, Albert Smith, which takes the case from the wilds of South Africa to mountains and glens of Scotland, where a near-identical crime has been perpetrated…

Toronto: T.Allen, 1929. 301p.

By Freeman Wills Crofts.

It seemed an innocent enough puzzle at first, a truck with one number plate when first seen, but another when seen a few hours later. But Seymour Merriman and his friend, Claud Hilliard, soon become convinced that the Pit- Prop Syndicate is a front for some sort of illegal activity. They just can't figure out the what or how. But when one of the members of the syndicate is found murdered in a taxi, it becomes a matter for the professional detectives of Scotland Yard who must solve the secret of The Pit-Prop Syndicate! (From Amazon).

London: W. Collins Sons, 1922. 309p.

By Agatha Christie.

Pretty, young Anne Beddingfeld has come to London looking for adventure. But adventure finds her when a strange-smelling man falls off an Underground platform and is electrocuted on the rails. The police verdict is accidental death. But who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body before running away? Armed with only one cryptic clue, Anne is determined to track him down and bring the mysterious killer to justice.

New York: William Morrow, 1924. 239p.

By Christopher Morley.

A Mysterious Story. This is a dramatic novel set in Brooklyn around the end of the First World War. It continues the story of Roger Mifflin, the bookstore of Parnassus on Wheels. It also subtly embodies the career of Miss Titania Chapman and a young salesman named Aubrey Gilbert. "The Haunted Bookstore" is certainly not an extraordinary novel. Perhaps the name implies the phantom of the past that often appears in all libraries and bookstores: "The phantom of all incredible writing." Throughout the novel, Molly mentions the personality of Roger Mifflin The information and acuity that people can get from writing. The story begins with the young salesman Aubrey Gilbert (Aubrey Gilbert), who stopped in front of a bookstore called "The Haunted Bookstore", hoping to find another customer. Gilbert met the boss Roger Mifflin. Gilbert does not have the upper hand in selling and promoting copies. (From Amazon).

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page and Co., 1923/ 296p.

By Melville Davisson Post.

Top-notch detective Sir Henry Marquis, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard, and several of his clever proteges band together to crack a number of fascinating cases in this collection of interwoven tales. Can you outwit the famed Sleuth of St. James's Square?

New York ; London : D. Appleton and Company. 1920. 350p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

“An Englishman is enjoying his dinner at Stephano's, at which he is a regular diner. A man enters quickly, sits at his table, starts eating his food, and hands him a packet underneath the table! So begins Paul Walmsley's acquaintance - and adventures - with American adventurer Joseph H. Parker and his lovely daughter, Eve.”

Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1916.341p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

“There were very few people upon Platform Number Twenty-one of Liverpool Street Station at a quarter to nine on the evening of April 2 - possibly because the platform in question is one of the most remote and least used in the great terminus.”

Boston: Little, Brown, 1920. 332p

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

You're in luck, Alfred," he declared. "That's the most interesting man in New York-one of the most interesting in the world. That's Sanford Quest." "Who's he?" "You haven't heard of Sanford Quest?"

New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1915. 334p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

The Great Impersonation is a mystery novel written by E. Phillips Oppenheim and published in 1920. German Leopold von Ragastein meets his doppelganger, Englishman Everard Dominey, in Africa, and plans to murder him and steal his identity to spy on English high society just prior to World War I. (From Amazon)

Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1920. 344p.

By Thomas W. Hanshew.

Meet Hamilton Cleek – man of mystery, and master of disguise and derring-do. Cleek’s exploits are, to say the least, highly improbable, but the book is enormous fun. The goodies are good and the baddies are very bad indeed, but beware – things are not always what they seem. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy a rattling good yarn!

Open Library. New York: McKinlay, Stone, and McKenzie , 1913. 320p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

“… Opposite him, at the other end of the table, sat his wife, Mrs. Barnes, a somewhat voluminous lady with a high colour, a black satin frock, and many ornaments. On her left the son of the house, eighteen years old, of moderate stature, somewhat pimply, with the fashion of the moment reflected in his pink tie with white spots, drawn through a gold ring, and curving outwards to seek obscurity underneath a dazzling waistcoat.”

Boston: Little, Brown, 1912. 424p.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

“…It was a home, this, in which a man could well lead a peaceful life, could dream away his days to the music of the west wind, the gurgling stream, the song of birds, and the low murmuring of insects. Peter Ruff stood like a man turned to stone, for even as he looked these things passed away from before his eyes, the roar of the world beat in his ears—the world of intrigue, of crime, the world where the strong man hewed his way to power, and the weaklings fell like corn before the sickle.” (Excerpt from Chapter 1).

London: Carswell, 1917, 318p.

By G.K. Chesterton.

Father Brown, an unassuming and shabbily dressed priest, possesses an incredible ability to solve crimes and murders. Here he reveals the secret of his success. He discovers the culprit by imagining himself to be inside the mind of the criminal. This fourth collection of Father Brown stories contains the magnificent ‘The Chief Mourner of Marne’- a fascinating story with unexpected twists – about a duel and a case of mistaken identity. —GoodReads.

London; Toronto; Melbourne: Sydney; Cassell & Co , 1927. 320p.