Collection · Curated by Alice

Classic detective novels: the cornerstones of crime fiction

18: books to download
1853–1928: 75 years apart
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A map of detective fiction—foundation to Golden Age, curated for readers who want pace, puzzle, and influence. These are the Haycraft–Queen Cornerstones: where detective fiction took shape and how it evolved. Many titles are free to download now in the U.S.; each January, more unlock as copyrights expire. Use the badges to see what’s available, what’s new, and what’s upcoming.

WHAT THIS LIST IS—AND WHY IT MATTERS.

Compiled by critics and historians (notably Howard Haycraft and Ellery Queen), the Cornerstones chart the rise of the genre—from Wilkie Collins and Anna Katharine Green to Doyle, Leroux, Chesterton, Sayers, Christie, Hammett, Chandler, and beyond. It’s a practical roadmap: start with an early landmark, sample a Golden Age puzzle, then try the hardboiled turn. Pair it with our public-domain badges and return every January to see what’s just entered the public domain.

Note: this page is a curated subset of the Haycraft–Queen Cornerstones, not the complete bibliography. We’re actively expanding it as titles become available in the U.S. public domain and as we add more records to AliceAndBooks. The numbering reflects the sequence we’re adopting for this collection and is preserved as we fill in the remaining entries.

You will find download links for titles that are in the public domain in the United States (PDF/ePub). Entries not yet in the public domain include an estimated “Unlock” year.

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#	Title	Author	Year	Public domain (USA)
1	THE NOTTING HILL MYSTERY	Charles Felix	1862	Yes
2	THE WOMAN IN WHITE	Wilkie Collins	1860	Yes
3	THE MOONSTONE	Wilkie Collins	1868	Yes
4	BLEAK HOUSE	Charles Dickens	1853	Yes
5	THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB	Fergus Hume	1886	Yes
6	THE LEAVENWORTH CASE	Anna Katharine Green	1878	Yes
7	A STUDY IN SCARLET	Arthur Conan Doyle	1887	Yes
8	THE SIGN OF THE FOUR	Arthur Conan Doyle	1890	Yes
9	THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES	Arthur Conan Doyle	1892	Yes
10	THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES	Arthur Conan Doyle	1902	Yes
11	THE MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM	Gaston Leroux	1907	Yes
12	THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK	Gaston Leroux	1908	Yes
13	THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS	Erskine Childers	1903	Yes
14	THE SECRET AGENT	Joseph Conrad	1907	Yes
15	THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN	G. K. Chesterton	1911	Yes
16	THE WISDOM OF FATHER BROWN	G. K. Chesterton	1914	Yes
17	THE EYE OF OSIRIS	R. Austin Freeman	1911	Yes
18	TRENT’S LAST CASE	E. C. Bentley	1913	Yes
19	THE LODGER	Marie Belloc Lowndes	1913	Yes
20	THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS	John Buchan	1915	Yes
21	THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES	Agatha Christie	1920	Yes
22	THE SECRET ADVERSARY	Agatha Christie	1922	Yes
23	THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY	A. A. Milne	1922	Yes
24	WHOSE BODY?	Dorothy L. Sayers	1923	Yes
25	UNNATURAL DEATH	Dorothy L. Sayers	1927	Yes
26	THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD	Agatha Christie	1926	Yes
27	THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN	Agatha Christie	1928	Yes
28	THE POISONED CHOCOLATES CASE	Anthony Berkeley	1929	Yes Public domain since 2025
29	THE MALTESE FALCON	Dashiell Hammett	1929	Yes Public domain since 2025
30	RED HARVEST	Dashiell Hammett	1929	Yes Public domain since 2025
31	STRONG POISON	Dorothy L. Sayers	1930	No Unlock 2026
32	THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE	Agatha Christie	1930	No Unlock 2026
33	THE GREEK COFFIN MYSTERY	Ellery Queen	1932	No Unlock 2028
34	FER-DE-LANCE	Rex Stout	1934	No Unlock 2030
35	THE THIN MAN	Dashiell Hammett	1934	No Unlock 2030
36	THE NINE TAILORS	Dorothy L. Sayers	1934	No Unlock 2030
37	THE THREE COFFINS (THE HOLLOW MAN)	John Dickson Carr	1935	No Unlock 2031
38	THE BIG SLEEP	Raymond Chandler	1939	No Unlock 2035
39	FAREWELL, MY LOVELY	Raymond Chandler	1940	No Unlock 2036
40	THE MOVING TOYSHOP	Edmund Crispin	1946	No Unlock 2042
41	THE DAUGHTER OF TIME	Josephine Tey	1951	No Unlock 2047
42	THE TIGER IN THE SMOKE	Margery Allingham	1952	No Unlock 2048
43	THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS	Erle Stanley Gardner	1933	No Unlock 2029
44	THE CASK	Freeman Wills Crofts	1920	Yes
45	THE HOUSE OF THE ARROW	A. E. W. Mason	1924	Yes