I've decided to throw something different into the mix and it's in the public domain, hence free.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) by Charles Dickens was famously unfinished at his death; it's even thought that his public readings from the book contributed to his demise. Well worth reading in its own right, it's a shorter road to Dicken than some of his doorstoppers and part of the fun is speculating on various solutions to the mystery.
Quote:
|
Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opium addict, who is in love with his pupil, Rosa Bud. Miss Bud, Edwin Drood's fiancée, has also caught the eye of the high-spirited and hot-tempered Neville Landless. Landless and Edwin Drood take an instant dislike to one another. Later Drood disappears
|
Quote:
|
Dickens' last novel is a mystery built around a presumed crime - the murder of a nephew by his uncle. Dickens died before completing the story, leaving the mystery unsolved and encouraging successive generations of readers to turn detective. Beyond the preoccupying fact of this intriguing crime, however, the novel also offers readers a characteristically Dickensian mix of the fantastical world of the imagination and a vibrantly journalistic depiction of gritty reality.
|
300 pp.