3.90 avg rating — 60,025 ratings

"If you haven't read this classic, you need to. du Maurier could create an atmosphere like no other."

3.85 avg rating — 88 ratings

"One of the best book values ever if you like MRR."

3.92 avg rating — 6,223 ratings

"Victoria Holt is the mistress of romantic suspense This novel is set on the coast of Kent, at a great estate overlooking the infamous "shivering sands" - quicksands that have swallowed entire ships unfortunate enough to sail into them. Caroline Verlaine, a young widow, comes to work at the estate hoping to discover the cause of the mysterious disappearance of her sister, who had been studying the nearby Roman ruins. Caroline found her employers a strange family, haunted by tragedies of the past, scarred by distrust. Yet she found herself irresistibly attracted to them - especially to the family's dark, moody young scion."

3.85 avg rating — 1,733 ratings

"Ooooh, classic gothic at its best. When Camilla King's grandfather leaves her the family estate in his will, she is shocked. Before her summons to his deathbed, she had never met any of her late mother's relatives. Although the rest of the family clearly does not want her there, Camilla honors her grandfather's wish and becomes the mistress of the magnificent Thunder Heights.
"

3.90 avg rating — 2,043,089 ratings

"The classic from Emily Bronte, full of atmosphere and drama. "

3.78 avg rating — 3,696 ratings

"This one is as Gothic as it gets.

Abandoned as a baby, her exotic beauty prompted hushed whispers of gypsy blood. But lovely Carmel March remained shrouded in mystery....

When tragedy struck her adopted home of Commonwood House, little Carmel had been bundled off to Australia. Returning to England as a young woman, she became haunted by questions from her past, as well as the shocking revelation that she had been rushed from a murder scene those many years ago. "

3.88 avg rating — 2,460 ratings

"This one is truly gothic and scary. A classic gothic suspense novel from prolific author Phyllis Whitney."

4.06 avg rating — 17,066 ratings

"After a rather drab existence in an English orphanage Linda Martin is appointed governess to the nine-year-old owner of the Chateau Valmy in the French Alps. During little Philippe's minority the estates are being managed by his crippled uncle Leon, and Leon's handsome son Raoul. All seems delightful, but there are tensions below the smooth surface. One sunny afternoon a bullet is fired in the beechwoods ... and the tensions become terrors."

4.09 avg rating — 8,417 ratings

"This was Mary Stewart's first novel, and it's a good one. "

3.57 avg rating — 1,352 ratings

4.11 avg rating — 983 ratings

"From a review: "The heroine is a lovely English girl, living in Jamaica, innocent and trusting--to her detriment. Her husband is an unspeakable animal whom she can't escape. After enduring months with the beast, she finally works up the courage to run away with the help of her Chinese friend Daniel.""

4.25 avg rating — 718,911 ratings

4.04 avg rating — 6,592 ratings

"Nothing ever happened to Camilla Haven -- until a stranger approached her in a crowded Athens café, handed her the keys to a black car parked by the curb,and whispered, "A matter of life and death." This is pure suspense at its best, yet it still has Mary Stewart's wonderful ability to evoke place."

3.99 avg rating — 1,656 ratings

"Long before Sara came to San Francisco, the candle-lit figure in the mirror had haunted her dreams. But in the towering, old Varady mansion, where the sound of a kitten's mewing could make a domineering woman quake with fear, the nightmare turned into reality.

Against the backdrop of San Francisco at the time of the Great Fire, Phyllis Whitney spins a dramatic tale of intrigue and romance--the gripping story of a young woman caught between love & suspicion & forced to confront a past she has hidden even from herself.("

4.06 avg rating — 10,868 ratings

"Mary Stewart didn't just write the Merlin saga. She wrote some classic romantic suspense. This is one her best, and once upon a time was made into a Disney movie starring Hayley Mills."

3.78 avg rating — 901 ratings

"This is #2 in the Daughters of England series. Philippa Carr (1906–1993) was one of the twentieth century’s premier authors of historical fiction. She was born Eleanor Alice Burford, in London, England. Over the course of her career, she used eight pseudonyms, including Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt—pen names that signaled a riveting combination of superlative suspense and the royal history of the Tudors and Plantagenets. Philippa Carr was Burford’s last pseudonym, created in 1972. The Miracle at St. Bruno’s, the first novel in Carr’s acclaimed Daughters of England series, was followed by nineteen additional books. Burford died at sea on January 18, 1993. At the time of her death, there were over one hundred million copies of her books in print, and her popularity continues today. "

3.93 avg rating — 9,836 ratings

3.98 avg rating — 7,359 ratings

"An English June in the Roman Wall countryside; the ruin of a beautiful old house standing cheek-by-jowl with the solid, sunlit prosperity of the manor farm - a lovely place, and a rich inheritance for one of the two remaining Winslow heirs. There had been a third, but Annabel Winslow had died four years ago - so when a young woman calling herself Annabel Winslow comes 'home' to Whitescar, Con Winslow and his half-sister Lisa must find out whether she really is who she says she is. This is a page turner you won't be able to put down."

3.85 avg rating — 4,826 ratings

3.84 avg rating — 3,997 ratings

3.62 avg rating — 6,901 ratings

3.53 avg rating — 640 ratings

3.87 avg rating — 4,933 ratings

3.99 avg rating — 6,042 ratings

4.20 avg rating — 45,086 ratings

"M.M. Kaye deserves a place of honor on this list. The Far Pavilions is full of romance and adventure, although not the classic suspense novel that some of the other books on this list are. "Rich in adventure, heroism, cruelty and love." --Publishers Weekly

"A high-adventure love story told without ever a dull moment in the old tradition of the great storytellers of the too distant past." --Book Review"

3.98 avg rating — 3,749 ratings

"This is a classic ghost story that will creep you out and comfort you at the same time. Barbara Michaels is also Elizabeth Peters. She wrote her suspense (not mystery) novels under this name. This one also has an element of romance for the main character."

3.89 avg rating — 4,775 ratings

3.77 avg rating — 2,688 ratings

4.09 avg rating — 103 ratings

3.86 avg rating — 2,459 ratings

3.81 avg rating — 2,268 ratings

3.80 avg rating — 2,714 ratings

3.85 avg rating — 2,271 ratings

3.86 avg rating — 2,653 ratings

3.74 avg rating — 2,034 ratings

3.90 avg rating — 3,731 ratings

3.74 avg rating — 1,872 ratings

3.90 avg rating — 3,108 ratings

3.83 avg rating — 2,233 ratings

"As a young girl in India, Susanna Pleydell first becomes aware of her special gifts of healing. But she puts aside her dream of helping others when she meets the dashing Aubrey St. Clare.
Back home in Victorian London, Susanna, now married, finds St. Clare has a weakness for opium and the occult. Worse, he falls in with Damien Adair, a sinister physician who controls him in ways that are frightening, often terrifying, to her.

When tragedy strikes, Susanna holds Damien responsible. But she cannot forget him. He haunts her dreams. . .and holds the key to the most sinister secret of all!
"

3.78 avg rating — 1,633 ratings

"Philippa Carr is a pseudonym used by Victoria Holt. "

3.96 avg rating — 844 ratings

"Jean Plaidy, one of the pre-eminent authors of historical fiction for most of the twentieth century, is the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, also know as Victoria Holt. Jean Plaidy's novels had sold more than 14 million copies worldwide by the time of her deah in 1993."

4.10 avg rating — 7,668 ratings

"When Lucy comes to Corfu to visit her sister, she is elated to discover that the castello above their villa is being rented to Sir Julian Gale, one of the brightest lights in England's theatrical world. As a minor player in the London theatre herself, Lucy naturally wishes to meet him—that is, until her sister indicates, with uncharacteristic vagueness, that all is not well with Sir Julian and that his composer son discourages visitors, particularly strangers. Yet Lucy has already encountered Sir Julian's son on the morning of her arrival, in a tempestuous run-in that involved the attempted shooting of a friendly dolphin. First published in 1964, this spirited novel will hold Mary Stewart fans breathless as it uncovers a series of mystifying and frightening events, tinging the otherwise sparkling setting of Corfu with dark hues of violence."

3.76 avg rating — 6,633 ratings

"This one is more romance than suspense, which is very unusual for Mary Stewart novels. When Kate Herrick’s grandmother asks her to travel down from Scotland to her childhood home in Todhall to retrieve some papers and family mementoes before Rose Cottage is sold, Kate is happy enough to go, but curious as to the changes she may find there. Widowed in the recent war – this is the summer of 1947 – and comfortably settled now in London, she is in some doubt as to how the village will receive her. Rose Cottage – a tiny thatched dwelling with fragrant roses in the garden – is unchanged, and the villagers seem friendly. But there is evidence of a break-in at the cottage, and then her nearest neighbours, three elderly ladies from what the villagers call ‘Witches’ Corner’, come with tales of night-time prowlers in the cottage garden, and even ghosts. In the process of solving the mystery, Kate finds romance."

4.10 avg rating — 1,460 ratings

"A wonderful gothic paranormal romance from 1977. "

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,040 ratings

3.93 avg rating — 2,501 ratings

"Barbara Michaels (aka Elizabeth Peters) wrote some wonderful gothic suspense novels. Fearing for the safety of her missing brother, lawyer Diana Reed will do anything to get to the truth. Taking a job as a landscape architect at the last place Brad was seen—the sprawling estate where he worked as a caretaker—she prowls the strange old house determined to unlock its secrets. But each mystery Diana uncovers is more unsettling than the last, as odd visions, scents, and sounds pervade an atmosphere of dread and barely suppressed violence. And in her zealous search for answers, she may have inadvertently opened a door to something frightening and deadly that can never be closed again."

3.83 avg rating — 1,335 ratings

"The carriage that was rolling swiftly along the rainy English marsh on the road from London suddenly stopped. A barricade blocked the way. Dark figures surrounded them. Christina had no time to cry out as strong arms caught her from behind. A hand covered her mouth. She bit it as hard as she could."