This 1930s Gothic classic is an un-put-down-able, curl-up-by-the-fire mystery. Don't be put off by its age: this thrilling novel feels surprisingly current. Suspenseful but not scary, and it holds its tension on a re-reading: a sure sign of a well-crafted thriller.

A novelist deals with heartache. A fiancé has bad news for his beloved. A warship gets rescued by another ship. At face value, these plots don’t sound particularly suspenseful, but fans of Daphne du Maurier's novels know better. Her protagonists are ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary, even dangerous, situations. The suspense unfolds slowly, building to a crescendo as secrets are revealed. Atmosphere hangs heavy over well-drawn characters. If you enjoyed Rebecca for its quiet, romantic mystery, don't miss out on this short story collection.

If you enjoyed Rebecca for its quiet, romantic mystery, don't miss out on this short story collection. Hitchcock immortalized The Birds in his classic film.

From the publisher: "On a bitter November evening, young Mary Yellan journeys across the rainswept moors to Jamaica Inn in honor of her mother's dying request. When she arrives, the warning of the coachman begins to echo in her memory, for her aunt Patience cowers before hulking Uncle Joss Merlyn. Terrified of the inn's brooding power, Mary gradually finds herself ensnared in the dark schemes being enacted behind its crumbling walls -- and tempted to love a man she dares not trust."

From the publisher: "Based on diaries she kept between 1920 and 1932, du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her marriage. Often painfully honest, she recounts her difficult relationship with her father, her education in Paris, her early love affairs, her antipathy towards London life, and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting self-portrait is of a complex, utterly captivating young woman."