Crime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives. Most – though not all – crime novels share a common structure. Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a serious crime, generally a murder. Other common elements include a morally upright, intelligent and isolated protagonist who often has a personal interest in the case or a villain, often physically as well as metaphorically ugly and/or deformed. Unlike crime novels, mystery novels concern themselves less with a struggle between good and evil and more with the question of who committed a particular crime. While crime writers often reveal their villain early in the story, mystery writers devote most of their real estate to cracking unsolved cases.

Crime fiction is arguably one of the most popular genres of fiction today. Ranging from the classic detectives like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes to modern thrillers such as Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes, there seems to be something for everyone in the world of whodunits, detectives and legal dramas. Here’s a list of the best free crime fiction ebooks, web serials as well as web novels.

Crime

1. A Book of Remarkable Criminals by Henry Brodribb Irving
2. A Global History of Execution and the Criminal Corpse by Richard Ward (ed.)
3. A Grey World by Joe
4. Beyond The Photograph by Aradescent Dent
5. Brother’s Keeper by Amen Alonge
6. China Wind by Anne Infante
7. Cold Ghost by Eva Shandor
8. Courts and Criminals by Arthur Train
9. Crime and Its Causes by William Douglas Morrison
10. Crime: Its Cause and Treatment by Clarence Darrow
11. Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri
12. Curious Punishments of Bygone Days by Alice Morse Earle
13. Dead Drop by Zachary N. DiPego
14. Dealing with Uncertainties in Policing Serious Crime by Gabriele Bammer
15. Fatal Flaw: A True Story of Malice and Murder in a Small Southern Town by Phillip Finch
16. Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism by Gregory F. Treverton, at al.
17. Finger Prints by Sir Francis Galton
18. For Riches or More by Lawrence Limehouse
19. Fresh Monsters by Mike
20. Ghost Touch by Evan Toe
21. Glamourist Extraordinaire by alienmanbeast
22. Goodfae by kspam
23. In Jail with Charles Dickens by Alfred Trumble
24. Murder in America: a history by Roger Lane
25. My Stupid Journal by Daisy Tannenbaum