Once you know your way around the command parser, I suggest Anchorhead [3]--especially if you're a Lovecraft fan--for the richness of the atmosphere it creates. Slouching Towards Bedlam [4] is another good entry in the mystery/horror genre, featuring steampunk themes.
More games, plus ratings, collections, and reviews, can be found on IFDB [5].
EDIT: The Act of Misdirection [6] deserves a mention, too. Another horror(-ish?) game, and the one that got me hooked on IF after Zork and Adventure.
[1] http://adamcadre.ac/if/photopia.html
[2] http://iplayif.com/?story=http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-arc...
[3] http://pr-if.org/play/anchorhead/
[4] http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=032krqe6bjn5au78
[6] http://iplayif.com/?story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifarchive.org%2Fi...
(Of course, as is usual with fiction and culture in general, what we enjoy always reflects on ourselves. There is delicious irony in my having played Violet as a distraction during my own PhD...)