I’m a big fan of Elly Griffiths ‘Ruth Galloway’ Series, they are my comfort read, predicable but always enjoyable. I haven’t been able to get into her ‘ Max Mephisto’ books but I did jump at the chance to read and review her newest novel....as anything remotely ‘gothic’ has my interest. I nearly put it aside as it didnt grab me but I’m glad I kept reading.

The ‘gothic’ in this story is the old school where Clare Cassidy is an English teacher, who is also writing a novel about horror author RM Holland, whose home was also the said same school.
The mystery is the death of Clare’s friend and fellow English teacher Ella, whose death is very similar to a murder out of one of RM Hollands’ novels. And who has been writing creepy quotes in Clare’s diary? Who else could be in danger?

As I mentioned previously, this book did take me a long time to get invested in. I really enjoyed the character development of DS Harbinder and really hope we get to see more of her. The plot was well developed and once invested, it moved along at a good pace. All in all, a good pleasant read and one where I will look forward to a further instalment.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC to read.

Clare Cassidy is receiving cryptic notes., somebody is leaving them in her private diary. At the same time there is somebody killing high school kids using an old gothic novel as a "how to do it". The story is told from multiple pov and excerpts from said novel. Entertaining read, just right for dark nights.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books!

I have to say this is one of my books of the year! I've never read Elly Griffiths before but I'll be trying one of her detective novels now.

The story is told from the perspective of three different but central characters: Claire Cassidy, her daughter Georgia and the detective Harbinder Kaur. I enjoyed Claire's perspective and that of DS Harbinder Kaur (she is in some ways the star of the show for me and like other reviewers have said I'd love to read more of her and her sidekick) but found it harder with Claire's daughter Georgia but that may be because it's a long time since I've been a teenager so getting into the teenage mindset wasn't easy! But the three perspectives generally gel well.

It's described as a Gothic thriller and that's probably accurate as it's certainly not horror. It is creepy without being scary if that makes sense (I guess that depends on your 'scare threshold')? The characters are all somewhat quirky in their own way, or maybe unusual is a better word. It's almost like a cross between Midsomer Murders and Jonathan Creek with a measure of Gothic noir mixed in for good measure. I actually think this would make a good television series and there are plenty of cliffhanger moments to keep you turning the page for the next section.

It is rare for me to get to the end of a book and wish there was more but I wished there was more here even though it's a little over 400 pages. I would have like to learn more about some of the characters and their backgrounds but I guess the author can only fit so much in!

I guessed whodunnit but not until quite late on (I was quite pleased as I never guess right) although I felt there were several plot threads left unanswered or answered with weak explanations but maybe this is a handicap of having so many who, why, when questions running through the book. The one criticism I have is that I thought the scene where the culprit is finally unmasked (trying not to reveal spoilers here!) is a bit rushed and parts of it needed a slower unveiling. The setting was tailor made for a more creepy slow paced reveal but it all happened pretty fast and left me wondering why the culprit would or wouldn't do certain things. Sorry this is vague but to explain properly I really would have to go into spoiler-land.

All in all it's a great read though and recommended and I'd definitely love to read more of Harbinder Kaur. I'd love to read more of Claire as well but it's far more likely that the detective would have a book of her own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus for ARC copy. Will post to Amazon and Goodreads.

Having not read anything by this author before I thought I would try this one as it is a standalone novel, so no previous knowledge of characters etc required!

I enjoyed the spooky feel of this book, set not only by the re telling of the story from long ago, but by the time its set in, the old part of the school and the disused factory overshadowing the home of the main character. I particularly liked that I read this at its release date and therefore exactly the same time of year as the book is set.
It is narrated by the 3 main characters Clare, Georgie and DC Kaur. Along with the narrative from the old story it changes from one to the next backtracking in time so you see the events that have happened from the 3 different view points which is a nice twist on the usual multi person narrative.
I didnt like the character of Clare much, but I got a sense that maybe I wasn’t meant to but I did enjoy the character of Harbinder and the exchanges she has with her DS Neil Winston..
I enjoyed reading this book, I liked the way it recounts the events, the pace it moved at and the gothic feel but I did feel the ending was a let down and could have been some a lot more imaginative.

WOW

I did not see that ending coming!

This book caught me off-guard.

The blurb was rather mysterious and immediately had me wanting to read it but it wasn't quite what I was expecting, not that that was a bad thing.

Told from multiple points of view as well as narrative via diary entries and what may also sound confusing is that there were snippets of a book within this book, this was certainly a unique tale.

A real mix of crime and mystery it all begins when a teacher is found murdered in her own home. Questions soon start to be asked and secrets aren't hidden for long.

With the mixture of dialogues, I did think I'd end up confused but despite not being able to guess the perpetrator, the story actually flowed really well and carried on at a brilliant pace.

I'd like to see more books using the same police protagonist.

Over all I was really impressed with The Stranger Diaries, rather good to read over Halloween too!

This took a while to get going for me, although it gathered speed as the book and plot developed. The returns to the original thriller story were necessary as they provide the whole cause of the murders committed but they were sometimes distracting and interrupted the flow of the writing.
Griffiths does develop the characters but I found the main one annoying at times.
I imagine this will appeal to many and I would like to read more from this author but somehow this book just didn't grab me enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a huge fan of any mystery or thriller that evolves around a book so The Stranger Diaries intrigued me from the start. I love the idea of a book holding clues to a mystery that’s happening in the present so this book was a big hit with me!

I wasn’t sure about the main character Claire. On one hand she seemed very sassy and I found some of her observations very amusing. However she seemed like an unreliable narrator as she kept lying to the police which made me question her motives.

This book is fairly fast paced as there is always something happening. That along with a creepy school, an old mystery and a murderer who starts to emulate the plot of a book and things start getting very thrilling very quickly. I soon found myself tearing through the pages and trying to hide from the kids to read a little more.

I’ve read quite a few books by Elly and I really enjoy her original thrillers! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Huge thanks to Quercus publishers for my copy of this book via Netgalley and to Olivia from Quercus for inviting me into the blog tour. If you like dark, thrilling mysteries then you’ll love this book!

Clare Cassidy is a secondary school English teacher and expert in the work of R.M. Holland, a writer of gothic fiction who coincidentally lived in a house that now forms part of the school. When people connected to her begin to die in ways clearly taken from an R.M. Holland story, the police are called in to investigate.

I very much wanted to love this, the new standalone novel from Elly Griffiths, as much as I love her Ruth Galloway books. And to begin with, I felt like I might. The extracts 'from' the work of R.M. Holland are satisfyingly creepy and gothic, recalling (as I'm sure they were meant to) the work of M.R. James, and the bleak Sussex coast setting provides a suitably sinister backdrop, if somewhat echoing the North Norfolk setting of the Galloway novels. However, the solution to the central mystery was obvious from about 30 pages in, and the switching of narrators didn't, for me, add anything. I am also getting rather tired of 'the woman who hates all other women, especially attractive ones' trope, which has been cropping up in the Galloway novels for a while but is even more to the fore here. You see it a little in Clare's chapters but most particularly with Detective Kaur who, as a result of her attitude to attractive women, comes across as bitter and unlikeable. This strikes a particularly false note as she's supposedly a lesbian, although this isn't developed beyond being stated as fact.

Overall, it was a frustrating reading experience. I had the feeling that with some ruthless editing (and a little less internalised misogyny from her female characters), The Stranger Diaries would have had the makings of a good novel. Sadly, it falls far short.

Shakespeare’s quote, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” takes on a literal slant when a teacher of English literature is faced with a friend’s murder and mysterious entries in her personal diary.

Clare Cassidy has lived in West Sussex with her daughter for five years since leaving London after her divorce. A literature teacher at Talgarth High, Clare has a fascination with the Victorian writer RM Holland whose home forms part of the school. Holland’s wife died after their marriage, possibly from a fall down the stairs, and it is said that her ghost walks the place. The original study, left un-touched, constantly draws Clare as she searches for a missing link in the author’s life. However, something happens during a literary conference in Hythe and Clare’s close friend and colleague is brutally murdered. Clare is left with many unanswered questions and her life takes an ominous turn when she discovers a stranger’s handwritten messages in her personal diary.

The novel unfolds with a narration of RM Holland’s Gothic short story, The Stranger. It tells how three boys are initiated into a club, the Hell Club, in a ruined house on Hallow’s eve. When the last initiate lights his candle in the window he is witness to a horrifying scene. Clare’s home is one in a row of cottages, seemingly inviting and cosy, but behind it looms a deserted factory. After the murder, it seems that there is a subliminal, ghostly flicker of light, just like candlelight, from one of the windows. Another brutal killing makes it impossible to ignore the eerie similarities to Holland’s story. Clare must face the fact that she could be in mortal danger and must take her daughter to a place of safety.

Threaded with literary references which are skillfully incorporated, this is an easy going read which keeps the reader guessing at the identity of the villain, or shall I say, devil, right to the end.

Ange

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I can't believe that The Stranger Diaries is Elly Griffiths' fourteenth book, not including her books written as Domenica De Rosa, and yet it's the first that I've finally read despite having bought a few previously that are still waiting for me in my TBR piles. But boy what a first book to start with, a gothic tale of murder and obsession which is perfect for this spooky time of year. Normally I'm more a traditional crime/thriller type of girl, rather than reading anything gothic or supernatural, so it's testament to the writing skills of Elly Griffiths that I was so caught up with the story within a story.

The Stranger Diaries is told from the viewpoints of three main characters, Clare, her daughter Georgia, and Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur who is investigating the murder of Ella, which means that we get to see events unfold from the three different perspectives. Alongside these narratives are passages from The Stranger by Victorian author R.M. Holland, someone who once lived at the school where Clare works and who she's writing a book about which adds the gothic, ghostly element to the storyline, as well as entries from Clare's own diaries from various stages in her life which gives us an insight into her as a person. All of these formats worked really well together to make this such a chilling, suspensful read never knowing what secret is going to be revealed next and what the consequences of them might be.

Although Clare is the main character, and the one that centres the storyline, I found myself interested in her teenage daughter Georgia slightly more. The fact that she was keeping secrets from her own mother was intriguing, about her attending a creative writing course at another school in the area, her seances with her friends, and her own diary entries on a secret online forum. I couldn't understand why she didn't want her mother to know she was writing, as I'm sure Clare would have encouraged her, but at the same time you sometimes just want something that belongs only to you although she was in fact sharing it with others on the forum.

As a reader I'm constantly on the lookout for clues as to who I think the killer might be and I'm happy to admit I was completely caught off guard and didn't have a clue! Throughout the story we're introduced to a handful of potential suspects; colleagues, students, acquaintances and the fact that you know it's someone who has a close link to Clare adds to the tension and paranoia as to who can she trust. Hiding in plain sight as they say, watching her every move and yet she's completely oblivious to the fact that they are closer than she thinks which makes it all the more sinister. Every potential suspect has a motive until one by one they are eliminated until we reach the dramatic conclusion.
The Stranger Diaries was an atmospheric, gripping read from start to finish although maybe it wasn't such a great idea to read it so late into the night!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

It’s a skilful blend of psychological thriller, murder mystery and Gothic ghost story; what you might get if you mixed The Woman in Black, Gone Girl and P. D. James. The action ticks along at a brisk pace and the scattered clues are sufficiently obscure that I was kept guessing right to the finale.

The tale is told from the perspective of three main female characters: Clare Cassidy, creative writing teacher and the centrifuge round which all the action appears to spin; her teenage daughter, Georgia, dabbling in witchcraft, writing and romance; and DS Harbinder Kaur, police investigator, cynic and family woman.

The story mostly takes the form of first person narrative, showing us diary entries and inner thoughts, interspersed with excerpts from a fictional ghost story which seems to creepily intrude into and mirror the current events. The point is clearly, yet subtly, made that the narrative may be unreliable, even as it perfectly represents the character’s true thoughts – one example being Clare’s repeated insistence that Georgie has no interest in books, reading or writing, whilst Georgia’s own perspective shows us the opposite.

Characterisation throughout the novel felt natural and realistic; especially in the varying depictions of collegial, romantic and familial relationships. My personal favourite was the glimpses into the Kaur’s family life and I would love to see more from all of them, but especially her mother!

Clare was an interesting main character, as it was clear that what she says is not always what she thinks, and what she thinks can change dramatically from moment to moment. There was also a cool detachment to her, even in her grief for someone supposedly ‘close’ to her, which made it difficult for me to empathise with her as much as the other characters. In fact, she was frequently top of my suspect list!

I would definitely recommend this for fans of murder mysteries, who fancy the idea of a Gothic atmosphere in a modern setting. I will be on the lookout for a sequel, and I note that the author has already written a couple of other detective series, so I’ll be checking those out too and will you know…!





Leaves gust across the car park and, following their progress, I see what I should have noticed earlier: a strange car with two people sitting inside it. There’s nothing particularly odd about this. This is a school, after all, despite it being half-term. Visitors are not entirely unexpected. They could even be staff members, coming in to prepare their classrooms and complete their planning for next week. But there’s something about the car, and the people inside it, that makes me feel uneasy. It’s an unremarkable grey vehicle – I’m useless at cars but Simon would know the make – something solid and workmanlike, the sort of thing a mini-cab driver would use. But why are its occupants just sitting there? I can’t see their faces but they are both dressed in dark clothes and look, like the car itself, somehow both prosaic and menacing.
It’s almost as if I am expecting a summons of some kind, so I’m not really surprised when my phone buzzes. I see it’s Rick Lewis, my head of department.
‘Clare,’ he says, ‘I’ve got some terrible news.’

– Elly Griffiths, The Stranger Diaries

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

I first came across Elly Griffiths when I picked up the first in her Ruth Galloway series quite some time ago! Since then, I have devoured nearly the entire series and read the first two installments in her Stephens & Mephisto series, about a magician and a detective. I was delighted when I read about The Stranger Diaries, partly because it was Elly's first standalone novel but mostly because I was intrigued by the synopsis and the description of the book as a contemporary Gothic novel. I say standalone novel because I think that's what it is but, one of the main characters, DS Harbinder Kaur, was fantastic and I would love to read more stories involving her.


The focus of The Stranger Diaries is Clare Cassidy, a divorced forty-something, living with her teenage daughter and dog near the Sussex coast. Clare is an English teacher, lucky enough to teach at a local state school that was also the home of a Victorian writer who just happens to be the subject of a book she is writing. As well as hearing from her point of view we also get to hear from her daughter, fifteen-year-old Georgia, and the inimitable DS, Harbinder. Having three points of view in The Stranger Diaries is not at all confusing, indeed I think it adds to the story and ensures that we see it from all angles. Having finished the book and looking back over my notes, it's also easy to see that Elly Griffiths does sprinkle hints about the identity of our literary-inspired killer here and there in the different p-o-v's, but I was so engrossed in the superb story I missed all of them...


The Stranger Diaries is a splendid mix of Victorian Gothic and contemporary thriller, and I adored it! As much as I love Ruth Galloway, this has definitely leapt into my top five Elly Griffiths books and surpassed all my expectations. There are plenty of literary references, a wonderful doggy character called Herbert (named after the dog in R. M Holland's story, The Stranger), a love interest who is a bit quirky, one of the most genuine teenage characters I've read in a long time, a mystery both in the present and the past (see if you can figure out who the elusive Mariana is!), murder, and as in her other books, really compelling settings. I loved reading her wonderfully descriptive writing and it's so easy to get lost in the story, always a sign of an excellent book in my eyes.


I shall say no more about the story except to admit to checking all of my journals afterwards, to make sure there were no unexplained entries in someone else's handwriting. The Stranger Diaries was a joy to read, the ending probably was obvious to plenty of people (except me!) but it's almost certainly my favorite book of 2018, and an eminently suitable book to read at this time of year.

Oh wow - how creepy. The story runs parallel with a ghost story that has links to the school that the events are involved with. That's creepy - much more so than this engaging and absorbing novel. People involved with an English teacher at the school - Clare - are being murdered in ways that echo the ghost story 'The Stranger'. She has alibis for the murders, although the Detective Sergeant, still isn't convinced of her innocence, but who is adding their writing to hers?

I really enjoyed this book - I've read a few by Elly Griffiths and really rate her as a writer.

The number one reason why I liked this book is having a female detective for a change. I really enjoyed reading about DS Harbinde. In a literary world of grumpy old middle aged men detectives, she is a super addition.

The plot was good although at some points it made me question why somethings didn't happen. A careful reader will probably guess the ending, but it was still a joy to read. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives of Clare, Georgie, and the gothic sideline story made the book even more interesting.

4 stars.

Maybe the fact that it was approaching Halloween and the nights were drawing in when I was reading the book added to the atmosphere; whatever the reason I thought this was a great read.
I loved that the main characters gave their perspective of events and interviews giving a almost 3d view of events to the reader. The excerpts from The Stranger Diaries also added another dimension

Great thriller - enjoyed reading from 3 perspectives! A real page turner, with well developed characters, that I couldnt put down

First of all, I must say the book gripped me early on and I couldn't put it down until the end. It was a very easy and entertaining read. I'm very happy Griffith stayed away from graphic violence, abusive relationships, and all that drama.

The story was told from 3 perspectives: Clare, her daughter Georgie and DS Harbinder. I quite liked this changing perspectives, which added more suspense to the mystery. However, sometimes it felt like I was reading the same part twice. I wish there was an element of unreliability in one of the narratives, which could make it more interesting to read the same story twice.

Although, it's a contemporary thriller, it's also decorated with Victorian gothic elements as the story is intertwined with a Victorian writer's short story called 'The Stranger' and his mysterious family life. I enjoyed this aspect of the book, as it made it more dramatic and mysterious. It also added more chill to the atmosphere.

Another aspect of the book I liked was the simplistic, yet entertaining writing together with a bunch of interesting characters. Clare, her daughter Georgie, A Cambridge academic, creepy teachers, weird students, clever investigator :) At some point I found myself going from character to character changing my mind about who was the killer!

As it's a thriller, I don't want to give away much :) All in all, it was an enjoyable thriller and I liked the overall plot. The end was not disappointing as well.

I was attracted to this book because of the beautiful cover but I'm also a huge fan of Elly Griffiths, particularly her Ruth Galloway series. However, The Stranger Diaries is slightly different - it's a standalone murder mystery, set in a school, which may or may not be haunted!

The story starts with Clare, who teaches English at Talgarth High. The school was once the home of gothic horror writer R.M. Holland, and the top part of the school has been kept as a museum to him and his work; his study is exactly as it was in his day. Scattered throughout the novel are extracts from his most famous short story, The Stranger, and when one of Clare's friends is found dead, a line from this story is found beside the body.

The second point of view is that of the investigating police officer, DS Harbinder Kaur, who was my favourite character, mainly because of her dry sense of humour and the way she is permanently in a grump. I do hope she gets her own series - along with her mother! The third main character is Georgia, Clare's daughter, who humours her mother's ideas of how teenagers should behave and is very funny.

The Stranger Diaries is a modern take on Victorian mysteries and ghost stories, particularly the way it cleverly backtracks to show the same events from a different character's viewpoint. Running alongside the present-day murders is the mystery of how R.M. Holland's wife died. Is it her ghost that reputedly haunts the school? And just who is Mariana?

The Stranger Diaries will appeal to anyone who enjoys traditional murder mysteries and I'm sure fans of Elly's Ruth Galloway series will love it. I adored the touch of gothic and the spooky bits - particularly when the teenage Harbinder 'met' the ghost. I hadn't a clue who the murderer was and, as I read a lot of crime fiction, this is always a plus for me!

One of my favourite reads this year! And please, please can Harbinder have a series of her own?!!

Thank you to Elly Griffiths and Quercus for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Talgarth School teacher, Clare Cassidy, is an expert on the author R. M. Holland and teaches his short story, The Stranger, as part of a course every year. When the body of her friend and colleague, Ella, is found at her home, suspicions arise when a quote from Holland is found alongside her horrific injuries. For many years an avid diary writer, Clare commits her feelings about Ella to paper only to find that there is some strange writing in her journal, writing that is not hers…

As a huge fan of the Ruth Galloway and Stephens & Mephisto series by Elly Griffiths, I could not wait to read this new standalone novel. When you love an author so much, there is always some slight trepidation, however, as to whether something new will live up to your expectations. This is Elly Griffiths – of course it did!

Although many books have the story told by multiple characters, I enjoyed the way the author used this device to retell events from different perspectives. First, we have Clare, the main protagonist. As the book progresses, we see her becoming more and more unnerved as she realises how interested the killer appears to be in her. Then, there is her daughter, Georgie. With an older boyfriend and a hidden interest in creative writing, does she know more about the crime than she is letting on? Finally, there is the detective investigating the case, D. S. Harbinder Kaur. An ex-Talgarth pupil herself, she is a great character who, despite the seriousness of the case, provides some very light-hearted moments.

While this could definitely be described as a murder-mystery plot, the inclusion of the mysterious diary entries and the ghostly undercurrent at the school, gives it a slight air of the supernatural. I admit to not being a huge fan of ‘ghost’ stories, but Elly Griffiths has provided just enough of this genre to make it a completely believable read. I particularly enjoyed reading the snippets of R. M. Holland’s The Stranger which were included throughout the book. This provided a Gothic feel and certainly helped to ramp up the tension.

The end of the book had a credible conclusion and, with hindsight, it became apparent that clues had been dotted throughout. The Stranger Diaries has a well-crafted, enjoyable plot and I thoroughly enjoyed reading every page. Definitely one of my favourite reads of the year!

Is there anything that Elly Griffiths can’t do?

Her Ruth Galloway detective novels (much featured on the blog – click here for the most recent one, Dark Angel) form one of my favourite current series. Then she started another great series – the Mephisto books. Now she has written a standalone, and it is wonderful.

It has a complex and beautifully-done setup – though not at all difficult to follow: it is only mystifying in the right kind of ways. There are several different narrators, looking at a murder and other sinister goings on at a school based in an old house.

Everything is linked to a Victorian writer of ghost stories, a man who once lived in the old house: his study is preserved there, and one of the main protagonists, Clare, is writing a book about him.

He is famed above all for a sinister ghost story, The Stranger: and this story-within-the-book is so well-done that I am going to quote from it too – this is the opening passage of The Stranger Diaries:

‘If you’ll permit me,’ said the Stranger, ‘I’d like to tell you a story. After all, it’s a long journey and, by the look of those skies, we’re not going to be leaving this carriage for some time. So, why not pass the hours with some story-telling? The perfect thing for a late October evening.

‘Are you quite comfortable there? Don’t worry about Herbert. He won’t hurt you.. It’s just this weather that makes him nervous. Now, where was I? What about some brandy to keep the chill out? You don’t mind a hip flask do you?

‘Well this is a story that actually happened. Those are the best kind, don’t you think? Better still it happened to me when I was a young man. About your age.’




I loved everything about The Stranger Diaries: I always enjoy a modern book that has a strand set in the past, and there it was, done to a turn. But the story-within-the-story was also beautifully done – isn’t that opening just perfect?

And of course, as with all Elly Griffiths books, there are plenty of funny lines and razor-sharp observations about modern life – whether it’s Strictly on TV, or this about an ex-husband’s new life and new wife:
‘She’s OK. A bit tired. Ocean still isn’t sleeping through the night.’
I don’t blame her. She’s probably traumatised by her ridiculous name. I bet Simon has decamped to the spare room. He looks pretty well-rested to me.
The two main women, Clare and Harbinder, are both terrific, and the switches of POV between them are hilarious, as they are not natural best friends. Harbinder's first line is 'I disliked Clare Cassidy from the outset', though we know they are going to have to co-operate.

The book is also brilliant on that parents’ nightmare of finding out that they don’t know as much about their children’s lives as they thought they did. ‘Of course I know her interests and friends…’

OK I am running out of superlatives.

The Stranger Diaries is a great book, and you should read it. I’m also going to be taking part in a Blog Tour for it next week.

Elly Griffiths is very good on her characters’ clothes, but I thought I’d go with Halloween this time instead. I was pondering that perhaps in this day and age it isn’t good to use pictures of random children in their costumes, and then luckily the Chief Guest Blogger, Colm Redmond, came up with these splendid pictures from a pub in Manchester: the Brewski in Chorlton.

The man on the train is by the great James Tissot, from the Athenaeum website. Sometimes it’s better just to imagine the appearance of a man telling a ghost story, but this chap had the right look in his eye, I loved this picture.