The Stranger Diaries

Set in West Sussex in a local school Talgarth High, where a renowned Author, R M Holland used to live and the ghost of his wife is purported to haunt there.

Claire Cassidy is an English teacher, tall beautiful and has a daughter, Georgia. Claire’s friend, Ella is found murdered at home and so the mystery begins. There is a second murder and DS Harbinder Kaur investigates, becoming close to the Cassidy family in the process.

There’s a suspicion of witchcraft, hauntings and misdeeds in the school, all done in a very believable way. I loved the way the book reads, with chapter from each of the characters perspective, sometimes of the same conversations or situations, which felt original and really built the characters well. There’s also a little romance thrown in too.

There are twists and turns in this whodunnit and some genuinely creepy and tense moments. It keeps the killers reveal to the end which was a great twist. A great read from Elly Griffiths

I would like to thank the Author/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

If you are looking for the perfect book to give you the chills and make you check that all doors and windows are closed before getting into bed at night, then THE STRANGER DIARIES is the right book.

The story is told from three points of views, from three women I really liked. The first one is Clare Cassidy. She is an English teacher who, after her divorce, left London and moved to a small town in Sussex with her daughter. She took a job at the local comprehensive school, Talgarth High, that, in the early 1900s, was the home of R. M. Holland, a reclusive Victorian writer who is the subject of a biography Clare is writing. He wrote The Stranger, a Gothic short story that it’s at the centre of this novel. Clare’s life focuses on her daughter, her job, and the book she is writing, but it’s turned upside down when her colleague and close friend, Ella Elphick, is found murdered. That’s how she meets DS Harbinder Kaur, the second protagonist of the novel. Harbinder is in her middle-thirties, single, and she still lives with her parents. She is in charge of Ella’s case and she works relentlessly to find out the killer, especially as Clare becomes more and more involved in the case. Clare and Harbinder are completely different women, from different backgrounds and culture, and, even though at the beginning they don’t really like each other, a friendship begins between the two women as the case progresses. The third protagonist of the novel is Georgia, Clare’s fifteen-year-old daughter. Like all teenagers, she is moody, annoyed by her mother, and angry to the world, but she is also clever, intuitive, and a gifted writer.

I am a big fan of Elly Griffiths’s series featuring Dr Ruth Galloway so I was really looking forward to her stand-alone novel and I am happy to say that it went above my expectations because I was hooked from the first to the last page. Between the surprising twists and a cast of suspicious characters the suspense is always high and there are ghosts, magic, spirits, and séances that agree perfectly with the spooky and dark atmosphere that fills the pages. The plot is often interrupted by passages from Holland’s short story, The Stranger, which I found captivating, and snippets from Clare’s diaries that made the novel more gripping and sinister.

Unsurprisingly, Elly Griffiths wrote a compelling and captivating novel with a ghostly atmosphere and engaging characters and I’d like to thank Quercus for providing me with an early copy of the book.

Two books for the price of one.
Elly Griffiths has a new crime mystery that has no direct link with her two established series. One of the things it does have in common is that is very good. Full of her delightful humour and investable characters but lacking the security of the familiar. It strays into uncharted territory moreover as there is a cap doffed to horror and ghostly terror.
Interspersed with the modern day fiction is the frightening tale of a Stranger on a train who recounts a horror story while the journey is delayed, fittingly he narrates his story this 31st October, as it concerned events that happened on a previous Halloween nights.
The mantra “Hell is empty” ties this story into the modern murder mystery as an English teacher is found dead. With the body is a note which is a quote from The Stranger which also relates to a quotation from The Tempest.
Set in part within a school English department which in itself shares part of Holland House where the author of the Stranger lived and where is wife is a noted ghostly apparition. Elly blends the fiction of the narrated tale on the lonely train with her modern murder mystery. The detective team in the police investigation are as lost as we readers are. The book tells its story through the perspective of three characters which spins the narration around like a fairground ride and disorientate one’s own focus on who is perhaps less open and truthful.
It is almost a play within a play full of drama and high pitched tension. It is a genuine stand-alone by a well respected author who does not need to enhance her reputation but this novel clearly does that in the originality and self-belief The Stranger Diaries reflects on her story telling and writing prowess.
I loved his homage to English Literature and thought it a fitting tale to grow for an accomplished author at ease in her work and in love with literature.
I can imagine the plot has moved across the waters of Elly’s subconscious since her own student days, like some sea fret rolling ashore.
It is always a pleasure to meet Elly at book events and signings. Behind bright, intelligent eyes you know that there is talent with so much more to give. I am delighted to say that twinkle in her eyes just got brighter as this new novel is a tour de force.
Other authors look away now. She is also one of my favourite modern writers as a person and as a exponent of her art.
And the reading audience shout. “More..........”

So I requested this one mainly because it has been ages since I’ve read a contemporary thriller – and this one spoke to me, with the synopsis and the slightly literary angle. This time of year always makes me want to read murder mystery and thriller, but most of my TBR is Fantasy at the moment. I’m happy to say this book did not disappoint!

We follow multiple perspectives in this book. First off is Clare, a teacher at the local school who is obsessed with RM Holland, and is writing a book about him, when there’s a murder among the faculty. Her struggle as she mourns her friend, tries to keep work going, care for her daughter (and argue with her ex-husband) is made that much worse when she suddenly notices strange writing in her personal diary. I don’t think there’s many things scarier than someone not only reading your most private thoughts, but also leaving some creepy writing on the page.

We also follow Harbinder, one of the police detectives assigned to solve her colleagues’ murder. It was really interesting not only to see how two such very different people react to the events and suspects, as well as it being nice in general to see the investigator angle. Oftentimes we just follow someone connected to the murder, and it helps to get the less emotional, more analytical angle. The funny thing is, even with a look inside the head of someone investigating the murder and having all the resources and information the police have, I still wasn’t sure who the murderer was going to end up being!

The writing was fast paced and kept me wanting to keep on reading the whole time. The different point of views had very distinct tones, and while I may have gotten annoyed with some of them (their opinions, mostly) it is only because they were such believable and realistic thoughts for the characters.

The story and world is very atmospheric, with the simple English town, abandoned factory and old country manor turned school. The inclusion of the Gothic writer RM Holland, his history, as well as his famous story The Stranger created a supernatural edge to this thriller. Many a time I was wondering if in the end they would have to arrest a ghost for the murder! The Stranger is a very simple story, but very ominous, with its enigmatic narrator and train carriage setting. No stranger is ever allowed to talk to me on a train again!

This is quite a departure from the two wonderful detective series of books written by this author (Ruth Galloway and Stephens & Mephisto) and I was a little unsure what to expect from the gothic spooky story. It was excellent - very well written and planned out, and it drew me in right from the start. It is a tale of murder, centred around English teacher Claire Cassidy who has a passion for the Victorian mystery short story "The Stranger" and its author who just happens to have lived and worked at her present school. There are deaths and strange goings-on around Claire's friends, family and colleagues, and suspicion falls on several people in turn as DS Harbinder Kaur and her partner DS Neil Winston try to put all the pieces together before anyone else dies. The story is narrated by Claire, her daughter Georgia and Harbinder (who would make a great book lead character in her own right!) in turn. Quite often this style doesn't work, but all credit to the author it really works well here as each character relates several chapters in succession and is able to overlap the story and fill in the gaps. The unveiling of the culprit probably won't come as a surprise to many readers and the story is comfortably silly in places but overall highly enjoyable.

I am predisposed to enjoy Elly Griffiths books, but I nervously awaited this stand-alone. Would the ghost element be too much for me?

Answer: no.  It's creepy without being scary.  There are mysterious lights that create atmosphere, but not too much in the way of things swooping down on you. Dead bodies are really dead bodies for crime solving, not for gore.

But it is weird.

The plot twines between Clare's research into a long-dead author, his spookier works, and the rumour of the ghost of his wife. Did she die, or was she pushed? His preserved study at the top of the school building might hold the key.

The Stranger Diaries is an excellent diversion from Elly Griffiths.  All her hallmark detail, accuracy in crime elements, empathetic character-building.

The narrator feels like someone I'm comfortable with, and then, suddenly it changes, to a much more abrasive character, who sees the first narrator in a completely different light, one I hadn't seen at all from her own musings. After a while I really enjoy the second character. She'd make a good friend. A third narrator tells her own point of view, which adds to the complexity of the story.

Are any of them reliable narrators?  I think they all were, and that is the author's genius at work.  She shows how three people, each with part of the story, backed by their own backgrounds and experiences, can come to completely different conclusions.

I might be tempted to dock half a star for authorial negligence, which led me to suspect the right perpetrator early, but then, it was always a guess, and the revelation was well worth the wait. Although I did consider someone else for a long time, too. So I'm sticking with five stars for this excellent, haunting, creepy, gothic take on a modern crime novel.

This book is a total page turner - I absolutely loved it. It’s a spooky, atmospheric mystery about a killer stalking members of a high school English department. The murderer uses a Victorian gothic short story by fictional author RM Holland as a guide for the killings, and leaves cryptic notes for English teacher Clare Cassidy in her private diary. The Stranger Diaries is told from multiple perspectives, with excerpts from the RM Holland short story woven throughout, and is a beautifully written book, full of characters and motivations that feel real and unique.

It was the perfect read for autumn! Massive thank you to Quercus and NetGalley for sending me an advance copy of this!

This is exactly the sort of book I want to hunker down with as the nights get darker and the shadows longer; it's fast paced, spooky, there are plenty of red herrings and multiple narratives to add depth to the overarching story line.
Clare is the English Literature teacher with a passion for the author R.M. Holland, and his seminal story 'The Stranger' starts to take on new meaning when her friends and colleagues are found murdered with a key line from the story. Is she the next victim, or is she the killer?
Georgie her daughter certainly knows more than she is letting on and has a secret life that her mother knows nothing about. Does she have something more to hide?
D.S. Harbinder is the detective brought in to solve the case, and her insights are brilliant at showing a different side to the narrative of both Clare and Georgie.
Nestled between the pages are things that go bump in the night, work politics, teenage secrets, unrequited love and a genuinely creepy setting. It's a fun read and one that I really enjoyed as Halloween approaches.

My thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The Stranger Diaries is a standalone thriller from Elly Griffuths and it is an enjoyable read.

The story is told from the perspective of 3 people something which the author manages to pull off as each person's view of a particular incident adds to the story overall

My only reservation is that the ending felt just a bit rushed however I would still recommend the book overall

Oh there’s lots to love here - a fictitious Victorian author R M Holland , a mysterious book The Stranger, a dead body with a message from the book found beside it, a visit to the hallowed literary halls of Cambridge....

There’s a mystery to solve and a literary one at that with plenty of references to books and Victorian classics. I was soon immersed in this gothically crafted setting. One minute I was in a gothic novel and then the next, a sunny Sussex town with a modern day character of DS Kaur who I hope to see again!

I like the idea of a crime linked to a classic book with bodies of real victims mirroring those of the fictional ones. Then a modern day school with a old undisturbed office of a infamous writer. Ooh the goosebumps started pretty early on! I really liked reading the extracts of The Stranger sprinkled throughout the novel too.

Not many real locations in this one but the fictional ones are inviting and compelling!

Really enjoyed this dark murder mystery I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I loved it. Likeable characters maybe slightly drawn out in places but I’d still highly recommend thanks for the preview.

I decided to request this on NetGalley when I saw that it was described as "A gripping contemporary Gothic thriller... Wilkie Collins and MR James meet Gone Girl and Disclaimer"; I do love a Gothic thriller!

Clare Cassidy is a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer RM Holland, about whom she teaches a short course every year. Then Clare's life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an RM Holland story by the body. The investigating police detective is convinced the writer's works somehow hold the key to the case. And Claire realises she is right when, after the (first) murder, she notices some other writing in her diary. Writing that isn't hers...

I enjoyed this novel, particularly the meta narrative element of the novel. Elly Griffiths 'quotes' regularly from Holland's work throughout The Stranger Diaries and in fact opens the novel with a long extract from his most famous short story, before shifting the reader cleverly into the main story arc by introducing Clare's creative writing group deconstructing the Gothic story.

The only quibble I had was with the 'big reveal' - I just wasn't convinced by the murderer or his motive. However, it was a lot of fun getting to the denouement and definitely worth a read!

The Stranger Diaries is a great mix of spooky and entertaining. Anchored around an old ghost story taught by main character Claire in her English class, the book follows a series of strange events sparked off by the murder of one of her fellow teachers. I like the way that modern scandals are intertwined with ancient ones - rumours of illicit affairs, suspicious Facebook messages, and accusations of witchcraft abound. A lot of thought has been given to establishing a dark and spooky atmosphere, but at the same time the characters’ voices are frank and often funny.

The ending felt a little rushed, but otherwise the book was really well paced and very engaging. An ideal almost-Halloween read.

Am a great fan of Elly Griffiths and this didn't disappoint. It is a stand alone book.
Claire Cassidy is a literary teacher, specialising in the Gothic writer R.M. Holland. She actually teaches within the house where he lived. Then, one of her friends, a fellow teacher is found dead and so begins the nightmare. Who is killing off her work friends, is it someone she knows and how is the Stranger Diary connected to the modern day tragedies. Then her own diary suddenly has someone else's writing in.

This is a book to be read around Halloween with a fire in the hearth and the wind blowing!!

Elly Griffiths writes the perfect October read with this contemporary take on the Victorian Gothic novel set on the Sussex coast. Attractive Clare Cassidy is a divorced English teacher with a 15 year old daughter, Georgia, teaching at local comprehensive school, Talgarth High, where there is a building that Roland Montgomery Holland, a reclusive Victorian writer lived, a man famous for a short story titled The Stranger. Clare is writing a biography of RM Holland and is interested in the death of his wife, Alice Avery, rumoured to have fallen to her death, and his mysterious daughter, Mariana, about whom virtually nothing is known. Alice's ghost is said to haunt the school, and if seen, is said to foreshadow a death. Clare's best friend and colleague, Ella Elphick, is found murdered with a note that is a quote from The Stranger 'Hell is empty'. In a narrative delivered by three female voices, Clare, Georgia and DS Harbinder Kaur, aspects of The Stranger are interspersed throughout the novel, as creepy and menacing echoes of the Victorian story are to be found in a series of murders in the present.

Ella was a well liked member of the English department and the entire school is shocked by her death. The police investigation is led by DS Kaur who attended Talgarth High as a pupil and her experiences of the school pepper the story. Clare is less than forthcoming to Kaur about the intrigue in the department and Ella, but then events take a sinister turn and more murders take place. Clare has been a long term keeper of personal diaries documenting her inner thoughts and events in her life. She is left afraid and unsettled when she discovers someone else has written in her diary at which point she hands her journals to Kaur who finds them revealing of Clare, and the truth of Ella's character and personal life. Clare thinks she knows her daughter, Georgie, rather well, but there is much that Georgia keep secret, including her attendance of a creative writing course run by Bryony Hughes, known as a white witch. In the meantime, Clare finds a romantic interest in Cambridge academic, Henry Hamilton, who has unearthed further information on RM Holland.

Elly Griffiths always writes compelling stories with gripping characters and this is no different. There is plenty of atmosphere of the ghostly and menacing kind along with that of the location with its dense sea mists and abandoned warehouses. Whilst Clare was of less interest to me as a person, I loved her daughter, Georgie, with her much older boyfriend, the dog, Herbert, and the gay DS Harbinder Kaur is a person I would definitely like to meet again with her wit, her family, her mum that waits up for her and cooks such fabulous food. This is a great read for this time of year with Halloween approaching. I found it an enthralling read which I recommend highly. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

Although I was interested in the description of this novel, I was, initially, a little wary. I had tried Elly Griffiths popular Ruth Galloway series, and stalled with it. However, I am glad that I gave this a try, as I absolutely loved it and it has made me determined to go back and give Ruth Galloway another try.

This is a clever, literary mystery, with an excellent cast of characters. Clare Cassidy is a divorced English teacher, living with teenage daughter, Georgie and working at Talgarth High. Although a modern secondary school, there is an Old Building, where Gothic author, R.M. Holland once worked. Indeed, his study remains, intact, at the top of the building and Clare is writing a book about him. However, when we meet her, her research has stalled and she is teaching a creative writing class in the holidays. When fellow English teacher, Elly Elphick, is murdered, it sends shock waves through the school. There is a quote left by the body and then messages are written in Clare’s private diary…

I particularly enjoyed the characters in this novel. Spiky, assertive, D S Harbinder Kaur and her partner, Neil Winston, added an excellent dimension – so often in crime novels you have either interesting suspects, or interesting investigators, but this novel has both. There is also an engaging academic flavour, with Henry H. Hamilton, a Cambridge academic, contacting Clare about some possible information he has on R.M. Holland, and a rather creepy teacher, Bryony Hughes, who seems to see herself as a modern Miss Jean Brodie.

Over-riding the story are snippets from R.M. Holland’s most famous story, which mirrors events in a very creepy way. A really good cast of possible suspects makes it hard for you to spot the killer and I enjoyed Clare’s diary snippets too – as well as those of Georgie. Diary writing might be a dying art, but hopefully Elly Griffiths will persuade some readers to take up their pen. Overall, I loved this and I particularly hope that D S Kaur will appear in future books. I am now, most definitely, an Elly Griffiths convert! I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Having enjoyed Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway books, and the Stephens and Mephisto series, I was intrigued to read this Gothic creepy tale of ghosts and unquiet spirits.
Claire Cassidy is a divorced teacher of English at a modern comprehensive school, who lives with her teenage daughter Georgie.
She is also writing a book an R M Holland, a Victorian author whose haunted study is in the old part of the school, and who is famous for a short story “The Stranger”.
Her work, and research collide when her colleague is murdered, and a quote from this story is found by her body, “Hell is empty”, and then writing in another hand appears in her diary, quoting from the story, and other Victorian authors.
The police are involved, in the shape of Harbinder, a detective who attended the same school in her youth, and has unhappy memories of it.
As the body count increases, as does the danger to Claire, inexplicable things keep happening, and the atmosphere becomes more strained.
The story is told in the voices of Claire, Harbinder and Georgie, and this works well, as their different views of the same events become clear.
In between their voices are extracts from The Stranger, a very creepy, atmospheric story.
Add a white witch, some teenage boys, a Cambridge academic, an ex-husband and stir well, and a very satisfying mystery evolves, with an exciting climax, when the murderer is finally revealed.
An added bonus is the full text of “The Stranger”.
An excellent read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for the opportunity to read this book.

Elly Griffiths’ latest novel takes us away from Norfolk and down to the South coast, focusing on a group of English teachers and their pupils. The story is told from the points of view of three women: Clare, an English teacher who is researching the life of R M Holland, writer of a Victorian Gothic short story ‘The Stranger’ (extracts run throughout the novel), her fifteen year old daughter Georgia, a secret writer with a group of close friends, and Harbinder, a gay Sikh detective in her thirties who still lives at home with her parents.
The two murders and a third attempted killing create the narrative propulsion of the novel. The crimes are strangely similar to the modes of death in ‘The Stranger’. All connected to Clare and Georgia through the supposedly haunted Talgarth High, the school which Georgia attends and at which Clare works and which was originally R M Holland’s home, they provide the reader with a good deal to unravel. There are plenty of suspects for the murders and also plenty of alibis which makes this an entertaining and thought-provoking read. There are plenty of suspects for the murders and also plenty of alibis which makes this an entertaining and thought-provoking read.
However, it is not just this challenge which makes ‘The Stranger Diaries’ worth reading. The writer has given us three strong female voices – all very different but equally convincing. My particular favourite is Harbinder Kaur who is funny, self-aware, competent and ambitious. It would be good to see her further developed in subsequent novels.
Ironically, it is the short story ‘The Stranger’ itself which is told in full at the end of the book which blights the overall effect of this tale. Dull, clichéd, and predictable, I found myself skim-reading the extracts peppered throughout the novel (much more intriguing were the real literary references even though they didn’t link ‘The Tempest’ and ‘The Woman in White’ with Griffiths’ novel in any profound way). Because the twenty-first century story had me gripped, it was a shame that the novel ended with a weak Victorian pastiche.
My thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Editions for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

It's ironic, there is no way I would have tried this title if I didn't enjoy the authors previous works, the irony being that this book bears absolutely no resemblance to her previous books. So set aside your preconceptions (I don't like gothic) and enjoy this slightly blended, moderately spooky gothic style police procedural. More from Ds Kaur too please!

This book held my interest all the way through, it is a great combination of murder mystery and ghost story.
It is filled with quirky characters and a very well thought out plot.
The story is told from more than one persons perspective and I liked the way we saw some of the incidents from more than one point of view.
The present day murders take place at a public school , previously the home of R.M.Holland. A victorian writer, his most famous, a ghost story "The Stranger".
The two stories intertwine and the eerie atmosphere is cleverly created.
A really entertaining read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for the opportunity to read this as an ARC

Really enjoyed reading this book a lot. The story seemed to flow very naturally and the characters were believable.
The story itself had some gripping and tense moments and I was very happy I got the chance to read it.

Ella, an english teacher at the local comprehensive is murdered. Naturally the police investigate her department and friends. Clare Cassidy was her best friend and colleague in the english department. As the investigations progress Claire finds writing in her diary which isn't hers and then there is another murder........

I am a big fan of Elly Griffiths work having read all the Stephens & Mephisto as well as the Dr Ruth Galloway. I very much enjoyed this book being in a slightly different direction to those. I do hope that it is intended as the beginning of a series as I would be very happy to see the policewoman, Harbinder, again and maybe Clare Cassidy as well?

This book takes various forms in its writing. We see things from the view of different characters - Clare, Harbinder and Clare's daughter Georgia. We also have diary entries from Clare and Georgia. The book also follows the path of a short story - The Stranger. We gets bits of this story as the book progresses. Naturally there are some similarities. At the end of the book is the complete version of The Stranger which I very much appreciated. I like books which employ a variety of methods in the telling - parallel time periods, different characters per chapter, letters, diaries and so on. Having The Stranger as a story running throughout was a different approach but one which I liked.

Clare is quite a bland character. She is quite an ordinary person with few distinguishing characteristics or personality. If this book is the start of a series which includes Clare again then I hope to see her character develop more. I loved Harbinder. She had plenty of character & personality. She has some very caustic thoughts which add spice to the text. Although single she does not come from a dysfunctional family - hurrah a break from detective cliche! She lives at home with her parents & has a Mum who cooks wonderful food and waits up for her.

The plot itself was solid. I did have a fair idea as to who the murderer was & why quite early on in the book. However I did enjoy the story as it arrived at its conclusion - not quite as simply as I had. Oh the advantage of the reader being able to read people's thoughts!

I very much enjoyed this book and I would certainly be happy if it was the beginning of a series.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I have read all Ruth Galloway series and was interested to see if I would enjoy this standalone as much. I enjoyed it from start to finish. It was a story within a story which was both Gothic and modern. A pleasureable mix. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I liked reading The Stranger Diaries. It started off with a ghost story and then went on to be a murder mystery book.

The book has three narrators-Clare, DS Kaur or Harbinder and Clare's daughter Georgie. I liked the author's writing style -very atmospheric, vivid. However, I felt the addition of the RM Holland's story, in the end, to be unnecessary.

I look forward to reading more of the author's works.

Thanks to NetGalley,the publisher,and the author for providing me with an eARC.

I have read the Ruth Galloway with great enjoyment but the Stranger Diaries is completely different. It's a story within a story and the M R Holland story is creepy and atmospheric but I'm not sure the modern story line is quiet as good. I liked the way the narrative switches between the characters. The events seen from different perspectives really added a depth to the storyline. There were one or two niggles about the way the plot sometimes felt a bit contrived so that it would fit the Victorian gothic storyline but overall I enjoyed the book and did read it in one sitting.

This novel is a departure from Elly Griffiths' usual style. It's a chilling murder mystery but in the style of a gothic novel with multiple narrators. The characters of the narrators are distinct enough not to cause confusion and I found the plot compelling and at times quite haunting. A real page turner that is well worth reading.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this copy. Im a huge fan of the Ruth Galloway novels and although this was a well written book,it didnt really appeal to me. It had the mystery and the humour that we expect from her books but wasnt really my cup of tea. I wish the author all the best .

Overall I liked this book!

I have read a few books in the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths and I was interested to read this standalone novel. The main character is an English and creative writing teacher called Claire who is researching the life of a horror author. A friend and colleague is murdered and Claire's diary seems to hold some clues.

The whole book felt like a very modern take on a gothic style and I really liked the touches of gothic detail. There is also a short story by the fictional author that runs through the book which I absolutely loved.

The murderer was quite obvious from early in the book and I would have preferred a few plot twists. There are also quite a lot of literary quotes and a creative writing theme that I didn't really enjoy. The story is told from 3 different viewpoints - Claire, her daughter and a policewoman. I thought the relationship that developed with the policewoman was a bit odd and cheesy, and I also found the ending cheesy.

Despite this, I thought the subplot about the horror author, the story within the story and the gothic details were interesting and enjoyable enough to make up for most of my dislikes and I would recommend this book.

I've read a number of Elly Griffiths crime novels and was pleased to have the chance to read this one and reviee for NetGalley.
This story about a teacher whose life becomes embroiled in what appears to be a reflection of a short story written in the school in which she works, borders on the supernatural at times but is well bedded in the here and now.
A colleague and close friend of Claire's is killed, her daughter Georgie is drawn into the web with her visits to a slightly of the wall teacher at a nearby college raising concerns. The main police involvement is a Sikh detective Harbinder Kaur who gives us insights into her own culture and the difficulties of balancing that and her police career.
All through the book the narration moves between these the characters and each one gives their own perspective to what is going on. The death of another colleague throws doubt into the minds of the main characters and has suspicion diverted.
The ending was unexpected and the whole book well crafted. The slightly gothic theme to this book is different to one I would normally choose, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it. I hope we meet Harbinder Kaur again in more books from this author.

I have been a fan of Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway series for years so was delighted to get an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for review. As the blurb says, this is a modern take on Gothic fiction. I'm not a huge fan of the gothic finding it a little 'overblown' for my liking but I did enjoy this novel very much. I especially liked finding out about the form and tropes of Gothic fiction through Clare's musings on the subject.

Clare Cassidy is a teacher at an 'improving' school. She is divorced with a teenage daughter and a labradoodle called Herbert. In her spare time she researches a Gothic writer who formerly taught at the school. She is relatively happy with her lot in life, but then strange things start to happen following the murder of her friend and colleague. Most eerily she finds messages in her diary and worse still more murders happen and seem to be following the pattern of those in a short story by the gothic writer. The story is told through the points of view of Clare, her daughter Georgie and Harbinder, the DS who is investigating the murders. I really loved the character of Harbinder and her little witty asides. She was great fun. I also found it very enjoyable to read about the same scene from the POV of the different characters. I'm hoping that we will see more of Harbinder and that she'll get a series of her own. Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A modern Gothic detective story. A Victorian writer spins a Hallowe'en yarn, interlinked is a series of murders in the school where the writer lived and died.

Elly Griffith's fans will recognise a friend in the police detective Harbinder whose presence holds the book together. I was less taken with the Victorian element but then hats off to Griffiths for trying something new. The story was told by a variety of narrators; the police, the mother and the teenage girl. This successfully gave differing views and opinions on the circumstances surrounding the murders.

A good read!

A wonderful stand alone story from this accomplished and highly entertaining author. Elly Griffiths has written a gripping ghost story that's both atmospheric and totally modern, with her trademark dash of humour as well. Perfect Halloween reading.

This book is a great combination of gothic horror, police procedural and a journey through literature. The mystery was interesting and kept me guessing until near the end. I enjoyed the various characters, but it was the settings that really glowed for me, very vibrant and alive. I particularly loved the quotes and nods to other books, everything from Adrian Mole to Wilkie Collins.

The style of the novel is brilliant, three very different narrators with a gothic story woven through it. This is what I enjoyed most and makes for a memorable novel instead of just another mystery. This was my first experience of Elly Griffiths but it won't be my last.

A thoroughly enjoyable modern take on a Gothic novel. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely. Clare teaches English and is also writing a book about a relatively obscure writer whose popular short horror story forms a backdrop to the narrative, which is in the form of three first person accounts (Clare tells us that things come in threes in Gothic fiction). Clare herself begins, then the policewoman, Harbinder, who is investigating a murder at the school where Clare is a teacher and then Clare's daughter Georgia. There is also a faithful dog - Herbert- also a trope of Gothic fiction.
But this is more than a modern pastiche. It's a compelling mystery with well-drawn characters and good plotting (I didn't guess the murderer's identity). Well done Elly Griffiths and thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy.