I was really looking forward to The Stranger Diaries, a standalone novel by Elly Griffiths. I've heard only good things about the author but haven't yet managed to read any of her acclaimed Dr Ruth Galloway or Stephens and Mephisto series despite having a couple on my bookshelves (I promise to read them soon).

The Stranger Diaries introduces schoolteacher Clare, who is writing a book about Gothic author RM Holland. Her life begins to imitate fiction when a colleague is brutally murdered and a line from one of RM Holland's short stories is found beside the body.

When Clare writes about the tragedy in her private diary, she's shocked to find someone else has written in there too. Not recognising the handwriting, she realisies the murderer must be someone close to her. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur believes Clare's family is now in imminent danger.

This book grabbed me from the get-go with its creepy Gothic undertones. I loved the contemporary setting with references to the past through RM Holland's storytelling. I thought the plot was highly original, with plenty of threads adding to the excitement. It's told from multiple viewpoints, which isn't something I'm overly fond of, but in this case I thought it worked well.

It was an enjoyable, if somewhat implausible, read. Startling errors by the police - their lack of basic research - seemed to prolong the investigation for the sake of the story. I really hope they're a little more thorough in real life!

Overall, it was entertaining and very well written. Yes, I did guess who the murderer was quite early on (I've been watching too many episodes of Vera on television) but the motive had me completely baffled.

My thanks to Elly Griffiths, Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book.

<blockquote>‘Diaries don’t tell you what people think. Just what they think they think.' [loc. 2556]</blockquote>

I've been reading and enjoying Griffiths' Ruth Galloway books (most recently <a href="http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2018/09/201859-chalk-pit-elly-griffiths.html"><i>The Chalk Pit</i></a>) for years, so was keen to read this standalone novel, set in West Sussex rather than North Norfolk: thanks to NetGalley for the review copy of <i>The Stranger Diaries</i>, in exchange for this honest review!

<i>The Stranger Diaries</i> is a Gothic thriller with three first-person narrators: schoolteacher Clare, whose friend Ella has been found dead; Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur, who (together with her partner DS Neil Winston) is investigating Ella's death; and Georgia, Clare's teenage daughter, who has quite a few secrets of her own, and doesn't share them <u>all</u> on social media.

Clare Cassidy is a divorcee who's moved to Sussex to start a new life with her daughter Georgia. Clare teaches English and creative writing at Talgarth High, formerly the home of Victorian ghost-story writer R. M. Holland, a figure who has fascinated Clare since she read his short story 'The Stranger' in her teens. She's working on a book about Holland, and wondering whether the school is really haunted by the ghost of his wife -- or his daughter, if she even existed -- when her comfortable life is interrupted by the death of her friend and colleague Ella. Someone (the killer?) had left a note by Ella's body: 'Hell is empty': not just a quotation from <i>The Tempest</i>, but also a line from Holland's 'The Stranger'. And then Clare begins to find notes in her private diary, in a handwriting she doesn't recognise...

This is a well-paced and twisty murder mystery with a feast of red herrings. The male characters are, on the whole, unsympathetic: Clare's ex-husband Simon is brusque and unreliable, Georgia's friend Patrick prone to dramatics, DS Winston ineffectual, Clare's head of department Rick an unscrupulous adulterer. In contrast, the female narrators have distinctive voices and intriguingly varied perspectives on the situation.

And there are diaries throughout: R. M. Holland's diary, much studied by Clare; the diaries that Clare keeps ('like the heroine of a nineteenth-century novel', says Harbinder disparagingly); Georgia's carefully-polished entries on the site MySecretDiary. ('I can’t imagine how it must feel to write your diary by hand, knowing that you only have one chance to express yourself, that the ink is on the paper for ever,' she muses.) The thing with diaries, of course, is that you can never be entirely sure that nobody else is reading them. Or that you've told the truth to yourself.

There were a couple of points, especially regarding standard police practice, where my sense of disbelief fell flat: but on the whole <i>The Stranger Diaries</i> is an excellent read, full of autumnal atmosphere and hints of the supernatural, and threading the text of R. M. Holland's (imaginary) story 'The Stranger' through the gathering menace of the contemporary plot.

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!

There is so much going on in this book that it could so easily have been a dreadful mish mash. But it's not! It's brilliant!
It is all underpinned by a Victorian gothic ghost story, written by the man who used to own the house that is now part of a school. The wonderful writing, with lots of light touches, and the varied cast of characters, all very believable, mean that the story progresses at a cracking pace.
I loved it.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

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!

The Stranger Diaries instantly grabbed by interest, a English Lit teacher obsessed with a gothic author and researching his life’s work. When there is a colleague murdered and creepy notes begin to occur in Clare’s diary!!!! #SOLD!
Great synopsis!

The novel opens with a male narrator and we eventually discover this is the work of R.M. Holland the gothic author Clare is currently researching. Although Clare is a secondary English Lit teacher by day; at night she takes adult students and has covered the work of R.M. Holland. We learn she is currently researching to write a biography on the once beloved author.

R.M. Holland is always in the background of the novel. His past, his life and his work are scattered throughout the novel.

Clare is a teacher at Talgarth High, which is located at Holland House, R.M. Holland’s previous residence. This adds to the eerie feel of the novel and even more so when Clare’s colleague Ella is murdered…
“I just can’t believe I’ll never see her again” – Clare

The novel also shows the points of view of DS Harbinder Kaur and Clare’s teen daughter Georgia. Although, it was Clare I was most captivated by. I just found her character so interesting and I kept trying to second guess her motives, choices and actions.

“I keep thinking I’m in a book” – Clare

There is a note left with Ella’s body that hints at the work of R.M. Holland. But Clare misleads detectives to believe it is a quote from The Tempest. This is when I really began to wonder if I could trust Clare’s narrative at all.

This simply is the perfect winter read, to curl up with on those early dark nights! 4*

‘It can be a dangerous thing, reading too much’

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.

My goodness this is a fantastic book. A gothic mystery wrapped up in a literary thriller and a perfect read for the long autumn nights ahead.

Clare Cassidy is an English teacher who is working on a book about the Gothic author RM Holland. Divorced and living with her teenage daughter, Clare’s life is turned upside when her friend and colleague is found murdered with a note from one of Holland’s books next to her body. Events take an even more sinister turn when Clare finds someone else has been writing in her diary. Enter Detective Harbinder Kaur and this is where the book takes a left turn and switches narrators. It’s a clever trick as Harbinder’s narration brings a new perspective to the story while amusingly pointing out some of Clare’s more annoying characteristics! The bodies start stacking up and the mysterious messages continue in Clare’s diary. Clare’s daughter Georgia gets her own chapters too. This is really smart thinking from the author as there wasn’t really a realistic way that Clare could have forced herself into Georgia’s social circle and got her perspective on events.

Elly Griffiths has plenty of experience in police procedural writing and this experience gives a real extra layer to the storytelling without becoming overwhelming. The different styles are smartly mixed with the Gothic tropes which make this a really original book. The whodunnit element is really absorbing and I had several suspects right up till the end (all of who turned out to be wrong, but less of that!) The fictional RM Holland’s writing is interspersed throughout the book and it was a real treat to get the full shirt story at the end. It immediately made me want to dig out every ghost story book I have which is testament to how good Griffith’s writing is.

A really original book with a lot to interest readers of different genres. I would definitely recommend diving into this excellent book.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair 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