4.5 stars rounded up for this clever thriller. I found it very entertaining and hard to put down. The main characters are unreliable and you don’t know quite who to trust. One thing I really liked is that it is a book with in a book.

The setting is in an old house that is a school but once was the home of a well known horror writer. He wrote a short story that got a lot of attention. The main character Clare, is researching the author and she also teaches at the school. Another teacher, Ella, is murdered at her home and the police have reason to suspect there are ties to the the short story by the horror writer. You will be thinking this too.

Murder at a haunted, creepy, prestigious school... oh yea, that is in here too; is right up top on my list of books I like to read. We get 3 unreliable narratives. Clare, one of the detectives, and Clare ‘s daughter, Georgia.

The book does get 5 stars from me in creep factor and I listened to the audio sample which would make a great listen from what I can tell. The opening is chilling as the short story is read aloud.

Many thanks to the publisher, Houston Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley for a digital copy to review. I enjoyed this read with others in the Traveling Sisters group. A lively discussion enhanced it for me. I highly recommend this to those that enjoy a good mystery and haunting.

This stand alone is my first Elly Griffiths. A fun, quick read. This novel combines some of my favorite mystery tropes: action at a school (this one is a day school, not a boarding school, but still), and a modern story interwoven with another, older tale. Wonderfully gothic and I loved the detective as well.

An atmospheric mystery with slightly creepy undertones or hints at horror without ever entering the horror genre. Enjoyable characters and a good twist.

Well written contemporary thriller with gothic and ghostly overtones.

Atmospheric and creepy the current vogue of multiple narrative perspectives does become a touch wearing after a time. As a mixture of styles, and viewpoints, it works far better than it should, but I have to admit to a preference for Elly Griffiths other work.

Nonetheless it is a good read if this genre is to your liking.

Clare is an English teacher living with her 15 year old daughter Georgia. In the beginning Clare's good friend and colleague is killed. The killer has written a note quoting a local horror author, whose life Clare is researching. Soon Clare discovers that someone has read her diaries and written in them.
The story is told through three pov's. Clare, Georgia and DS Harbinder Kaur. Of those three Harbinder was my favorite. I liked her determination in solving the case. She was a down to earth person you could always count on. Clare is described beautiful and privileged. Georgia is a teenager with secrets.
The story kept me guessing. I could not spot the killer until the very last moment. And that is always a good sign. The atmosphere was very spooky at times.
I have read a couple of Ruth Galloway-books from this same author. The tone in this book is somewhat different, but in a good way. A really good read.
Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy of this book.

This book was such a pleasant surprise. It is a really well written thriller with perfect structure and prose.

The book starts of with the beginning of a short story and the murder of the protagonist’s friend. Our main character, Clare, is a divorced English teacher who lives with her daughter. She writes in a diary every day, and she’s writing a book about the life of a writer, Holland. Things get strange when she discovers that else someone is writing quotes from Holland’s story in her personal diary.

I loved the structure of the book. There are parts of the short story by Holland every few chapters, and there are three povs. The POV of the police officer was particularly well written, but I think all three POVs were crucial and fleshed out well. The life of Holland’s life, and the short story referred to in every few chapters adds an air of mystery to the book, and provides a perfect background to the story.

Even though I’ve been reading quite a few thrillers/murder mysteries recently, this book still didn’t let me get bored, I couldn’t guess the end and it was perfect parts mysterious and logical. Highly recommended.

What if you found a secret message in your diary, only you hadn't written it?

This is one of many creepy moments in The Stranger Diaries, the first standalone novel from British novelist Elly Griffiths, who is better known for her long-running Ruth Galloway mystery series.

English teacher Clare Cassidy runs a creative writing class in a spooky old building at Talgarth High. She is also writing a biography of Victorian author R.M. Holland, who used to reside in the very same building and whose study has been left eerily untouched since his death. Clare learns her colleague and friend, Ella Elphick has been murdered, and is disturbed to hear there was a note found with Ella's body with a quote from The Stranger, a short ghost story written by Holland - and one that Clare teaches in her class. When Clare finds a message from a stranger in her private diary, astute detective Harbinder Kaur realises the handwriting matches the note found next to Ella and believes the killer has a connection with Clare.

The story is told from the points of view of Clare, DS Kaur and Georgia, Clare's fifteen-year-old daughter who, unbeknownst to her mother, is part of a secret group who write online journals. These alternating viewpoints provide an often amusing insight into what Clare and DS Kaur really think of each other and, quite humorously, how wise-beyond-her-years Georgia is playing her mother by telling her what she thinks she wants to hear. There's also a story within the story - the novel opens with the first pages of The Stranger, setting a mysterious and ominous tone from the outset, continuing in sections throughout the novel before being repeated in full at the conclusion to great dramatic effect.

Clare, Harbinder and Georgia are nuanced, authentic characters with voices that come to life on the page. DS Kaur is particularly readable; still living at home with her parents at thirty-five and spending her spare time scrolling through Facebook and playing Panda Pop. Elly Griffiths (who also teaches creative writing) cleverly uses the opportunity of having a writer main character to reference tropes of the gothic mystery, for example, things happen in threes, and animals often play a significant role because they can sense danger (but are also expendable). Take note, Clare has a beloved pet dog named Herbert.

The mystery of 'whodunit' should be a surprise to most readers. There's plenty of curious suspects, including married head of department, Rick Lewis, who has a habit of developing crushes on members of his staff; tanned and handsome head teacher, Tony Sweetman; and Patrick O'Leary, a sporty student with a crush on Ella. There are also lots of 'ooh' moments, one involving the mystery of Holland's wife, Alice, who haunts the old building at the school (and who may have been murdered by Holland), and a second murder I didn't see coming despite some crafty foreshadowing.

The Stranger Diaries is a savvy modern take on the traditional gothic mystery and is particularly enjoyable to read because of its engaging and believable characters, incredibly witty voice, and suspenseful plot, with a touch of otherworldly spookiness. I'd love to see DS Kaur in another mystery.

This is my first Elly Griffiths novel and I'll be checking out more of her novels in the future. The story is told from three POVs although there is also a short story contained within the novel that gives us a fourth narrator for those parts of the book. The short story is The Stranger, written by the fictional Gothic writer R. M. Holland, who one of the main characters, Clare, specializes in teaching in her high school English classes. Clare's 15 year old daughter Georgia attends the same high school and provides another POV for the novel. The third POV comes from DS Harbinder Kaur, one of the detectives investigating the murder at the school.

The murder of Clare's best friend, Ella, another English teacher at the school, seems to have evidence that alludes to the short story, The Stranger. In fact, the school houses the building where Holland lived almost a century ago, where his wife died mysteriously by being pushed or thrown down the stairs to Holland's attic office. Then Clare notices that someone has added writing to her private diaries, making everything seem even more sinister.

There is an eerie feel to the book, as more and more things happen that allude to Holland and his writings, which is fun in a modern day novel. I enjoyed reading from the POV of all three characters, the snobbish, beautiful Clare, the too mature for her age, Georgia, and the hard nosed, sarcastic and witty DS Kaur. Reading the events of the story from three different perspectives often changed the who and how of the story for me and even though I briefly picked the right person for the murderer, I was led astray by new events and seeing the events from a different view point. . And then there was the short story within this novel that added to the mysterious and gothic feel of the book.

When I first began reading the book it seemed to be a slow start that didn't really grab my interest. But once the other POVs entered the story, I was hooked. And then there is Herbert, Clare and Georgia's little mutt dog that goes to doggie day care and has the cutest personality. Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is totally my type of book and I'm a lover of Elly Griffiths novels to begin with.

The setting was perfect, the characters well-developed and well-written. It's a wonderfully spooky ghost story/thriller set on a college campus in England, with murder mysteries both fictional and real, to be solved. I loved that there was diversity and likeable and dislikeable characters. I had a difficult time putting it down. The ending was especially great!!

I would like to thank the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Excellent writing! I was drawn in from the first page - so happy to find a novel I really enjoyed reading, istead of reading just to get to the end of it.
I thought the book within a book was a unique touch.
I've always loved a good gothic Victorian novel - this one was well done because it didn't go overboard and be come totally unbelievable.
I felt I knew all the characters and the settings were well explained.
I especially liked Clare from the begining and her daughter Georgie turned out to be a well rounded, interesting character instead of a moody angst ridden self centered teen.
Harbinder's snarkiness was a good contrast to Clare and the other teacher's proper attitudes.
And the spooky atmosphere really added to the narrative instead of distracting from it.
I already bought another book from this author and can't wait to start it!

"The Stranger Diaries," a stand-alone mystery by Elly Griffiths, is set in the English countryside. Clare Cassidy, a divorced English teacher, lives in West Sussex with her fifteen-year-old daughter, Georgie, and their cherished dog, Herbert. When one of Clare's colleagues is found stabbed to death, the staff and students at Talgarth Comprehensive School are stunned. Who would want to harm this popular educator? Adding to the atmosphere of gloom is a subplot involving the long-deceased R. M. Holland. He was a Gothic writer who wrote a horror story, "The Stranger,” excerpts of which appear in italicized passages throughout the book. The perpetrator of the current crimes (yes, the killer strikes again) appears to be imitating aspects of Holland's chilling tale.

One of the book's most interesting characters is DS Harbinder Kaur, a tough and astute homicide detective who is unrelenting in her search for the culprit. This feisty and independent woman chooses to live at home with her Indian parents, who have no idea that their daughter is gay. Kaur and her partner, DS Neil Winston, interview staff and students who were acquainted with the victims, but even after the investigators unearth tantalizing bits of evidence, they are slow to figure out who targeted these particular victims and why.

Griffiths shifts between Clare, Georgie, and DS Kaur, who take turns commenting on events as they unfold. In addition, there are plentiful red herrings that point to various men, women, and teens as possible suspects. The author amuses us with comic and satirical dialogue, and charms us with tender scenes that demonstrate the strong bond between Clare, Georgie, and their spoiled pooch. "The Stranger Diaries" is a treat for enthusiasts of classic plays, poems, and works of fiction, who will enjoy the literary allusions that are sprinkled throughout the narrative. The implausible solution to the puzzle comes out of left field and is not particularly satisfying. Still, this novel is an engrossing and entertaining blend of humor, romance, madness, and a touch of the supernatural.

Claire Cassidy teaches high school English and she specializes in the works of R.M Holland. His short story The Stranger leads off our book with a tease and ends with a full blown boom. I could see where people would be fascinated in it. Claire's co-worker and friend is killed in the beginning and the story takes us into their secrets, their lives, and the investigation. This brings in a very hard detective who was very hard to like for a very long time. (That changed) It also leads to more murder and attempted murder.

I admit that I wanted to read ahead a few times because the story dragged a little bit for me but I didn't. I am glad that I didn't. I had no idea who the killer was and was quite surprised. The writing is good and creepy, very atmospheric. The ghost story with The Stranger was a really nice touch.

This would be a good book to read on Halloween.

Thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy of this book.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Who’s writing in Clare’s private diary? Figure that out and you’ll have the killer according to investigator DS Kaur.

This easy to read thriller will have you guessing who the killer is throughout the story. You’ll guess one character, and then another. Who had the motive? The access? It could be anyone. Did R.M. Holland’s book The Stranger have any influence on the killer? Could it be a teacher from Talgarth High?

In this entertaining “whodunit” you’ll find yourself with any excuse to sit down and get back to reading. Join in the fun, as Elly Griffiths’ characters are relatable and real, the present day English setting is perfect and the mystery will get solved.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #HoughtonMifflinHarcort for an advanced copy of this book for my review.

There are so many things to love about The Stranger Diaries, I don’t really know where to begin! The story within a story technique worked beautifully here. The short story, The Stranger, was properly creepy and rather intriguing by itself, but the unraveling of that mystery alongside the present one strengthened the gothic theme I love so much. Throughout the entire reading, the feeling of foreboding was undeniable, that delicious sense of gloom and doom pushing me towards the next page.

But wait, there’s more! This being my first book by Elly Griffiths (gasp! I know!), I didn’t quite know what to expect, and found myself rather blown away. So often, I find getting through the first chapter or so of a book a bit rough, but not so here. From the onset, I was able to glide right in, finding myself immersed in the story without realizing it had happened. That right there is the sign of an excellent read if you ask me!

The only thing that makes it slightly less than perfect? I figured out the whodunnit rather quickly and couldn’t be convinced or distracted from that conclusion no matter what the misdirects. However, this book was such an absolute pleasure to read, that I hardly care.

If you like gothic, if you like mystery, if you like good books, this book is for you! Read it. You won’t be sorry.

Mysterious messages in an unknown hand. A ghost haunting the dark halls of an old school building. A long-dead gothic author who penned a chilling short story. And murder. This book has all the dark shadows of a great gothic murder mystery, with modern suspense thriller nuances thrown in to give it a more updated feel. I binge read this book -- once I got started, I couldn't stop reading!

Clare Cassidy teaches in a British high school. A famous gothic writer, R. M. Holland, used to live in the old building on campus. His former office on the upper floor has been preserved. Holland's desk, notes, photographs....everything is still there. Clare spends her days teaching and her evenings working on a book about Holland. Things take a dark turn when a teacher at the school is murdered and strange clues are left for Clare.

I enjoyed the gothic feel of this book. The short story The Stranger by Holland is told in snippets, woven in with the modern day murder investigation. The full short story is only revealed at the very end of the book. The combination of Clare's obsession with the dead author and the violent events unfolding in her life set the tone for the story.

I love it when a mystery novel keeps me guessing until the very end. Every time I thought I knew the killer's identity, this story took a sharp turn and went in another direction. The story is told from the point of view of Clare, her daughter Georgia, and a female detective investigating the case. I don't usually enjoy stories that switch POV....most of the time it just makes the story confused and muddled. But, in this case, the different POVs worked perfectly. Griffiths masterfully builds suspense by revealing the story a little bit at a time through the three main female characters. Each sees the situation from a different angle....and it all comes crashing together at the very end.

My favorite character? Herbert the dog, of course. :)

This is the first book by Elly Griffiths that I've read. Griffiths also writes the Ruth Galloway series and the Stephens and Mephisto Mysteries. This book is a standalone story, separate from her other mysteries. I'm definitely going to be reading more by this author. I loved the story, the pacing and the creative, gothic feel of The Stranger Diaries. Any book that keeps me reading for an entire day because I just can't step away from the story earns full stars from me! Gothic chill and modern suspense masterfully combined -- loved it!

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Readers may be familiar with Elly Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway and Stephens/Mephisto mysteries. I listened to the first of the Galloways, The Crossing Places, and enjoyed it. I have the next two queued, but you know, too many books, so little time: a reader’s lament. I did make time, on the other hand, for Griffiths’s latest, a stand-alone murder mystery and homage to gothic lit. There’s also a sly nod to Georgette Heyer: all the wins. The darn thing kept me reading in waiting rooms (nose stuffed while Kindle pressed to it), through half-hearted lunch-time sandwich-eating, and curled up in my reading chair till late. The Stranger Diaries is a heck of a engrossing read; even when the mystery faltered, Griffiths’s love of gothic lit, uncanny knowledge of teacherly ways, especially English teacherly ways, and insight into love-gone-mad-and-bad obsession saw me hitting those Kindle pages.

Giving you a sense of what The Stranger Diaries is about makes for a convoluted retelling, but spoilers will be avoided. Divorcée Clare Cassidy lives in West Sussex with her 15-year-old daughter Georgia. She teaches English at Talgarth High and works on her book about Talgarth High’s founder, the fictional Victorian writer, R. H. Holland, whose short story, “The Stranger,” frames Griffiths’s narrative.

“The Stranger” reads like Wuthering Heights, with a narrator telling the story of a young man who, with his university friends, is invited to a mysterious mansion for initiation into the Hell Club. While he’s blindfolded, two of his friends are murdered…

According to Clare’s research, Holland was a peculiar fellow, with a broken marriage, and possibly an unsubstantiated daughter, Mariana, whose ghost is said to haunt Talgarth High. This serves as background to a mundane opening. Clare is concerned about her daughter dating an older guy, running from class to class, prepping lessons, and keeping up with her administrator’s departmental goals, having an ordinary, harried teacher’s day with petty collegial squabbles and intolerance and that exasperation-plus-indulgent-affection that every good teacher feels for her students. The spookiness of Clare’s Holland research is balanced by the everydayness of Clare meeting friends, feeling like she and her daughter aren’t communicating, and wondering if she’ll ever have sex again. Then, her friend and fellow-English-teacher, Ella Elphick, is murdered and things take a dark and convoluted turn. The body count rises and someone leaves notes in Clare’s diaries—notes she never wrote. DS Harbinder Kaur comes on the scene and hell breaks loose—with the murder leaving literary notes at the murder scenes, like “Hell is empty…”. Every good English teacher knows the end to that Tempest quotation “and all the devils are here” (one of my favourites).

While the novel opens from Clare’s point of view, Griffiths soon varies the narrative voices: DS Kaur’s and Clare’s daughter’s, Georgia’s. They are engaging and I loved them all. Griffiths does a great job of telescoping: when Kaur writes about Clare, even as the reader emerges from Clare’s POV, we get a different perspective on her personality and actions. For example, when DS Kaur visits Clare in the evening, Kaur, though literate, sarcastic, and knowing, often makes as if she’s ignorant, a great source of contrast, “The TV was off and I could see a book face down on the coffee table. The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins. I thought of Ella Elphick, sitting in the dark with her herbal tea. Someone really should teach these women about Netflix.” Ella’s murder and the others that follow expose Talgarth High in a way that, as long as the blue-and-red flashing lights of a policecar don’t put a school on the nightly news report, a school can keep hidden: who has a crush on whom, how do students feel about their teachers and vice versa, who’s having an affair with whom, what petty jealousies and resentments can make for a murder? I don’t know if Griffiths has spent any time teaching high school English, but she certainly gets the atmosphere as if she has. Also, middle-aged, introverted reader-schoolmarms, like me, who love being alone in hotel rooms, as Clare notes, “I can watch Antiques Roadshow, drink specialty tea and eat biscuits.” Yes! *fist pump* The ultimate in luxuriating.

Griffiths’s mystery kept me turning the pages and her insight into school politics, characters, and psychology saw me nod in agreement, but it was her love of literature and rich use of allusion that made me happy. When Clare is shaken by her friend’s murder, she goes to bed with a book: “I look in my bookcase for something reassuring to read—P. G. Wodehouse or Georgette Heyer— … ” Me too, Clare, me too. The note by Ella’s body immediately makes sense to Clare and any self-respecting English teacher. I smiled when I read Georgia’s reminiscence of what she and Clare read: “We progressed from picture books and Noel Streatfield [yay for Ballet Shoes] to Agatha Christie [yay for the homage train scene at the end of Stranger Diaires] and Georgette Heyer. Devil’s Cub is still my favourite book and Dominic is my perfect romantic hero.” Me too, Georgia, me too. When the mysterious notes show up in Clare’s diary, this is what she tells DS Kaur: ” ‘In The Woman In White,’ I say, ‘Count Fosco, the villain, starts writing in Marian Halcombe’s diary. He takes over the narrative for a few pages. His section is called “Postscript by a sincere friend.” ‘ Harbinder says, ‘You were reading The Woman In White when I came round the other evening.’ I’m surprised she has remembered. ‘Yes,’ I say, ‘it’s one of my favourite books.’ ” I have no other reasons to throw these quotations at you than to lure my literary, gothic-loving friends to read this book.

If the tantalizing quotations won’t lure you, then maybe if I tell you that there’s an adorable dog named Herbert who saves the day? Adorable from page one and adorable and heroic by the end? Though I think that the solution to the mystery isn’t as good as the build-up, and the whodunit, given their background doesn’t mesh with the way they go about their actions (sorry, cryptic, but avoiding spoilers), I still loved The Stranger Diaries. With Miss Austen, we’d say “there’s no charm equal to tenderness of heart,” Emma.

Elly Griffiths’s The Stranger Diaries is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It was released on March 5 and may be found at your preferred vendors. I am grateful to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an e-ARC, via Netgalley.

4 stars--I really liked it.

This book has everything I enjoy in a book: A school setting, a gothic tone, a ghost, and a literary mystery. Despite all this, at its heart, the book is a police procedural, firmly based in reality (rather than the supernatural) with lots of red herrings and plot surprises along the way.

I wish it had made more use of the historical elements (the Victorian author and his mysterious dead wife, the possible haunting). But still, this is a fun, fast read. The writing is good and characterization is stellar.

This mystery book jumps straight into action when one of the English teachers at the local school is found murdered in her house.

Clare Cassidy who is friends with her and also an English teacher at the same school is devastated by the news, after all they were colleagues and also very close friends. But were they as close as we think they were or is something else going on at the school?

When a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger,” is found on the victims body, the story takes a strange, supernatural turn.

I’m not a big fan of cozy mysteries, but this one held my attention throughout. The first 100 pages or so were a bit slow as there is a lot of repetition, as we get to read about the same incident from 2 different narrators, Clare and Inspector Harbinder Kaur. But after that the story really picks up pace. It’s not one of those books where something explosive happens at the end of every chapter. But there is enough intrigue to make you want to continue.

I was not a big fan of the characters in the book. I found them all unlikable, Clare, Georgia, Rick. Clare was a confused feminist. I was annoyed when she didn’t tell the cops who Ella was seeing as she was afraid they would judge Ella and brand her a whore for it. It’s a murder investigation lady!!!

I loved the short story ‘The Stranger’ and how it was interwoven with the story. I would recommend this book if you are a fan of atmospheric, cozy mysteries.

Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the review copy.

Something a little different from the usual thriller..... Its Gothic, haunting, mystery who dunnit.

I loved the setting a creepy historic old building which was once home to gothic writer RM Holland: His most famous work a short story “The Stranger”. The building is now the local high school (Talgrath High)

The story follows three POVs:

Claire a teacher at the high school, she teaches teenagers about the famous writer RM Holland. Her friend and former colleague Ella is found murdered with a note next to her body quoting a famous line from “The Stranger” Claire finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation
Detective Harbinder Kaur – The detective investigating the murder of Ella, Harbinder also attended the high school as a student
Georgie – Clare’s teenage daughter, current student at Talgrath High

Very well written book and I highly recommend reading it, I don’t want to give away too much of the story, I really enjoyed the connections back to the high school and the detective was my favourite character.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What I enjoyed most about this book is how it was this interesting combination of a mystery taking place in modern day England and yet it also had this old-fashioned, gothic vibe to it. It was actually refreshing to read because this one felt more like a straightforward mystery rather than most current books in the genre that rely too heavily on insane plot twists. While this book might not have worked for me on every level, I would definitely be interested in checking out more books by the author.

Clare Cassidy is a high school English teacher and mother to her teenage daughter, Georgia. Clare's specialty is on the writer R. M. Holland, most famous for his story, "The Stranger". She is shocked when she finds out one of her colleagues has been murdered, and left at the crime scene is a note with a line from "The Stranger". She becomes absolutely terrified when she notices someone has left a creepy note in her diary. Police suspect someone close to Clare might be the murderer, or Clare might have done the deed herself.

I'll admit I was pretty disappointed when it turned out my guess at who the murderer was turned out to be right. I didn't think it came out of left field at all, but at least the explanation of everything wasn't extremely obvious from the get go. I get much more enjoyment out of mysteries when I am completely wrong about what happened rather than when I'm right.

The narration was split among the characters of Clare, Georgia, and a female police investigator. As the reader you also get to learn more about "The Stranger" throughout the book. I did like this style of telling the story but unfortunately I just wasn't a huge fan of the characters. I found them to be rather boring. Thankfully, the mystery itself was enough to drive the story and for the most part hold my interest.

Recommend if you like solid mysteries that aren't over the top.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review!