The Stranger Diaries Hardcover – March 5, 2019

I've read all the Ruth Galloway books but none of the Magic Men. I like Ruth but tire of her disdain for the Christian faith and the waffling relationship between Ruth and Nelson so i was intrigued by a stand alone by this author.I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The characters have just enough depth to hold interest and keep you guessing but not so much depth that you feel like you're drowning in their inner dialog.I also liked the different points of view/narrators. Many authors can't pull that switch off without blurring the characters and causing confusion but Elly Griffiths certainly can!I was surprised by who the culprit turned out to be so that's another sign of good writing.I really,really enjoyed this book.I think it would be fun to see more of DS Kaur- she's a good character and could be developed in interesting ways.

from first page to last. Dour detective Harbinder Kaur is dealing with a full plate even before the murders begin. She’s a thirty-five year old closeted gay Sikh living with her parents who want nothing more than for her to find the right man, marry, and start producing grandchildren. When an English teacher at her former high school is brutally murdered, she has a faculty full of suspects, volumes full of literary references, and a short story that seems to be providing the murderer inspiration. A charming and fun read for all and especially for the mid-Victorian lit nerd.

I read this book because I'm such a fan of Ruth Galloway (and Elly Griffiths). I was disappointed in the Magic Men series and hoped that The Stranger Diaries would rise to the level of the Galloway series. I was not disappointed. The character development and first-rate plot are Elly Griffiths at her best. I enjoyed the construction of the story, told in several voices, and the interpolation of the

I love the Ruth Galloway books and therefore this author (although I can’t stir up any interest in the magician books). The story is solid, creepy and intriguingly told in multiple first person accounts. I can see the female detective as a lead in other books. I hope that that’s in the plans.So few people write good gothics these days, with genuine mystery and a bit of the supernatural. I hope it starts a trend. Good work Miss Griffith!

Elly Griffiths is an exceptional writer. I have followed her Ruth Galloway novels (and pre-ordered them) ever since I read the first one. I did not connect with her Magic Men series, but on the basis of other reviews, I dove into this one. With no reservations, it is terrific! So good, that I am hoping that it is the beginning of a new series. The story begins with an excerpt of a ghost story. The spooky ghost story sets the tone and serves as an element of plot and mystery for the book. It is the murder of a teacher that drives the investigation. The characters in this police procedural are very well developed which is good because the point of view switches between the main characters. It is never confusing because the chapter titles are the name of the character who has that turn with the point of view. Our detective is DS Harbinder Kaur. She could definitely carry a series. The story is complex and richly detailed. The setting along the Sussex coast adds another element of interest. We were traveling through this area of England while I was reading the book and her descriptions were spot on. The evocative setting, excellent characters, spooky ghost story, well-thought-out plot, and skilled writing combined to make a very good mystery story. Elly Griffiths is part of an elite group of mystery writers that I follow and preorder. Her Ruth Galloway books (and any future Harbinder Kaur books) are eagerly anticipated and enjoyed. A few other mystery writers that I consider to be in that elite group are Louise Penny (Armand Gamache set in Canada), Anne Cleeves (The Shetland Island books and Vera Stanhope novels set in Northumberland), Martin Walker (Bruno, Chief of Police set in the Dordogne region of France), Paul Doiron (Mike Bowditch set in Maine), Cay Rademacher (set in Provence), Jean-Luc Bannalec (set in Brittany), Robert Galbreath a.k.a. J.K. Rowling (Comorran Strike set in London), and the remarkable Jane Harper (set in Australia). Many congratulations and thanks to Elly Griffiths for this well-written and very entertaining story.

This book has many of my favorite elements for a mystery. It is set in England at a school, there is a whiff of gothic ghostliness, some of the characters keep secret diaries, and there is a story within a story. There are plenty of suspects and the guilty party was a surprise. At least I was surprised!Clare Cassidy teaches English at a second rate school. She is divorced and has part-custody of her 15 year old daughter Georgia. The high school is also home to gothic writer R. M. Holland. Clare is a Holland scholar and want to write a book about him. His most famous short story is called "The Stranger" and she teaches it in one of her classes. A fellow teacher and good friend of Clare's is murdered. A quote from "The Stranger" is left at the murder scene. Then another faculty member is murdered and parallels to "The Stranger" continue. Enter DS Harbinder Kaur, a young Indian detective who still lives at home with her very traditional parents. She is unhappy, snarky, and judgemental. But she is an astute detective and her character grows over the course of the book.Good writing, interesting characters, plenty of suspects, and a darn good mystery. It is even a little spooky at times. There is a comparison to Magpie Murders, I gather because of the book within a book style. Magpie required all of my concentration. In a good way, The Stranger Diaries was less dense and twisting. It required a little less work. I wonder if the author is planning to start another series with DS Kaur in the lead. I was not familiar with Elly Griffiths before this book. I am interested in reading some of her previous mystery book series.

Elly Griffiths is best known for her detective novels, the Ruth Galloway series and the Stephens and Mephisto series, and I'm a big fan of both (reviews here). The Stranger Diaries, however, is a standalone mystery that, although it does feature a police investigation, reads to me more like a psychological thriller.Claire Cassidy is writing a book about RM Holland, a fictional writer of ghost stories (think MR James) best known for a short story called The Stranger. She's also an English teacher at a secondary school which is partly located in what used to be Holland's house - as someone who also went to an ordinary comprehensive school that was mostly ugly and modern but a small portion of which was an old mansion house, I identified with this location quite strongly. One day her friend and colleague Ella is murdered, and at around the same time, strange notes start to appear in Claire's diary. Who is writing them, how are they getting into the house, and how are they connected to Ella's shocking death?As well as Claire's point of view, there are also portions of the story narrated by Georgie, her teenage daughter, who has secret creative writing ambitions of her own, and by DS Harbinder Kaur, the police officer assigned to the murder case. The multiple points of view work well here. One of my common complaints about the psychological thriller genre of late is how smugly affluent and middle-class the protagonists seem to be, and Claire is very much a character in that mould, but the key thing here is that this is acknowledged, often acerbically, by the no-nonsense Harbinder.The plot escalates gradually in this book, which is strong on atmosphere and sense of place, although when the mystery is actually solved at the end, it feels a little rushed and a little more explanation and exploration of motive might have helped - in some ways, the conclusion felt as if it came from a different sort of book. There's also an additional element, touched on by Harbinder when she recalls a terrifying incident she witnessed as a pupil at the school where Claire works, that I'd like to have seen developed - as it is, it feels like a slightly out-of-place add-on. However, this novel is creepy and cleverly-plotted with believable, well-observed characters and the story felt fresh and original. It certainly did keep me turning the pages - and, as it's set in the approach to Christmas, it's a particularly good read for a dark December night.

I am genuinely shocked that this book was written by Elly Griffiths - its really quite bad and very predicable. You can work out who the murderer is before you get half way through. The main character is, naturally, stunningly beautiful, while there are nasty little digs at "plus-sized" women (in this day and age, really Elly?). Despite the main character being of model like proportions, she clearly has the brain the size of a gnat - her close friend gets killed - she doesn't know why or how or who - but, makes the completely senseless decision not to co-operate with the police. Her 15 year old daughter is going out with a 21-year old man (!) - and she moans about her ex-husband when he quite rightly objects. She leaves her small dog in 'doggy daycare' - for no apparent reason. Then, someone unknown leaves messages in her private diary - and she doesn't even freak out - or take the time to think about who has been in her house and had access to the diary (hence the obvious clue of 'who did it'!)If it wasn't for the fact I was laid up in bed with a bad back - I would never have bothered to finish this book. Very disappointing...

Without question her best book up to the last 30 pages when it falls apart like so many other of Elly Griffiths’ novel’s. The ending is truly dreadful and totally unconvincing. After such an enjoyable story up to that point I was so disappointed by the feeble attempt to tie up all the loose ends. As for the fictional story by the writer Holland that’s included at the end, it is full of bad writing and isn’t remotely convincing as a period ghost story either. The editor who worked on this novel did the writer no favours! And yes there are a few typos too, so someone at Quercus needs to get their finger out and do a better job supporting their authors.

I was initially disappointed by how different this book is to the Ruth Galloway series. Different too from those set in Brighton. However, it certainly delivers as a gothic mystery brought into modern day.The concurrent story The Stranger, has a genuinely creepy feel and that feeling carries over into the modern setting . I did find the 3 person narrative a bit odd and unsettling at first but it was very well done.Well worth reading and it builds to the final drama, convincingly and it's a tense end to the dramatic.Living in Sussex, where I was born and have roots going way back made me a bit distracted by trying to figure out where Talgarth is set. I grew up by the boundary of East and west Sussex and have family in Shoreham and near Steyning, as well as in Seafood. Brighton is very familiar but Chichester less so. It's hardly the author's fault I was distracted. The cement works and nearby houses are just as described. The works loom by the side of the road and it's very easy to imagine they are haunted or have been the scene of very dark reads. The nearby terrace of houses are incongruous and another good location for the home of two of the main characters.It almost felt as if the author knew things in my life, to add extra affinity. Strictly, Panda Pop and online scramble..... how did she know about them? Funny old world we live in.I have enjoyed all Elly Griffith's books and re-read them every year. I enjoy the mix of ingredients in them and the otherworldly elements. The mingling of past and present is very well done. Backgrounds are generally authentic and well researched. I wholeheartedly recommend them.

Engrossing blend of Victorian gothic and modern murder-mystery that had me turning the pages well past midnight – 5 StarsAlthough modern in its setting, running through this novel is a short story written a century earlier that is packed with gothic tension. Opening with the first few paragraphs from this Victorian story, it sets the scene for a cracking murder-mystery.Centred around a modern high school, the story is structured in parts, each of which is narrated by one of the central characters: Clare Cassidy, an English teacher, her teenage daughter, Georgia, DS Harbinder Kaur, and the mysterious R M Holland (author of the short story). Containing a book-within-a book, history-mystery, more than one murder, and a host of well-defined characters, this combines so many of my favourite story elements it was akin to being presented with a whole smorgasbord of reading delights.This has a host of beguiling suspects, and there are petty jealousies, love, lust, ambition, and secrets galore. Just when you think you’ve got a character taped, there’s always one more twist to the tale. ‘The Stranger Diaries’ also introduces perhaps Griffiths’ most interesting character to date, DS Kaur. Initially put-off by her somewhat stand-offish nature, the more I got to know about her, the more my opinion changed. Kaur might be abrupt, but she holds dear many fine qualities. She’s brave, loyal, caring, and by the end of the book, I have to say I rather wanted her to take Clare off into the Scottish sunset for a walk on the wild side!