The Stranger Diaries

Notes

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths won the 2020 Edgar Award for Best Novel, and this stand-alone story hints at her love of Wilkie Collins.

Griffiths gradually reveals the truth behind a series of murders in a “haunted” old school.

My teenage daughters were transfixed whilst listening to the audiobook in the car. It is perfect if you fancy a spooky gothic British mystery.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger,” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature.

To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. Then one day she notices something odd. Writing that isn’t hers, left on the page of an old diary:

Hallo Clare. You don’t know me.

Clare becomes more certain than ever: “The Stranger” has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?

‘Compelling, intelligent and increasingly mesmerising’ PETER JAMES

‘Picks up where the great Gothic thrillers of the past leave off … goose-bump spooky, smart, and haunting. I loved this book! And you will too’ LOUISE PENNY

‘Utterly bewitching … a pitch-perfect modern Gothic’ AJ FINN, author of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

Read a full review of The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths at Pretty Sinister Books.