ELLY GRIFFITHS AND THE STRANGER DIARIES

 Book Review

Title              The Stranger Diaries

Author          Elly Griffiths

Publisher.     Quercus

A stand-alone to go with others, and with ten of ‘The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries’ and four of ‘The Stephens and Mephisto Mysteries’. And what a bloody good read it was.

The cover of the The Stranger Diaries gives very little away. A line reads ‘Death lies between the lines’ and it is described as ‘Utterly bewitching’. For me it was a page turner, a chapter turner and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. It was that good. I will give you some clues in that it has much to do with teachers, students and it has a school setting. But there is more when the past is mentioned and that thread runs continually through the book. Oh yes, there is a diary being completed and of course it is important.

Essentially there are deaths, unexpected and bloody. That is the case with both themes and the  underlying story has an importance too. It adds that extra bit to the intrigue and suspense. I won’t say anymore about that.

Location is a strong character and helps to give realism and also suspense.  Elly Griffiths has created very strong character and I grew to like them and believe in them and what was good they’re not all perfect! There is a lot of femininity in the writing and that is not surprising as most of the teachers and students are female. So there you are, is or are the protagonist(s) female? There are two investigators with DS Harbinder Kaur adding another dimension of race and culture to it. There is also the conventional white heterosexual DS who seems to be there as a foil for his colleague. There is a lot of good writing here and it is there to be enjoyed.

The book is split into parts with individuals telling, in the first person, what they know. Different but it worked for me. An excellent read and I enjoyed it cover to cover.