Plano Reads: The Stranger Diaries

Read our review of The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths, a Mystery Book Club pick for October.

You can join us to virtually discuss The Stranger Diaries on October 15 at 7 p.m. using Zoom! Register online here.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Currently available through the PPL catalog as well as Overdrive and the Libby app.

Description from OverDrive: Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she even teaches a course on him. But when one of Clare’s colleagues is found dead, with a line from Holland’s iconic story “The Stranger” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with her favorite literature.

The police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her diary, the only outlet for her suspicions and fears. 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?

The 2020 Edgar Award winner of “Best Novel” follows the chilling story of murders seemingly related to a creepy gothic tale, “The Stranger,” written by fictional author R. M. Holland. The killer’s lethal obsession with Clare soon begins to mimic Clare’s obsession with “The Stranger” and Holland. As the bodies pile up, we are left wondering how blurred the lines between fiction and reality truly are. Griffiths effectively alternates between various points of view throughout her story, but the interspersed segments of “The Stranger” stand out as truly unsettling. The Stranger Diaries is the perfect novel to enjoy during the spooky season!

Elly Griffiths is the pen name of Domenica de Rosa. Under her pen name, Griffiths has written The Ruth Galloway mystery series as well as The Stephens & Mephisto novels. The Stranger Diaries is one of Griffiths more recent standalone novels.

You can learn more about the author and her works here.