WhoDunnits: “The Stranger Diaries” (JCCL)

This month, WhoDunnits will be reading The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths.

In the wake of a divorce, Clare Cassidy, the heroine of this gripping standalone from Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Griffiths (the Ruth Galloway mysteries), accepts a job teaching English at Talgarth High, whose West Sussex campus includes the home of Victorian writer R.M. Holland, best known for his chilling story “The Stranger.” Five years later, Clare and her 15-year-old daughter, Georgia, have settled into local life, and Clare has started work on a Holland biography. Then colleagues begin dying in violent ways reminiscent of “The Stranger,” and Clare discovers mysterious notes written in her personal diaries. Alternating among the voices of Clare, Georgia, and Det. Sgt. Harbinder Kaur, who investigates the killings, Griffiths weaves a tale replete with ghosts, the occult, forbidden desire, and murder. —Publisher’s Weekly

This is an entrancing literary tour de force in which Shakespeare’s line, “Hell is empty,” from The Tempest, cleverly connects past and present. Georgette Heyer fans will relish this, as will readers who enjoyed Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale and Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders. —Booklist

WhoDunnits is a discussion group devoted to mysteries of all kinds and meets the first Tuesday of every month.