2023 Halloween Bingo
I love Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series, so I was very willing to try out another of her creations, Harbinder Kaur. I was somewhat surprised that the narrative began in Clare Cassidy's point of view. In fact, we don't get Harbinder's take on things until page 67!
However the mystery was just such a good one, I had a hard time putting it down. I quite liked Clare as a character. She is a high school English teacher with a penchant for Victorian literature. The school is located in the repurposed home of an author, R.M. Holland, whose gothic short story The Stranger provides the structure for the novel. Clare is researching the man and writing a book on his life. It was totally believable—I even googled the man and his story, only to discover that he is completely Griffiths' creation for the purposes of this mystery.
When her friend Ella is killed, Clare goes back to her diary to refresh her memory about circumstances surrounding a conference that she and Ella attended. There she finds a note, written by an unknown person, who adds notes to her diary every so often, a creepy detail. Since Clare has the habit of carrying her journal around with her, when the stranger accesses it is less than clear.
Being a fairly regular journal writer myself, I could identify with Clare. Just like her, I took mine to work so I could write on my breaks. As Clare says, it's a handy way of processing your life and getting perspective on life's events.
Notes keep appearing, bodies keep falling, and Harbinder has her hands full. I have to say that I was completely clued out about the murderer's identity. Griffiths pulled a real Agatha Christie on me. Peeking ahead at the next two books featuring this police woman, I'm already excited to give them a go. I still have some Ruth Galloway books left too, so I'm happy as a clam.
I read this story of murder in a high school for the Dark Academia square of my bingo card.
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