The Stranger Diaries

Elly Griffiths Out Thursday Teacher Clare’s life begins to imitate art – in a horribly spooky fashion – when her colleague Ella’s murder is the start of a chain of sinister events that echo a centuries-old ghost story.

Confiding her fears in her diary, she realises even her private thoughts are no longer safe. Narrated in turn by Clare, her daughter Georgie, and spiky investigating cop Harbinder, this is a contemporary tale, but it harks back to the mysteries of the Victorian age.

It has an atmospheric coastal setting, and more than a dash of the supernatural – a love letter to Gothic fiction. Perfect winter read. In a women’s clinic in Mississippi, a gunman has taken hostages – and claimed victims. Following seven characters whose lives converge on that bloody day, this timely, powerful and emotive novel examines the issue of abortion rights. After DC Constance Fairchild finds her best friend and fellow undercover cop Pete shot dead, she’s blamed by her colleagues, while forced to flee London, pursued by dark forces. Pacy, action packed and with a really rather fabulous heroine.