Review of "The Stranger Diaries: A Detective Sargeant Harbinder Kaur Mystery" by Elly Griffiths

This is the first book in the Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur series. Harbinder is a thirtysomething gay Sikh police detective who lives with her parents and their dog Sultan. In this novel, Harbinder investigates the murder of a high school teacher.

*****

Clare Cassidy teaches English at Talgarth High in West Sussex, England.



Clare is also the divorced mother of 15-year-old daughter Georgie, who attends Talgarth and is undecided about her future.



English teacher Clare always liked spooky stories, and is writing a biography of R.M. Holland, a Victorian writer of gothic tales whose house is now part of the Talgarth campus.



Moreover, Clare uses Holland's horror story 'The Stranger' in the adult creative writing course she holds during semester breaks.



As the book opens Clare's fellow English teacher Ella is found murdered in her home, and a post-it note from the killer - with a line from 'The Stranger' - is found beside Ella's body. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur and her partner DS Neil Winston get the case.....





.....and begin their investigation by interviewing the faculty and students at Talgarth High.



The instructors and pupils all say they liked Ella, and the motive for the murder remains elusive. Later, a message in the killer's handwriting is found in Clare's personal diary, and there are additional attacks on people in Clare's circle.



It seems clear the killer has a connection with Clare, and the police endeavor to find out what it is.

Meanwhile, there's a lot going on with Clare's 15-year-old daughter Georgie. Georgie is dating a 21-year-old man named Ty, who she met in a pub;



Georgie belongs to a secret writing club that's led by a woman who claims to be a white witch;



Georgie posts her writings on a website called 'Secret Diaries;



and Georgie regularly visits her father, who's remarried with two young children, one of whom is named Ocean.



Additional characters in the story include Herbert - Clare and Georgie's adorable pooch, who's named after a dog in 'The Stranger';



Tony - a capable schoolmaster who's improved Talmarth's rating;



Rick - a philanderer who's chairman of Talgarth's English Department;



Patrick - a hot jock who's popular with the high school girls;



Henry Hamilton - a university professor with an interest in gothic writer R.M. Holland; and more.



The story is told in the rotating voices of Clare, Georgie, and DS Kaur, with creepy passages from the 'The Stranger' interspersed.

The book winds up with the entire short story 'The Stranger', which is TRULY sinister and unsettling.

I enjoyed the book, which is a fine debut for the DS Harbinder Kaur series.

Rating: 3.5 stars