The Stranger Diaries - Elly Griffiths

I absolutely adore Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series. The eleventh book is due out next month. But! Griffiths has penned a stand alone that is an absolutely wonderful read! The Stranger Diaries.....think modern Gothic......

Clare teaches English at Talgarth High. Talgarth is also where Gothic author R.M. Holland wrote his most famous story - The Stranger. Past and present collide when a school colleague is found dead - with a line from The Stranger by the body.

Griffiths opens the book with an excerpt from The Stranger - and I was hooked. Initially Clare is the lead character, but the narrative switches to DS Harbinder Kaur who is in charge of the case. And I was surprised when the narrative switched again to a character I hadn't considered playing a larger part. These switches happen numerous times, giving the reader numerous viewpoints to draw on. We are also given many suspects to choose from. (I must admit, I was surprised by the final whodunit) And then there's the option of there being something more, shall we say, otherworldly, involved.

Excerpts of The Stranger continue throughout the book in addition to excerpts from Clare's diary, giving the reader more fuel for speculation.

Every character is well drawn and fleshed out. DS Kaur was my favourite - I hope she might make an appearance in a future novel.

"It can be a dangerous thing, reading too much." Griffiths' writing makes for addictive reading. The only danger is staying up too late reading 'just one more chapter'. Absolutely a five star read - here's an excerpt.

"Goose-bump spooky, smart, and haunting…I loved this book - Louise Penny"

Flight or Fright - Edited by Stephen King

I fully admit it - I hate flying - or rather flying scares me - a lot. So why in the world would I want to read '17 turbulent tales' about flying? Well, I do love a good, scary read!

Flight or Fright is edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent and features 17 tales (and one poem) from King himself, his son Joe Hill and fourteen other noted authors. There's a wide variety ranging from modern day horror writers such as Dan Simmons and Richard Matheson to historic writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a wealth in between. I loved the intro from King - his story of flying only cemented my unwavering fear. The stories range from horror to mystery to sci-fi, so there's a little bit of something for everyone.

I do love short story collections - you can read or listen to one when you have a limited amount of time and still have the satisfaction of  an ending. And the same applies to listening. I did listen to Flight or Flight. There are eleven different narrators, some of whom I was familiar with and some new to me. This was a great opportunity to sample new readers. King prefaces each story with an introduction to the author and a quick overview of the tale.

Favorite story? Hmm, hard to pick but I have to say I really liked Joe Hill's You Are Released. My next two faves were The Horror of the Heights by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A fascinating tale considering air travel was quite new at the time of writing. (1913) And of course King's The Turbulence Expert. Listen to an excerpt of Flight or Fright.

And by the end? Yup, still scared of flying....perhaps even more....