New Elly Griffiths Collection Filled With Bite-Sized Spooky Holiday Stories

The Man in Black: And Other Stories by Elly Griffiths

Trick or treat, who needs candy or sugary popcorn balls when Elly Griffiths’ latest book The Man in Black: And Other Stories is now available in the USA? It is well suited for holiday gift-giving as several stories are comprised of somewhat spooky Christmas tales. This award-winning, best-selling author has been delighting international audiences for two decades with her twenty-two previous novels. This thrilling collection contains bite-sized gems which are perfect for readers who may not have sufficient time to dive into a novel. 

Her fan-favorite mystery series characters are all well represented here: Contemporary forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway, the 1950s era crime-solvers Brighton Detective Stephens and Magician Max Mephisto, London-based DI Harbinder Kaur and YA Justice Jones mysteries. There are several unique tales of psychological suspense, love, loss and deceit set in different times and places with mysteries both cozy and edge-of-your-seat diabolical. There is even a tale involving a catnapper! (Be assured no cats are harmed or consumed in this book.)

New Stories and Familiar Favorites

The author acknowledges that some of the stories included in this collection have appeared elsewhere in print or online but this rabid reader since the earliest days only recognized one: Ruth’s First Christmas Tree featuring a youthful Flint (Ruth Galloway’s beloved and protective cat) and 14-month-old daughter toddler Kate who is experimenting with language and ready to fully enjoy her second Christmas. Her father, DCI Nelson, and his wife Michelle also play a part as does everyone’s favorite Druid and Kate’s godfather Cathbad.  There’s blinding snow, ice and an archeological mystery to solve before Father Christmas arrives. 

Flint states, “I expect you’ve been wondering when you would hear from me”, thus opening his own tale of an Iron Age lost girl of the Marshes or is Perdita a temporarily stranded motorist waiting for emergency road service sheltering with Ruth on a different Christmas Eve?

Harbinder looks back to her first day on the job as a freshly minted Detective Sergeant, promoted from constable in a different police station. She dresses in her version of plain clothes uniform of white shirt, gray sweater, black slacks and flat black boots. She is uneasy lest the smell of her traditional Indian lunch brought from her parents’ home will offend her new colleagues and even more concerned whether a Punjabi Sikh lesbian will fit in. Plunged into a murder investigation and distracted by her father’s frantic phone call about his missing elderly dog, she demonstrates her star qualities of strong intuition and common sense crime-solving.

Continuation of Beloved Characters’ Stories

This reviewer and almost certainly most readers refused to believe that The Last Remains really signaled the end of the Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson saga and happily guessed correctly that Elly Griffiths would not disappoint. The Man in Black: And Other Stories contains two marvelous stories of these formerly star-crossed lovers as a now devoted pair. Their daughter Kate is a precocious, highly literate 14-year-old. 

Ruth and Nelson take a holiday in Egypt, homage to Dame Agatha Christie in The Valley of the Queens. To put a festive bow on this assemblage, the final brief story Ruth Galloway and the Ghost of Max Mephisto brings all the best-known characters together in a haunted London theatre where Kate is making her debut in a Christmas play.

This is a well-curated, first-rate collection of stories by one of Great Britain’s finest writers whom one gleefully envisions as being hard at work on her next compelling novel. It’s a must-read for all established Elly Griffiths/Domenica de Rosa fans and should attract a myriad of new readers.