Let’s Meet the Author

Let’s find out all about Elly Griffiths.

Elly Griffiths is the pen name of Domenica de Rosa (born 17 August 1963, in London), a British crime novelist. She has written three series as Griffiths, one featuring Ruth Galloway, one featuring Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto, and the Harbinder Kaur series.

Early life
After reading English at King's College London, Griffiths worked in publishing for many years.

Writing career
Griffiths' first series features as a main character forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, who lives in a remote seaside cottage near King's Lynn in Norfolk and teaches at the University of North Norfolk. This character was inspired by Griffiths' husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt, "who lives on the Norfolk coast and filled her niece's head with the myths and legends of that area". Griffiths released the first book in this series, The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, #1), in 2009.

Griffiths' second series, set in 1950s Brighton, focuses on the duo of Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto. Griffiths released the first book in this series, The Zig Zag Girl, in 2014.

In 2017 Griffiths was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, part of the Harrogate International Festivals portfolio.

Griffiths won the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel for The Stranger Diaries. In 2021, The Postscript Murders was shortlisted in the Gold Dagger category at the Crime Writer's Association Awards, with the result to be announced in July 2021.

Personal life
Griffiths lives near Brighton. She is married, and has two children and a cat.

Bibliography
As Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway series
The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, No.1). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2009. ISBN 978-0547229898.
The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway, No.2). Quercus Publishing. 2010. ISBN 978-1849161589.
The House at Sea's End (Ruth Galloway, No.3). Quercus Publishing. 2010. ISBN 978-1849163675.
A Room Full of Bones (Ruth Galloway, No.4). Quercus Publishing. 2012. ISBN 978-1849163668.
Ruth's First Christmas Tree (Ruth Galloway, #4.5). Quercus Publishing. 2012.
A Dying Fall (Ruth Galloway, No.5). Quercus Publishing. 2013. ISBN 978-0857388896.
The Outcast Dead (Ruth Galloway, No.6). Quercus Publishing. 2014. ISBN 978-0857388902.
The Ghost Fields (Ruth Galloway, No.7). Quercus Publishing. 2015. ISBN 978-1848663305.
The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway, No.8). Quercus Publishing. 2016. ISBN 978-0544417854.
The Chalk Pit (Ruth Galloway, No.9). Quercus Publishing. 2017. ISBN 978-1784296599.
The Dark Angel (Ruth Galloway, No.10). Quercus Publishing. 2018. ISBN 978-1784296636.
The Stone Circle (Ruth Galloway, No.11). Quercus Publishing. 2019. ISBN 978-1786487308.
The Lantern Men (Ruth Galloway, No.12). Quercus Publishing. 2020. ISBN 978-1787477537.
The Night Hawks (Ruth Galloway, No.13). Quercus Publishing. 2021. ISBN 978-1787477803.
The Locked Room (Ruth Galloway, No.14). Quercus Publishing. 2022. ISBN 978-1529409659.

Stephens and Mephisto Mystery series
The Zig Zag Girl (2014)
Smoke and Mirrors (2015)
The Blood Card (2016)
The Vanishing Box (2017)
Now You See Them (2019)
The Midnight Hour (2021)

Harbinder Kaur series
The Stranger Diaries (2018)
The Postscript Murders (2020)
Bleeding Heart Yard (2022)

For Children
A Girl Called Justice (2019)
The Smugglers' Secret (2020)
A Ghost in the Garden (2021)

As Domenica de Rosa
The Eternal City (2005)
One Summer in Tuscany (2008)
The Italian Quarter (2004)
The Secret of Villa Serena (2007)
Return to the Italian Quarter (2018)

>2 EadieB:- Thank you for doing this. I never knew she wrote under a pen name, but I guess most of them do. Looking forward to this one. Hope John will be joining us.

>3 Carol420: You’re welcome! I didn’t know about her pen name of Domenica del La Rosa but have read The Stranger Diaries and The Postscript Murders and The Stephens and Mephisto Murders.

Thanks Eadie. 😁 I can certainly recommend the Harbinder Kaur series, loved these although yet to get hold of the third one. Never really got into the Stephens and Mephisto series.

Book 15 of the Ruth Galloway Series, The Last Remains, is published on 31st January - in the U.K., not sure about US.

>6 Andrew-theQM: Amazon has it coming out in the U.S. in hardcover and paperback on April 25th.

>7 Carol420: Always wonder why the dates are different in different countries, unless linked to promotional tours.

>8 Andrew-theQM: That's probably part of it but even though it's not true all the time...I have noticed that books by American authors usually come out first here and books by English author's come out in the UK first. "Mr. Google" says that a book may have several different publishers in different countries and depending on publicity releases can cause the book to have different release dates. The publishers also go by how previous releases by the author have been received based on previous sales and orders from companies like Amazon.

>9 Carol420: True, wasn’t thinking about different publishers.

Thanks Eadie! I had no idea she wrote under a pseudonym. I’ll check out the books she wrote under her given name.

>5 Andrew-theQM: >11 bluebird_: You’re welcome!

>2 EadieB: Thanks for doing this, Eadie, 🙂.

>13 Sergeirocks: You’re welcome!