Elly Griffiths was born in London. She worked in publishing for many years. Her bestselling series of Dr Ruth Galloway novels, featuring a forensic archaeologist, are set in Norfolk. The series has won the CWA Dagger in the library, and has been shortlisted three times for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Her Stephens and Mephisto series is based in 1950s Brighton. She lives near Brighton with her husband, an archaeologist, and their two children.
The historical detail is very well done . . . The Zig Zag Girl is an extremely well-written and well-researched novel * Literary Review * A colourful crowd of ventriloquists and sword-swallowers, a world lovingly re-created in this original, lively and gripping work * Independent * Enormously engaging . . . Post-war Brighton and its Theatre Royal are beautifully captured in all their seedy glory . . . subtle, charming and very good * Daily Mail *