#BookReview: THE FROZEN PEOPLE by Elly Griffiths @ellygriffiths @QuercusBooks

Publication: 13th February 2025 – Quercus

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they’re frozen – or so their inside joke goes. Most people don’t know that they travel back in time to complete their research.

The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before: to 1850s London in order to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of MP Isaac Templeton. Rumour has it that Cain was part of a sinister group called The Collectors; to become a member, you had to kill a woman…

Fearing for her safety in the middle of a freezing Victorian winter, Ali finds herself stuck in time, unable to make her way back to her life, her beloved colleagues, and her son, Finn, who suddenly finds himself in legal trouble in the present day.

Could the two cases be connected?

Set your clocks to February 2025 and get ready for an original, transportive and characterful new crime novel from no. 1 bestselling author Elly Griffiths. Perfect for those missing the Dr Ruth Galloway series and for any crime and historical fiction fans.

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

When I learned that The Frozen People was about a team who investigates cold cases by going back in time, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but years of reading the Ruth Galloway series have taught me that you can’t ever go wrong with a Elly Griffiths novel, so I was quite intrigued.

At the heart of the story there is a secret team of detectives, tech geniuses, and scientists, so secret that only a few people in the high places of the government know about it, and they can travel back in time to find evidence for their cases. The protagonist, Ali Dawson, has already travelled back in time a few times, but, on this occasion, she is asked to go all the way back to Victorian England in 1850. The mission is to find out more about a series of murders happening at the time that could be linked to a mysterious group called “The Collectors” and one of its members is an ancestor of an important MP. And while Ali is stuck in a freezing Victorian winter, in the present time, another murder puts her son in prison. Will Ali be able to return and prove his innocence?

The Frozen People is such a fantastic and engaging read. It’s atmospheric and sinister and I love the dual time perspective: when we were in the past I couldn’t wait to return to the present to see what was going on and vice versa. Ali is an amazing protagonist. Throughout the novel, we learn about her past, how she moved to London and raised a child on her own as a young single mother, while working and going to university, we learn about her three ex husbands and how she entered the police force. Ali is independent, brave, and sassy, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for her!

A huge thank you to Quercus and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

Elly Griffiths is the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and the Brighton Mysteries. She has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, has been shortlisted five times for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for The Lantern Men. Her new series featuring Detective Harbinder Kaur began with The Stranger Diaries, which was a Richard and Judy book club pick and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in the USA. It was followed by The Postscript Murders, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and Bleeding Heart Yard. Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband.