The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

When Griffiths concluded her Ruth Galloway mystery series (of which I am a huge fan), I expected she would concentrate on characters already introduced in her other books. Instead, she has launched an intriguing new series with another quirky, outspoken heroine, a police detective who finds herself in the midst of several mysteries.

Ali Dawson, a single parent, tried a number of careers before settling on police work but her Cold Case Unit is different from those we usually read about, although undeniably interested in the past:

The Department of Logistics, or the frozen people, as Bud calls them, was set up by Geoff ten years ago. Ali joined in 2015. When she was recruited she assumed they were working on cold cases and she still remembers her shock when she realized their goal was actually, physically, to travel in time.

Now her boss, Geoff, has an urgent assignment for her. Britain’s justice minister, Isaac Templeton, wants someone to go back in time to investigate his great-great grandfather, who was suspected of killing three women in the 1850s, and clear his name.

“Am I going through the gate?” asks Ali. If it’s tonight, she won’t have to go to book club.

“It’s a different gate,” says Geoff. “A gate to the nineteenth century.”

“The nineteenth century? But that’s Tudor times.”

“Do you say these things to annoy me, Alison?” says Geoff. “I thought you had a degree in history.”

(I don’t think she dislikes her book group per se but she hasn’t read the book, Conversations with Friends, and I think this is a good call; I did not care for it myself.  And she obviously enjoys goading her boss.)

Ali finds it an odd coincidence that her brilliant son Finn works for Templeton and wonders how Templeton even knows about the Department of Logistics’ work, secret even from her family (Templeton’s responsibility is the judiciary, the court system, prisons, and probation in England and Wales). Regardless, Templeton is the type to take advantage of his position for a personal project so Ali begins researching for her trip. None of the Frozen People have gone as far back as mid-19th century but her colleagues aren’t worried – until Ali goes through the gate to 1850 and does not return as planned the following day. When her son doesn’t hear from her, he stops by her house and finds the cat abandoned and a goodbye note addressed to him on the mantel. Unbeknownst to Finn, Ali is having a challenging time in 19th century London but it is nothing to the crisis about to confront Finn in the present day.

I prefer this UK cover

I am a big fan of time travel when done well, and Griffiths delivers something that is unusual, amusing, and entertaining. The cast of characters doesn’t compare in appeal to Galloway and Nelson’s gang but it has potential. Finn’s relationship with his mother is the exact right blend of exasperation and affection. He knows something is wrong when she doesn’t respond to cat meme texts and is willing to confront her boss and his to get answers. Griffith’s habit of writing in the present tense (which I dislike) gives the dialogue a breezy tone that works better in the present than in the 19th century. Ali does not really fit in there and could make more effort to blend but puzzling those around her is part of the plot. This is a detective story but it is also about relationships and possibility of changing the past. Recommended, and I look forward to the sequel.

The Frozen People is my twenty-seventh book for the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge and because Ali and her colleague John go back to the 19th century, I’ll say it is also my seventeenth book for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Title: The Frozen People
Author: Elly Griffiths
Publication: Viking/Pamela Dorman, hardcover, 2025
Setting: London
Genre: Mystery
Source: Library