‘The Frozen People’ by Elly Griffiths

Published by Quercus,
13 February 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-52943-333-3 (HB)

First it was Ruth Galloway. Then came Max Mephisto and Edgar Stephens. More recently there was Harbinder Kaur. And now there’s something completely different. And yet...

Ali Dawson is a detective sergeant. But she’s no ordinary detective sergeant, and not just because she dyes her hair pillar box red. Ali is part of a small team of cold case investigators nicknamed the Frozen People, who have a unique way of finding evidence. Through a mysterious and highly technical process which no one quite understands (not even Jones, the scientist who makes it possible) Ali and her team go ‘through the gate’ – which is code for time-travelling into the past. It’s all top secret and need-to-know, and so far, they’ve only gone back a few decades. 

But now the Frozen People, and specifically Ali, have been asked to investigate a 19^th century murder. After a detailed briefing she goes through the gate to 1850, with careful instructions about how to return to her 21^st century life twenty-four hours later. But though she follows them to the letter, nothing happens; she remains in 19^th century London with no means of contact and no idea what happens next. Meanwhile, back in the 21^st century, there are pressing reasons for retrieving her. 

Completely different, yes – but Elly Griffiths’s multitude of fans will find a lot that feels familiar. Every single character is a living and breathing person you’d recognize if you met them. Ali herself is a complex and colourful mixture of working-class grit, abrasive humour and barely hidden vulnerability. Her son Finn is warm, clever and cuts a bit of a dash. Each member of the Frozen People has a story to tell. Jones the scientist is no absent-minded professor, but a stylish Italian woman. There’s even a cat with a very distinct personality. In the 19^th century there’s Clara, the down-to-earth housekeeper, and an assortment of artists. And there’s Cain Templeton, rich, suave and curious, and the reason Ali is there. 

The settings in both centuries are just as real: Queen Mary University where Ali was a mature student; the featureless office block where the Frozen People are based; Finn’s boss’s luxurious office; the icy-cold 19^th century bedroom (surely no coincidence!); Cain Templeton’s elegant house; and the streets of London, busy and bustling in both centuries. 

The writing is warm, witty and unmistakably Elly. And though the science behind the time-travel is never explained in any kind of detail, there’s never any doubt that it happens. 

Murders are solved, or not, and the story is brought to a satisfying conclusion, but there are enough loose ends to hook us and leave us itching to know more about the Frozen People. No surprise there; this is Elly Griffiths, after all. There aren’t many authors who can take such an off-the-wall idea and not leave a shred of doubt that it could happen. Elly Griffiths is one. The Frozen People will not only delight the many fans she already has; it will earn her a whole lot more.  
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Elly Griffiths is the author of a series of crime novels set in England’s Norfolk County and featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. The first in the series, Crossing Places, earned a good deal of praise both in Griffiths’ native country, England, and in the U.S. The Literary Review termed it “a cleverly plotted and extremely interesting first novel, highly recommended.  Since then, Elly has written fiourteen further novels in the series.  Recently she has written a second series set in Brighton in the 1950’s featuring magician Max Mephisto and DI Stephens. There are seven books in the series.

www.ellygriffiths.co.uk  

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.