The
Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths.
Detective Ali Dawson works for the Police on cold cases – some of them
so old that the victims are known as the Frozen People, especially when she is
asked to apply 21st century investigative techniques to Victorian
crimes, like that involving the ancestor of her son Finn’s ambitious boss,
Isaac Templeton: he has aspirations to
lead the Tory party to victory sooner rather than later, but his ancestor has scandalous
stories whirling about him – even in 2023 – that could damage his chances if it
is revealed that Caine Templeton belonged to a gentleman’s club called the
Collectors, ostensibly for collecting art – and oddities (a murderer’s brain,
for example) – but to join, would-be applicants had first to kill a woman. Ali is relieved she can’t travel back in time
to investigate – until an ambitious young physicist finds a way that works, and
like it or not, Ali is on her way.
And what she discovers is more than enough to stay to
solve more crimes (including Templeton and his Collectors) – but it transpires
that her one chance to return to the 21st century has been nabbed by
someone else – and that someone has murder on his mind (oh, really?) – yes,
here was I ambling along enjoying all the Dickensian characters and Elly
Griffith’s wonderfully well-researched descriptions of every-day life in 1850
London (Chamber Pots – thank goodness for modern plumbing! And the enormous amounts of clothing that women
had to wear: if nothing else, the world
has become a more comfortable place.)
But not a safe one with a Victorian killer on the loose.
Ali is able to return to her own time after a few days of
horrible suspense – only to find that her son Finn’s boss Isaac Templeton has
been murdered at his country estate, and Finn has been charged with murder – by
an over-zealous Detective Sergeant who wants everything tidied away with the
minimum of fuss; the CCTV showed a few
blurry photos that could have been anyone – including Finn, so that is another
mystery for Ali to solve. Whether she wants to or not.
The ending leaves lots of questions unanswered as this is
the first of a new series – which is SO good I hope Ms Griffiths already has
Book Two ready for publication, Ali is
not glamorous; she’s had three husbands
of varying quality, celebrated her 50th birthday and is past her
prime, but she’s not dead yet, and capable of carrying this new series high. FIVE STARS.
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