The Frozen People: An Ali Dawson Mystery
Elly Griffiths has started a new series which fans of her Ruth Galloway books, and new fans alike, are bound to love. Once again, the plot revolves around a single mother working in the police services.
Ali Dawson, however, has a very different job; while Ruth and Nelson used archaeology to investigate crimes, Ali is part of a unit that investigates cold cases using technology that allows the detectives to actually visit the past. Ali is tasked with travelling to the Victorian era to investigate the ancestor of a prominent MP, who is in fact her son’s boss. However, once Ali arrives in Victorian London, she realises that things are not quite what they seem. She might be attracted to the murder suspect, there are also a number of other suspects living in the same house, and she seems to be stuck in Victorian London. Meanwhile, Ali’s adult son Finn realises that his mother has gone missing and that the MP he works for might know more about where she is than he’s telling.
This is a fast-paced adventure that blends science fiction, historical fiction, and crime fiction with Griffiths’ inimitable writing style and some wonderful character progression. The detail of ordinary life in Victorian London is brilliantly done: the culture shock, the discomfort of the clothing and the difficulty in keeping clean. Ali is a fantastic character; menopausal, forthright, and outspoken, and the characters around her hint at further adventures to come.
This book will be a must-read for Elly Griffiths fans, but I would also highly recommend it to fans of Ambrose Parry, E.S. Thompson and Alis Hawkins.
