It has been my pleasure to know Elly Griffiths for some years and to have interviewed her too. However, I simply haven\u2019t read enough of her books, so I\u2019m thrilled to share my review of the opening story of the brand new Ali Dawson detective series, The Frozen People<\/strong>, not least because The Frozen People<\/strong> has recently been awarded the prestigious Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the year for 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll find Elly featured here<\/a> on Linda\u2019s Book Bag<\/em> on other occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n Available in all formats, The Frozen People<\/strong> is published by Quercus and is available for purchase through the publisher links here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ali Dawson is a police officer working on crimes so old, the joke goes, that they are not only cold but frozen. What most people don\u2019t know is that the team travels back in time to complete their research \u2013 a process pioneered by the mysterious Italian physicist, Serafina Pelligrini.<\/span><\/p>\n So far the team has only ventured a few years back but Ali\u2019s boss has a new assignment for her. He wants her to step back to 1850, the heart of the Victorian Age, to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of Tory MP Isaac Templeton.<\/span><\/p>\n To prepare for the challenge ahead, Ali researches the Victorian era. She learns that Cain Templeton was part of a sinister group called The Collectors, the rumour being that you had to kill a woman to become a member. Duly prepared, she arrives in London in January 1850, at the peak of the so-called mini ice age, to start her journey in a house used by artists, with a dead woman at her feet.<\/span><\/p>\n Soon she finds herself in extreme danger. Even worse \u2013 she appears to be stuck, unable to make her way back to the present, to her life and to her son, Finn. <\/span><\/p>\n Ali Dawson is a time travelling detective.<\/span><\/p>\n What a fabulous book. The Frozen People<\/strong> is Elly Griffiths at her very best as a consummate story teller. No wonder this is a prize winning book. I absolutely loved it.<\/span><\/p>\n The plot of The Frozen People<\/strong> simply hums with authenticity, blending modernity with Victorian London perfectly. The sights, sounds, conventions and society of 1850 are so astutely depicted that it is as if the reader has been transported back in time with Ali. It feels all the more satisfying because Elly Griffiths weaves in those prosaic aspects that are usually skated over or ignored, such as personal hygiene. Not only does this add realism, it creates humour. Indeed, The Frozen People<\/strong> is frequently witty and all the more engaging as a result.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I thought the story was completely fabulous. Interwoven with references to literature as well as containing highly dramatic moments, there\u2019s a captivating narrative that is spell-binding. What I thoroughly enjoyed was the way Ali is left hanging in Victorian London whilst the story switches to her son Finn so that the reader experiences at first hand Finn\u2019s desperation to know what has happened to her.<\/span><\/p>\n Both Finn and Ali are magnificent characters. The mother son relationship is brilliant and I really appreciated the naturalness between them. It is so refreshing to have a feisty protagonist in Ali who is believable, likeable and strong without cliched \u2018detective problems\u2019 such as bitterness in failed marriages, volatile anger or illicit substance addiction. This makes Ali hugely appealing. It\u2019s not to say that she is one dimensional, but rather that she is a mother and a woman confident in her own skin who is not averse to taking matters into her own hands. I cannot wait to discover what happens to her in the future as seeds are sown throughout The Frozen People<\/strong>. Ali is an absolute blinder of a character.<\/span><\/p>\n I loved, too, the themes of The Frozen People<\/strong>. There\u2019s a real sense of history and a subtle look at race and gender without the heavy handedness of an axe-grinding agenda so that the reader has cause to reflect almost without realising it. There\u2019s loyalty, trust, relationships, a sprinkling of feminism and a lightness of touch in examining how historical and modern societies function.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I absolutely adored The Frozen People<\/strong>. It\u2019s the perfect embodiment of how to write a crime mystery. Forget readers who will inhale this series as that goes without saying, but aspiring writers will learn so much from its superb crafting. Fantastic book!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Elly Griffiths is a multi-award-winning author and a No. 1 bestseller. She has written numerous crime novels for adults; four for children, and a volume of short stories. Her books for adults include the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries, the Brighton Mysteries and the Detective Harbinder Kaur series, as well as The Frozen People<\/strong> and The Killing Time<\/strong>, the first two books in the Ali Dawson Mysteries. Elly\u2019s many accolades include the CWA Dagger in the Library, the Edgar Award, the Fingerprint Award for Crime Novel of the Year and the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award, as well as the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year Award. Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband and their cat, Pip.<\/span><\/p>\n You can follow Elly X <\/span>@ellygriffiths<\/span><\/a>, find her on Bluesky<\/a>, <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a> or visit her <\/span>website<\/span><\/a> for more information.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lindasbookbag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/frozen-people.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Frozen People<\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\nMy Review of The Frozen People<\/span><\/h3>\n
About Elly Griffiths<\/span><\/h3>\n
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