The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

Hi all. 

 Our Mystery Book Club selection for January was:

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

This book one of a new series by this author Ali Dawson as the main character. 

About: "Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen—or so their inside joke goes. Nobody knows that her team has a secret: they can travel back in time to look for evidence.

The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before: to 1850s London to clear the name of Cain Templeton, an eccentric patron of the arts. Rumor has it that Cain is part of a sinister group called The Collectors. Ali arrives in the Victorian era to another dead woman at her feet and far too many unanswered questions.

As the clock counts down, Ali becomes more entangled in the mystery, yet danger lurks around every corner. She soon finds herself trapped, unable to make her way back to her beloved son, Finn, who is battling his own accusations in the present day.

Could the two cases be connected? In a race through and against time, Ali must find out before it’s too late."

My thoughts: I like some time travel stories. When I was a kid I would wonder if a person could go back in time and what time would I like to go back to. I also like some sci fi stories. I like them blended with a good mystery.

This book has all three. I say sci fi because it is science fiction to travel in time...isn;t it? I also like historical fiction. (No wonder I have such a long TBR list).

 

What I liked: I liked the descriptions of living in the 1850's. Very descriptive of the clothing (way too much for a woman), day to day activities (taking out the chamber pot in the morning. Ugh), trying to stay clean in London in all the mud and smoke etc. (Yuck) Just solidified that I would not want to go back to that time. I loved the story of this "secret government project" where a member of the team is sent back in time to solve a cold case. Their first assignment was to go back only to 1977. Two hours. In and out. The second one is a favor to a prominent politician (Isaac Templeton) to clear his ancestor as he is writing a book about his family and he is hoping to prove that the story about him murdering women is not true. So Ali gets sent back to 1850, which is really pushing the limits. When she goes to the "spot" for the gateway to open up and return her to her own time, nothing happens. A person on the street asks her why she has been standing there so long, that he saw a man standing on that same spot and he just disappeared into thin air. Ali rents a room from the person she is investigating. He is actually quite observant and thinks she is a very different kind of woman. He takes her to see the place where The Collectors meet. A men's group where they sit around and talk and probably smoke cigars and drink and show what they have collected. Something weird about a chair though. 

Meanwhile back in "now" Isaac Templeton is murdered. Ali's son Finn is arrested. And the group cannot seem to get Ali back. 

Once you get past the first couple of chapters which builds the background information we need on characters and situations, the plot moves pretty quickly and is very intriguing. Really good cliffhanger and and some questions which makes me want to read book two, "The Killing Time" which comes out in February of this year.

Most of the Mystery Book Club really enjoyed the book. The handful of people who did not, just don't like time travel stories, it seemed. We all recommended Elly Griffiths other long running series, the Ruth Galloway series about an archaeologist. 

More to come!