Book Review: Ali Dawson #1

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

Published: July 2025

Summary from Goodreads:

Cold cases are a lot easier to solve when you can travel back in time to find new evidence—unless, that is, you get stuck in the nineteenth century.

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old they’re frozen—or so their inside joke goes. Ali’s work seems like a safe desk job, but what her friends—and even her beloved son—don’t know is that her team has a secret: They can travel back in time to look for evidence.

So far Ali has made trips only to the recent past, so she’s surprised when she’s asked to investigate a murder that took place in 1850. The killing has been pinned on an aristocratic patron of the arts and antiquities, a member of a sinister group called “The Collectors.” She arrives in the Victorian era during a mini ice age to find another dead woman at her feet and far too many unanswered questions. But when her son is arrested, Ali attempts to return home only to find herself trapped in 1850.

Confession:

As much as I liked this book, and I really did like it, I’m not sure that it totally lived up to my expectations for it. I liked the characters, the time travel was very interesting, but the mystery was very lacking. I just didn’t see how their time travel impacted the murder or helped them solve it. Maybe there will be more of a connection in the next book, which I will probably read.

I really liked Ali Dawson. She is one tough lady, and I think pretty smart. I liked how she adapted to living in 1850 and didn’t totally panic when she realizes she can’t get back. Her relationship with her son was also nice. Her investigative skills seem to be ok, but I also felt like she mostly stumbled onto things at random.

The other characters in the story were interesting as well, although most were not as fleshed out as I would like. I really liked Finn, Ali’s son, who finds himself caught up in a very messy mystery. There were some coworkers I liked as well, although we don’t spend much time with them. The characters we meet in Victorian London, were also very fascinating, and it is hinted that we will be seeing some of them again.

The time travel aspect of the book was well done. It is in its infancy and there are still bugs being worked out. I liked that they had to be standing in the same place as they wanted to be in the past when they traveled. As of yet there is no machine, it’s in development, but it isn’t really explained how they travel without it. So that is the science fiction aspect of the time travel, but there is also a magical element that is thrown in towards the end of the story. A totally different magical way that some of the characters travel through time. I’m not sure where the author might go with this aspect, but it could be interesting.

The story is well paced and I liked the writing style and how the author moved from past to present. The murder mystery was not as well developed and I didn’t feel like Ali or any of the detectives really worked it out. The murderer is simply confronted and confesses. I also figured it out pretty quickly. The murders that Ali went into the past to solve, or at least determine if there was a murder, was sort of glossed over. But this is something I think will continue in the next book.

Even though I was slightly disappointed in this one, I did like it enough to give the second book a try. If you like time travel books, you should give this one a try. If you are looking for a mystery that you can sink your teeth into, this might not be the best choice, but you still might consider it.