📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

Quercus
13 February 2025

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

 

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen - or so their inside joke goes. Most people don't know that they travel back in time to complete their research.

The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before: to 1850s London in order to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of MP Isaac Templeton. Rumour has it that Cain was part of a sinister group called The Collectors; to become a member, you had to kill a woman...

Fearing for her safety in the middle of a freezing Victorian winter, Ali finds herself stuck in time, unable to make her way back to her life, her beloved colleagues, and her son, Finn, who suddenly finds himself in legal trouble in the present day. 

Could the two cases be connected?

📖My Review..

Ali Dawson’s work as a cold case investigator is very different from the usual police procedural as uniquely she uses time travel to discover more about certain unsolved crimes. The concept of being able to go back to a specific moment in time in order to solve a ‘cold’ case is an intriguing premise for a novel as it successfully brings both crime and history together.

In order to clear the name of a modern day MP’s great-grandfather, Ali is transported back to Victorian London where she has only a short time to gather enough evidence to prove either guilt or innocence however, the situation goes slightly awry, and Ali becomes stuck in 1850 with only her wits to keep her safe. The time travel aspect is cleverly done, totally believable and written with such fine attention to historical detail that I have successfully navigated Victorian London and shared Ali’s curiosity as she walked the teeming streets of the East End. There’s also a modern day mystery to solve which introduces us to Ali’s son, Finn, in a development of the story which sits comfortably alongside the historical aspect and as neither timeframe seeks to outshine the other, both are equally enjoyable.

Skilfully written, and with fine attention to every detail, The Frozen People really captured my imagination. I would love to think that this is just the first book in what could turn out to be another successful series which brings Ali Dawson back in another time travel mystery.

About the Author

Elly Griffiths is the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and the Brighton Mysteries. She has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, has been shortlisted five times for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for The Lantern Men. Her series featuring Detective Harbinder Kaur began with The Stranger Diaries, which was a Richard and Judy book club pick and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in the USA. It was followed by The Postscript Murders, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and Bleeding Heart Yard. Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband.

X @EllyGriffiths #TheFrozenPeople

X @QuercusBooks

Book Review ~ The Whirlpools of Time by Anna Belfrage

June 2021

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

 

He hoped for a wife. He found a companion through time and beyond.

It is 1715 and for Duncan Melville something fundamental is missing from his life. Despite a flourishing legal practice and several close friends, he is lonely, even more so after the recent death of his father. He needs a wife—a companion through life, someone to hold and be held by. What he wasn’t expecting was to be torn away from everything he knew and find said woman in 2016…

Erin Barnes has a lot of stuff going on in her life. She doesn’t need the additional twist of a stranger in weird outdated clothes, but when he risks his life to save hers, she feels obligated to return the favour. Besides, whoever Duncan may be, she can’t exactly deny the immediate attraction.

The complications in Erin’s life explode. Events are set in motion and to Erin’s horror she and Duncan are thrown back to 1715. Not only does Erin have to cope with a different and intimidating world, soon enough she and Duncan are embroiled in a dangerous quest for Duncan’s uncle, a quest that may very well cost them their lives as they travel through a Scotland poised on the brink of rebellion.

Will they find Duncan’s uncle in time? And is the door to the future permanently closed, or will Erin find a way back? 

My thoughts...

Having read most of the novels in the Graham Saga I wondered how this new spin-off novel would work but I needn't have worried as right from the start I was whisked back in time to the eighteenth century to meet with Duncan Melville, who, after a recent bereavement, seems a rather lost, and lonely, character. However, on the night of a great storm Duncan's life suddenly changes when he finds himself waking up in 2016 in the company of a beautiful woman called Erin who seems, from the outset, to make his heart sing. 

What then follows is a lively time slip adventure which moves effortlessly between what happens between Erin and Duncan in 2016, only for them both to be then whisked back in time to 1715 Scotland during the time of the first Jacobite rebellion. Combining authentic history with a sexy time slip romance is a huge task but this talented author always gets the balance just right, never compromising on the integrity of the historical content, whilst at the same time allowing a smouldering romance to burn between the two lead characters. Both Duncan and Erin carry the story well and there's a real sense of adventure throughout, although Duncan seems to make the transition into 21st century life rather better that Erin adjusts to 18th century life but then that's where the real enjoyment of the story lies.

The Whirlpools of Time is every bit as good as I wanted it to be from one of my favourite time slip writers. It had everything I needed, history, adventure, romance and passion, and the promise of more to come from this lovely new series.

About the Author

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. 

Twitter @abelfrageauthor

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Website

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Hist Fic Revisited ~ Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

On the last Saturday of the month I have decided to feature the historical fiction I have enjoyed over the last forty or so years. 

Starting with a classic from 1992.

Let's do a bit of time travelling..

New English Library
1992

For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.

But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin -- barely of age herself -- finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

What did I think about it..

I have enjoyed some great historical fiction over the last forty or so years of my adult reading. I first came across Doomsday Book in 1992 and it has remained one of my favourite time travel stories.

During this difficult time in which we find ourselves in I thought that Doomsday Book would be a good place to start this series of Hist Fic Revisited. This time around I have listened to the Audible version expertly narrated by English actress, Jenny Sterlin. Listening to someone read the story has given everything a new dimension and brought the story to life in quite a different way. 

As I have mentioned, Doomsday Book is a very timely read as it uses as it's focus the effect of an epidemic caused by an unknown virus which hits the town of Oxford in 2054, a town which, despite being placed under strict quarantine, suffers catastrophic losses from this new and deadly virus which has no known vaccine. At the same time as the fight against the epidemic, there is also a race against time as an Oxford tutor strives to bring back his student who is lost in fourteenth century Oxford.

The medieval strand of the story looks at the journey made by Kivrin, a history student at Oxford University, who despite the misgivings of her tutor, Mr Dunworthy, travels back in time to Oxfordshire in 1320. There she hopes to undertake a study of ordinary medieval life before making the journey back to her own time. However, all does not bode well for Kivrin, as when she arrives in the past it's not quite what she imagined and her time there is fraught with danger, disease and despair. 

Is the story as good as I remember? 

There's a certain amount of repetition which I don't remember, particularly in 2054 Oxford which seems, as we are now nearer to 2054 than we were in 1992, more than a little dated.  And the story meanders rather more than I recall with most of the action happening during the last third of the novel but that part is just as tense as I remember, particularly for Kivrin. The medieval part of the story remains the stronger of the two strands and it is the part of the story which I find the most interesting.

It's a bit of a marmite book, love it or loathe it it remains one of my all time historical favourites 😊

The audio narration has been available since 2008 and is quite an investment with a listening time over 26 hours, but it's been an enjoyable way to while away the hours of this lock down period.

About the Author

Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.

Blog Tour ~ Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain (Translated by Emily Boyce)

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Vintage 1954

Gallic
20 June 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and to edpr for the invitation to be part of this blog tour

When Hubert Larnaudie invites some fellow residents of his Parisian apartment building to drink an exceptional bottle of 1954 Beaujolais, he has no idea of its special properties. The following morning, Hubert finds himself waking up in 1950s Paris, as do antique restorer Magalie, mixologist Julien, and Airbnb tenant Bob from Milwaukee, who's on his first trip to Europe. 

After their initial shock, the city of Edith Piaf and An American in Paris begins to work its charm on them.

But, ultimately, they need to work out how to get back to 2017. And the key lies in a legendary story of the vineyards of Chȃteau Saint-Antoine..

My thoughts..

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could take a drink from a vintage bottle of wine and cross through time, back to the glorious era in which the grapes were harvested and bottled, and that's just what happens in this lovely story which takes us, thanks to a vintage bottle of 1954 Beaujolais, back in time to the Paris of the 1950s, and to all those lovely people who made this vibrant post-war city such a joyous place to live.

The story starts with a disappearance, and then whisks us forward into 2017 Paris to meet up with four eccentric neighbours who find themselves living at 18 Rue Edgar-Charellier. This disparate group of characters who, collectively have very little in common will, in the course of the story, have the adventure of a lifetime.

This is such a wonderfully quirky story that it is easy to just sit back and enjoy just how it all unfolds. To allow the author's clever writing to transport you back to a bygone time is such a joy, especially as we spend time in Paris when it was a less frenetic city. Back to a gentler time when there were tiny bistros tucked away and fruit sellers on street corners who had time to stop and chat. It was also a city where the great and the good loved to visit, so it's wonderful to have the fleeting opportunity to meet up with the likes of Salvador Dali, Audrey Hepburn, Hubert de Givenchy and Edith Piaf.

Vintage 1954 is a hidden gem and the most perfect summer read, especially if you are visiting Paris but it would work equally well sitting in the garden, preferably with a glass or two of Beaujolais close to hand 🍶

About the Author

Antoine Laurain is a wine-lover, journalist, and antique collector. Born and bred in Paris, he is the author of bestselling novels The President’s Hat (a Waterstones Book Club pick) and The Red Notebook. His books have sold over 155,000 copies in English and Antoine’s work has been adapted for French TV, translated into 14 languages, and won the Prix Relay des Voyageurs amongst others.

Website

Twitter @BelgraviaB  #Vintage1954

@ed_pr

Review ~ The Road to Alexander by Jennifer Macaire

Accent Press
2017
My thanks to the author for my e-copy of this book

What's it all about..

After winning a prestigious award, Ashley is chosen to travel through time and interview a historical figure. Choosing her childhood hero Alexander the Great, she is sent back in time for less than a day. He mistakes her for Persephone, goddess of the dead, and kidnaps her, stranding her in his own time. What follows, after she awakes under the pomegranate tree, is a hilarious, mind-bending tale of a modern woman immersed in the ancient throes of sex, love, quite a bit of vino, war, death and ever so much more..

My thoughts about it..

Taking a character from the future back to an ancient time is always a bit of a gamble, sometimes it pays off and others not quite so much. In The Road to Alexander, the gamble pays off as  the author has taken, Ashley, a woman journalist from the future, and delivered her back in time to the age of Alexander the Great, who happens to be Ashley's absolute hero. What then follows is a lively romp through Alexander's world, filled with all the customs and traditions of this ancient time.

The author has given her characters, particularly Alexander himself, a great sense of style and a zest for life. That Ashley finds that she is trapped in this ancient world adds the necessary excitement and intrigue, and the eventual love interest between Ashley and Alexander fairly sizzles on the page.

It's obvious from reading The Road to Alexander that the author loves writing and has done her research for this particular historical period, which must be said, I know absolutely nothing and so I came to the book with no preconceptions of history and just enjoyed the story for what it was, a light and easy historical fiction read with a feisty heroine and a dashing hero.

That the story is a fun read and not a treatise on the ancient world comes across and the author has done a good job in recreating time and place whilst at the same time not taking it all too seriously, this is fiction, after all.

The Road to Alexander is a the first book in a series of historical novels which explores this theme.

About the Author

Jennifer Macaire lives in France with her husband, three children, & various dogs & horses. She loves cooking, eating French chocolate, growing herbs and flowering plants on her balcony, and playing golf. She grew up in upstate New York, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. She graduated from St. Peter and Paul high school in St. Thomas and moved to NYC where she modeled for five years for Elite. She went to France and met her husband at the polo club. All that is true. But she mostly likes to make up stories.

Website

Twitter @jennifermacaire

Amazon UK

Blog Tour ~ Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar by Olga Wojtas..

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the blog tour 

Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar 

Contraband
(An imprint of Saraband Books)
25 January 2018

What's it all about ...

Fifty-something Shona is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, but has a deep loathing for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which she thinks gives her alma mater a bad name.

Impeccably educated and an accomplished martial artist, linguist and musician, Shona is thrilled when selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a one-week mission in 19th-century Moscow: to pair up the beautiful, shy, orphaned heiress Lidia Ivanovna with Sasha, a gorgeous young man of unexplained origins.

But, despite all her accomplishments and good intentions, Shona might well have got the wrong end of the stick about her mission. As the body count rises, will she discover in time just who the real villain is?

My thoughts...

Shona McMonagle is employed as a librarian at the Morningside Library in Edinburgh, where she is proud to consider herself as one of the crème de la crème girls from Marcia Blaine's esteemed establishment. When Shona is approached by none other than the revered, Marcia Blaine herself, she is amazed to find that not only does Marcia Blaine know her name but also that she has an important time travelling mission for her.

I don't quite know where to begin trying to explain Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar as nothing I can say would do justice to this lively romp into the nineteenth century aristocratic world of Counts and Countesses, Prince and Princesses, and of afternoon tea served from a giant eagle embossed Samovar. And yet, however, bizarre this seems, the aptly named, time traveller,Shona Fergusovna, is even more unusual as she completely turns the ordered life of the Russian aristocracy upside down in her quest to discover a deadly secret.

Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar is one of those stories which shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It’s laugh out loud funny in places and so convoluted that I gave up trying to figure out where the story was going and just let the story evolve, which it does at a cracking pace. The characters are beautifully caricatured, especially the moneyed countesses who vie for Shona’s attention, and the beautiful, Lidia Ivanovna’s wonderful Nanny, who spends her time knitting colourful, Fichus to cover her young lady’s décolletage.

Original, funny and with a deliciously quirky edge, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar is delightful from beginning to end and I can't wait to see where Shona's time travelling adventures take her to next. In the hands of this talented new author, the possibilities are endless.

About the Author

Olga Wojtas was born and brought up in Edinburgh where she attended James Gillespie’s High School – the model for Marcia Blaine School for Girls, which appears in Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She was encouraged to write by an inspirational English teacher there, Iona M. Cameron. Olga won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2015 and has had more than 30 short stories published in magazines and anthologies.

Twitter @OlgaWojtas

Amazon UK

The launch of this book is part of the Muriel Spark 100 centenary programme. More information on www.murielspark100.com 

Twitter @murielspark100

Do visit the other Blog Tour stops

Review ~ The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick

HQ

What's it all about...

Browsing antiques shops in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait – supposedly of Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better… The woman is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 as an unwanted orphan and presumed dead after going missing as a child.

The painting is more than just a beautiful object from Alison’s past – it holds the key to her future, unlocking the mystery surrounding Mary’s disappearance, and the enigma of Alison’s son.

But Alison’s quest soon takes a dark and foreboding turn, as a meeting place called the Phantom Tree harbours secrets in its shadows…

What did I think about it...

It's been a while since a good time slip novel caught my imagination and I am delighted that this latest novel by Nicola Cornick really grabbed my attention from the start. I love travelling back in time and in the hands of an accomplished author it should be rather like stepping aboard a time travel machine. What's so refreshing about this book is that the author has flipped the idea on its head by having a protagonist from the past end up in the future which somehow takes the idea of time slip to a whole different level. The history feels authentic as does the story which surrounds the mystery, and moving seamlessly, as it does, between past and present it is very easy to get caught up in the story of Alison Bannister and Mary Seymour.

The Phantom Tree gets right into the heart of a Tudor mystery and gives us a possible explanation for the alleged disappearance of Mary Seymour. What I love so much about clever historical fiction is that whilst it brings history alive in special way it also allows a talented author to put their own individual slant on what might have happened.  Of course I know that time travel doesn’t exist but in the hands of a gifted writer it just shows that nothing is impossible to achieve.

Time slip novels are notoriously difficult to pull off successfully, but when they are done well they are a joy to read and The Phantom Tree certainly gets it right on every level. The author has the balance exactly right with neither one time element seeking to overshadow the other. I was equally comfortable reading about Alison Bannister in the present and then slipping back through time to read Mary Seymour’s story in the past and as both women are feisty protagonists they are equally deserving of the reader’s attention.

There is much to enjoy in this story which will appeal to all lovers of historical time slip novels. Nicola Cornick is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Best Read with .. A tankard of small beer and  a venison pasty, rich and succulent 

More about the author can be found on her website by clicking here

International bestselling author Nicola Cornick writes romantic historical mysteries and witty and passionate Regency romance. She studied History at London and Oxford and was awarded a distinction for her dissertation on historical heroes. It was a tough study but someone had to do it. Nicola has a “double life” as a writer and guide at the stunning 17th century hunting lodge, Ashdown House.

Follow on Twitter @NicolaCornick

The Phantom Tree was my community Library read

~***~

Review ~ Written in my own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

Orion Books UK

10 June 2014

"In the light of eternity, time casts no shadow"

 Written in my Own Heart’s Blood continues where An Echo in the Bone left off. It’s 1778, and as the British army withdraws from Philadelphia, Washington’s army is in active pursuit. Newly returned from the dead, Jamie Fraser finds that life as a rebel General is not for the faint hearted, nor does he take his wife, Claire’s, reactionary marriage to Lord John Grey lightly. For the rest of the extended Fraser family and also for those characters left on the periphery, the vagaries of life continue to perplex, and as always there is much going on and many threads to pick up.

There are moments of high drama as both Jamie and Claire find that life is never going to be peaceful nor across the centuries is life any less stressful for Roger and Brianna, but what is important to remember is that all the pieces of this gigantic jigsaw puzzle seem to be finally coming together. There feels to be almost a sense of resolution as inevitably the story must finally face a conclusion. In fact, it’s almost akin to a homecoming as the younger generation are given the chance to take centre stage and believe me their stories are no less valiant. The past meets the present as we go backwards, or is it forwards in time to meet up with characters who together make up the sum of the book’s parts. Everyone has a role to play, and the minutiae of relationships is examined and perfected so beautifully, and each seamless transition is done with such confidence, that there is never a moment when the action doesn't totally absorb, from the inner workings of a rebel army, through to the finer points of using Roquefort cheese as an anti bacterial antibiotic.

As always the author delivers a whopping good read, as contained within the book’s 800 or so pages are plots, counter plots, ruinations, machinations, scenes to make you weep, scenes that will have you stamping your feet in irritation at the folly of men, and whole sections that will have you reading and then re-reading in order to clarify just what hidden meaning is concealed within each tantalising chapter, and with over 141 chapters, there is sometimes a lot of re-reading needed !

With brilliant observation the Outlander series continues to weave its magic and as the finer points of the twenty-first century blend into the background, I am enthralled, beguiled and totally absorbed, so much so, that when I am reading time simply ceases to exist, and I move effortlessly back to a place that I know well and with characters who are as precious to me as family. Of course, there is still much left unsaid and the book’s entirely appropriate finale lends itself to the continuation of the story.

And for the legions of Diana Gabaldon fans worldwide, book 9 can’t come quick enough.

And out of interest ~ The symbolic use of the eight sided Octothorpe on the book cover pays homage to the eight major characters in the book.

More about Diana Gabaldon on her website here and find her on Facebook and Twitter