The Frozen People

Alison "Ali" Dawson is a fifty-year-old detective sergeant who works for the Department of Logistics, a secretive government unit at 14 Eel Street in London. Known informally as "the frozen people," the unit appears to investigate cold cases but actually conducts time travel, made possible by physicist Serafina Pellegrini, known as Jones. Ali's colleagues include Dina, a computer forensics investigator; John Cole, a recovering alcoholic and former murder detective; Bud, a young physicist; and their boss, Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Bastian, a widower grieving his late husband Bobby. The unit's protocol requires operatives to observe without interacting.

Geoff tells Ali that Isaac Templeton, the justice minister, wants the unit to investigate his great-great-grandfather, Cain Templeton, who was suspected of murdering three women in the 1850s. Isaac is writing a book about his family and wants evidence of Cain's innocence. Ali is shaken because her son, Finn, works as one of Isaac's special advisers. Jones confirms she can send Ali to 1850 but only alone, as sending two people so far back is too difficult.

Ali prepares by visiting the Templeton Collection at Queen Mary University of London, where curator Ed Crane shows her looted archaeological artifacts including a Roman skull, a mummified cat, and a murderer's brain in formaldehyde. She is fitted for period clothing, dyes her red hair brown, and writes Finn a letter in case she does not return.

On January 25, 1850, Ali arrives on a snowy London afternoon and marks her ingress point, the spot where she entered and where the return gate should open, with UV spray. At 44 Hawk Street, the house Cain owns, she finds a woman dead in the attic studio. Standing over the body is Cain, who identifies the victim as Ettie Moran, an artist's model, and blames a tenant named Thomas Creek, a painter who kept firearms. At three o'clock, her scheduled extraction time, Ali rushes to her ingress point, but the gate does not open. She is stranded.

Ali takes lodging in Creek's vacant room and meets the other residents, including Clara, the maid; Frederick Tremain, a talented painter; and Arthur Moses, a fellow artist lodger. Each day she returns to the ingress point, but the gate never opens. A street vendor tells her he saw a cloaked man vanish from the same spot, suggesting Creek used her gate to escape to 2023.

Ali investigates Ettie's death and dines with Cain at his Kensington house, where he acknowledges that a former mistress, Jane Campion, died under his "protection." He admits belonging to a group called The Collectors but insists it is merely a club for men who collect unusual objects. Ali presses him about rumors that membership requires killing a woman. Over the following days, she befriends the household and begins reading The Pickwick Papers by candlelight.

In 2023, Finn grows alarmed when Ali stops answering texts. He finds her house empty, her cat Terry starving, and a goodbye letter behind the clock. Dina brings him to the office, where Jones explains time travel and Geoff admits Ali failed to return. Finn confronts Isaac at Parliament, and Isaac reveals that Cain's diary mentions a mysterious woman named "Alison" with a son called "Phin" whose father was "El Vis." Isaac admits he requested Ali specifically because her name already appeared in the historical record.

On Saturday morning, police tell Finn that Isaac was murdered the previous night at East Dean, his Sussex estate. Isaac's wife, Miranda Templeton, says she heard Isaac say "What are you doing here?" before a gunshot and found him dead. On Sunday evening, DS Mary O'Brien arrests Finn for Isaac's murder.

On Ali's sixth morning in 1850, John Cole appears in the kitchen posing as her cousin. Jones can only send one person through the gate at a time, so John must stay while Ali returns. He tells her Isaac is dead and Finn has been charged with murder. Ali steps onto John's ingress point, and the gate pulls her forward into 2023.

Ali races to Thameside Prison, where Finn is held on remand. She promises to find the real killer and begins investigating with Dina. DS O'Brien reveals that Finn's DNA was found on Isaac's lips and shows Ali CCTV footage of a figure the police call "The Vampire," a pale man in a long cloak who matches no one in their database. Ali recognizes the clothing as Victorian.

Ali pursues leads. Helen Graham, a Labour MP who had a brief relationship with Isaac, reveals that Isaac planned to see the prime minister about something involving "the nineteenth century." Dina discovers Isaac called Jones 24 times on the day he died. Ed Crane shows Ali a love letter from the Templeton Collection, addressed to "Alisoun," the unusual spelling on Ali's birth certificate, in Cain's handwriting: "Alisoun, my time-traveling angel . . . There will never be anyone like you, in my past, present or future" (196). The letter suggests Ali will return to the nineteenth century.

Meanwhile, in 1850, John attends a meeting of The Collectors at their Limehouse headquarters. Through a hidden passage, he watches a member sit in a chair and vanish for several seconds before reappearing. Cain explains that Creek experienced the same phenomenon; the chair was built by a carpenter on his estate who murdered his wife and killed himself, and locals call it cursed. That night, Francis Burbage, Arthur's friend who has attended Collectors meetings, warns John not to trust Cain. The next day, Burbage is found murdered.

Back in 2023, Miranda calls Ali with a letter from Isaac that mentions her. Ali persuades Geoff to drive to East Dean. At the estate, Ali spots Jones walking the grounds despite being supposedly in London. In the great hall, Thomas Creek attacks Ali with a knife. She fights him off, and Creek grasps a chair by the fireplace, sits in it, and vanishes in an electrical shimmer, transported through time.

Geoff appears on the stairs. Ali, having realized that only Geoff besides Jones knew about Isaac's threatening phone calls, confronts him. He confesses: He killed Isaac to prevent him from exposing the time-travel program to the prime minister, which would have shut down the unit. He framed Finn by getting him drunk at Ali's house, stealing a glass bearing Finn's DNA, then driving to East Dean and shooting Isaac with an antique gun seized from Creek. He pressed the glass to Isaac's lips to fabricate evidence. Jones arrives and urges Ali to step away. Geoff flees to the cliff edge. Ali warns him that Finn will go to prison without his testimony. Geoff says he has left a full confession and the gun in his home safe, gives her the code, tells her he is sorry, and steps off the cliff.

Police recover Geoff's body, his confession, and the murder weapon. Finn is released. Ali, Finn's father Declan, and Finn reunite at Ali's house. Ali returns to work, grieving Geoff with Dina and Bud.

Jones texts Ali to come to Hawk Street at a specific time. Ali watches John materialize on the steps, returned to 2023. Jones has exchanged herself for John, entering 1850. Miranda shows Ali a pencil sketch of Ali's face signed "F. Tremain 1853," confirming Ali will return to the past. Ali takes John's arm and they walk into the city, the investigation of past and future still unfinished.