Format: 353 pages, Kindle Edition
Release Date: February 12, 2026
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
The second mystery following Ali Dawson, the brilliant time-traveling detective, on her newest foray into Victorian London
Detective Ali Dawson leads a unit that investigates cases so cold her team must travel back in time to solve them. But ever since their technical expert, Jones, got stuck in Victorian London, Ali and her team have been forbidden from time travel.
At a loss, Ali dives into a present-day case – an apparent suicide of a young man who fell to his death from a high building. Ali believes the death is linked to a bad-news psychic medium, Barry Power, who convinced the boy he could fly. Suspicious, Ali attends one of Power’s shows, where he claims to be in contact with none other than Jones.
Minor trouble closer to home inspires Ali to sneak back in time just long enough to prevent misfortune. Her plan backfires, and she finds herself once again in Victorian London, where she reencounters Jones, as well as the darkly mysterious Cain Templeton, with whom Ali has unfinished business from her previous visit to the nineteenth century . . .
When she spies Barry Power lurking in the past, Ali knows she's onto something. But with a potential murderer operating in multiple centuries, how on earth is she supposed to protect everyone at risk?
It's a different time. It's a dangerous time. It's the killing time. The story alternates between Contemporary and Victorian London.
Detective Ali Dawson leads a unit that investigates cases so cold her team must travel back in time to solve them. But ever since their technical expert, Jones, got stuck in Victorian London, Ali and her team have been forbidden from time travel.
At a loss, Ali dives into a present-day case – an apparent suicide of a young man who fell to his death from a high building. Ali believes the death is linked to a bad-news psychic medium, Barry Power, who convinced the boy he could fly. Suspicious, Ali attends one of Power’s shows, where he claims to be in contact with none other than Jones.
Minor trouble closer to home inspires Ali to sneak back in time just long enough to prevent misfortune. Her plan backfires, and she finds herself once again in Victorian London, where she reencounters Jones, as well as the darkly mysterious Cain Templeton, with whom Ali has unfinished business from her previous visit to the nineteenth century . . .
When she spies Barry Power lurking in the past, Ali knows she's onto something. But with a potential murderer operating in multiple centuries, how on earth is she supposed to protect everyone at risk?
It's a different time. It's a dangerous time. It's the killing time. The story alternates between Contemporary and Victorian London.
The Killing Time is the second installment, following The Frozen People, in author Elly Griffiths' Ali Dawson series. The story alternates between 2024 and 1850 London. It centers on Detective Ali Dawson and her specialized London Met cold-case unit (nicknamed the Frozen People or Department of Logistics). The team’s secret tool is time travel, used for cases so old that visiting the past is the only way to gather evidence.
Since the events of The Frozen People left one member of the "Department of Logistics" dead and another stranded in 1850s Victorian London, Ali and her remaining colleagues (Dr Bud Sirisema, Dina Appiah, and John Cole) are somewhat hamstrung, forbidden by Home Office hierarchy from conducting any further forays into the past, and confined to investigating cold cases via more mundane methods. In the present (set around a 2024 heatwave and election period), Ali is restless and frustrated by routine work.
She digs into an apparent suicide: a young man who fell from a high building after being influenced by charismatic psychic medium Barry Power, who convinced him he could fly. Ali attends one of Power’s shows, where he makes an unsettling claim involving Jones. When her beloved cat Terry goes missing (via an open cat flap), Ali makes a reckless short-hop attempt to fix a minor domestic problem.
The plan backfires spectacularly, stranding her in 1851 London—where she reunites with Jones, crosses paths again with the enigmatic Cain Templeton (unfinished business from the prior visit), and discovers Barry Power has connections that span the centuries. Meanwhile, in Ali's absence, two men are murdered in 2025, both having received mysterious postcards related to classic films. Dana and D.I. John Cole become embroiled in the investigation, along with DS Luca Venturi and the evident links that both victims have to Ali, who remains stuck in Victorian London.
Griffiths handles the dual timelines with characteristic skill. Modern-day sections ground the story in Ali’s professional frustrations, family ties (including her son Finn), and the banter among her team. The Victorian sections shine brightest: 1851 London feels lived-in and textured, with the grime, social contrasts, the Great Exhibition in full swing, period details of domestic life (or lack of modern conveniences), and a sense of menace and opportunity. Griffiths’ research brings the era alive without slowing the pace into textbook mode.
Ali remains a highly engaging protagonist—sharp, stubborn, flawed, funny, and morally driven. Her domestic details (especially the cat Terry, who becomes an unexpectedly memorable supporting player) and interactions humanize the high-concept elements. Supporting characters, both returning and new (Victorian maids offering class insights, showmen and illusionists, the unsettling Cain), add color and emotional stakes.
The tone is a key strength: high stakes and genuine darkness sit comfortably alongside warmth, wit, and humanity. It never feels gimmicky; the time-travel paradoxes and rules are treated with enough internal consistency and playfulness to work for most readers who accept the premise. The mystery itself—linking modern “suicides” influenced by a medium to events in the past—has a contemporary edge involving manipulation, belief, and vulnerability.
It drives Ali effectively, but the killer’s identity can feel abrupt or underdeveloped, and certain time-travel mechanics (chairs, the Seeing Glass, and how animals or people shift eras) stretch suspension of disbelief more than in the first book. The dual timelines occasionally create a sense of loose ends or uneven pacing, with the Victorian sections sometimes dominating.
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