"Raw Material" by JJ Marsh

Scotland Yard detective Beatrice Stubbs is on a weekend break in Wales. She and her long-term love interest Matthew wake early one morning and head to the beach, where they snap pictures of themselves at sunrise with Matthew’s camera. They’re barely there for any length of time when Beatrice’s purse is snatched. It’s found intact by the police. That night, a burglar breaks into their holiday rental and steals the camera. The police have no leads and no suspects. But, Beatrice realizes, the thief was specifically after the pictures they took, and it must have been what was in the beach background. But what was it? 

What the thief doesn’t know is that Beatrice already uploaded the photos to a thumb drive. Back in London, she turns the drive over to her friend and neighbor Adrian, who’s already thinking of himself as the next Sherlock Holmes. When Beatrice gets assigned to an urgent case of finding a flasher and sexual predator, Adrian convinces Matthew to do their own investigation of the stolen photos. They may have stumbled into a drug ring. 

 

JJ Marsh

In Raw Material, the second Beatrice Stubbs mystery novel by JJ Marsh, Beatrice and her friends are investigating two different crimes, both of which could lead to danger and physical peril. Author Marsh adds on a good helping of police politics and personal issues to the story, nicely layering the personal with the primary narrative.

 

In addition to the Beatrice Stubbs series, Marsh has also published three novels in the Run and Hide series and three standalone novels. She has degrees in English Literature and Theatre Studies, and has worked as an actor, teacher, writer, director, editor, journalist, and Cultural trainer. She lives in Switzerland and also blogs at her web site.

 

Related:

 

Behind Closed Doors by JJ Marsh.

"Behind Closed Doors" by JJ Marsh

Beatrice Stubbs, a detective with Scotland Yard, has been recovering for the past year from a suicide attempt. She takes medication for bipolar disorder, and her condition now seems under control. Her boss thinks the time has come for her to take charge of an investigation. 

Nd it may not be a case at all. In Switzerland, a businessman associated with an unsavory business has committed suicide, leaving not note. The circumstances are so similar to another suicide in Liechtenstein that an investigation is warranted. And Stubbs will be working with a Swiss detective and a rather international team from Europol.

 

The reader knows what Stubbs and her team don’t know. These are not suicides but well-planned murders. There are more like six or seven of them than two. And the one thing they all have in common is Antonella D’Arcy, head of an investment firm in Zurich. The victims did business with her, knew her, played polo with her, or had some other connection. 

 

JJ Marsh

The team makes progress, but it’s slow. Interpol, which is funding the investigation, wants results like yesterday. But as the team makes headway, they don’t realize that one of their own may also be the killer’s target.

 

Behind Closed Doors is the first of 13 Beatrice Stubbs police thriller novels by JJ Marsh. It includes a heavy emphasis on the setting (you learn a lot about Zurich) and the plodding but ultimately successful aspects of police investigatory procedure. And Marsh throws in enough team tension to keep the internal workings interesting. 

 

In addition to the Beaturice Stubbs series, Marsh has also published three novels in the Run and Hide series and three standalone novels. She has degrees in English Literature and Theatre Studies, and has worked as an actor, teacher, writer, director, editor, journalist, and Cultural trainer. She lives in Switzerland and also blogs at her web site.

 

Behind Closed Doors is a tension-building, thriller of a suspense novel, grounded in police procedure and with characters reflecting their national homelands (even in a Euro-type environment).