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Behind Closed Doors

by J.J. Marsh (Goodreads Author)

4.58 of 5 stars 4.58 · rating details · 33 ratings · 18 reviews

Suicide – the act of taking one’s own life.
Homicide – the act of taking someone else’s.

An unethical banker suffocates. A diamond dealer slits his wrists. A media magnate freezes in the snow. A disgraced CEO inhales exhaust fumes. Four unpopular businessmen, four apparent suicides. Until Interpol find the same DNA at each death.

Beatrice Stubbs, on her first real case since...more

Kindle Edition, 314 pages

Published April 16th 2012 by Prewett Publishing

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Jan 14, 2013 Elizabeth Jasper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First, this book is beautifully written, with superb characterisation of the main character. Scotland Yard detective Beatrice Stubbs is seconded to Switzerland to head an international team attempting to uncover the truth behind a series of high profile suicides. How very refreshing to read about a detective who is aware of her weaknesses and who doubts her strengths. Struggling to recover her mental equilibrium after a difficult year, Beatrice gradually overcomes predjudice, problems with her t...more

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May 31, 2012 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I downloaded this book and had finished it in two sittings - Interrupted by work (tut). I was completely immersed throughout the entire story. The characters, the plot, the pace and the settings are all excellently crafted and beautifully written. You can tell that blood, sweat, tears and a huge amount of research went into this absorbing book.
Four unprincipled and unpleasant businessmen have apparently committed suicide. However, Interpol find that the same DNA is evident at each scene. What el...more I downloaded this book and had finished it in two sittings - Interrupted by work (tut). I was completely immersed throughout the entire story. The characters, the plot, the pace and the settings are all excellently crafted and beautifully written. You can tell that blood, sweat, tears and a huge amount of research went into this absorbing book.
Four unprincipled and unpleasant businessmen have apparently committed suicide. However, Interpol find that the same DNA is evident at each scene. What else links them? Perhaps the fact that the world is a better place without them?
Interpol put together a team of experts to open a ‘non-investigation’ based in Zurich to establish if there is a murderer out there that is systematically eliminating ‘fat cats’
Detective Beatrice Stubbs of Scotland Yard, is tasked to lead the investigation. She is unlike any detective you have ever met before. She has a passion for a well-known radio soap opera and has a comical knack for mixing her metaphors. However, if your first thought is that she is a little eccentric, like me, will probably change your mind as you read on. She is a professional and accomplished detective yet grows very fond of her juniors and is as proud as a University professor is of a favourite student/s. Beatrice is as intricate as the plot and although we are treated to brief snippets of her background, her loves and her personal battles, I sense there is much more to know, and I can’t wait.
From chapter one the reader is offered more information than the investigators are a party to. This allows you to feel some ownership, you feel ‘in on it’ to a point. Furthermore as the targets’ last hours are played out, your own case notes are coming together nicely. But, there is still something missing. Why won’t the whole thing knit? The author frustratingly holds onto that until the very end. You are not permitted to beat the professionals to all the answers. Still, you feel like you did have an inkling, and therefore don’t feel robbed. This is another technique that sets Behind Closed Doors apart from many other crime novels. In other detective stories, I have frequently felt as though something is held back for no other reason than that you are treated to that ‘Ta dah’ moment.
As I said the plot, the setting, the language and the pace are spot on. However, (I appear to agree with many other reviewers) it is the characters that will win most accolades in this original novel. Whether you love, hate, admire or scorn each of the characters, they are all incredibly real, you believe them, you want to know more about them, you invest.
This is apparently Bea’s first outing. I eagerly await the next. Well done JJ Marsh and thank you.
(less)

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Jun 04, 2013 Libby Adson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is another of these novels that I've had around the house for a while, but hadn't actually picked up until recently. But once I had -- well, I spent last night on a horrific Metro trek trying to get home from Franconia-Springfield, a task that involved multiple delays and the stupid train stopping for half an hour after Van Dorn Street, and while normally I'd be so annoyed I'd be breathing fire through my nostrils, all I could think about was whether Beatrice was going to survive the next f...more This is another of these novels that I've had around the house for a while, but hadn't actually picked up until recently. But once I had -- well, I spent last night on a horrific Metro trek trying to get home from Franconia-Springfield, a task that involved multiple delays and the stupid train stopping for half an hour after Van Dorn Street, and while normally I'd be so annoyed I'd be breathing fire through my nostrils, all I could think about was whether Beatrice was going to survive the next few pages. I got home two hours late, found a place to sit, and tore madly through the rest of the book until I was finished.

There were so many things to like about this book. Chris, Xavier, Conceiçao and Sabine were fun characters to watch, like squabbly little dots that you know will eventually come together to form something important, though you aren't sure quite how they'll do it. And I would be lying if I said I didn't love Kälin. The scene with the horse meat was kind of wonderful.

I really liked knowing so much more than the detectives did, too. Maybe it's because I've only read a few detective novels (keep planning to read more Christie and all that, it just hasn't happened yet), but that's not a device I've seen often, and it enabled me to make theories and predictions in the same ways that the detectives were, which I loved. I've read so many books where there's no possible way for the reader to get anywhere near the truth of the mystery, and this book wasn't like that, and I appreciated that so much. That said, the ending wasn't even close to obvious. The final reveal was absolutely shocking.

Beatrice was also great. A funny, very human combination of awkward and completely composed. I loved watching her relationship with Kälin and the group grow. And I liked that none of her flaws were masked just because she was making progress with the investigation. I found the bits about her bipolar disorder especially interesting -- it wasn't treated as this huge stigma, but you do see her dealing with it and struggling with it, and I thought that was such an incredibly human quality in a detective who is so brilliant at her job.

There were a couple of parts of "Behind Closed Doors" that lagged for me, especially when people are talking in extreme detail about real estate or forensics or what have you -- things that are interesting within the context of the story, but that I found myself not wanting to read about at length, which slowed the pace of the first half of the novel a little. But once the pace picks up, it really picks up, and then it's totally unputdownable.

*also, this book should get extra brownie points because it's so incredibly beautiful. Everyone who saw me reading it had to grab it from me and fawn over the cover. It's seriously gorgeous.(less)

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May 23, 2013 Catriona Troth added it · review of another edition

We recently had a lively discussion, stimulated by a question from Caroline Lodge of the Bookword blog (www.bookword.co.uk), about older women in fiction. One thing we did agree on was that crime fiction was better served than most when it came to older women as main characters. And one honourable addition to that number is DI Beatrice Stubbs – “bipolar sufferer, metaphor mixer and serial survivor,” created by my Triskele stablemate, J.J. Marsh.

The easiest comparisons to make with Marsh’s writi...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Mar Dixon rated it 5 of 5 stars

From the onset, JJ Marsh captures your attention with a conversation that puts you in a conversation you want to find more about. The journey doesn't end until the last page, but even then it leaves you yearning to find out more about the complicity of the characters within the book.

The plot revolves around seemingly unconnected deaths of business people with unethical backgrounds. A special unit, lead by Beatrice Stubbs, is put together to see if they can find a connection - if any exists. The...more

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May 08, 2013 Linda Gillard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you like your crime mixed with literary fiction, J J Marsh is definitely a new writer to watch. A motley crew of cops & criminals convince and entertain in an unusual and often chilling story that will have your Kindle thumb clicking fast until you reach the nerve-jangling denouement.

Our detective heroine Beatrice Stubbs is likeable and flawed, with enough complexity to sustain a series (of which this is the first book.) I finished the book wanting to know more about her - always a good s...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog-reviews

Behind Closed Doors is a well crafted crime novel by debut author, JJ Marsh. Scotland Yard detective, Beatrice Stubbs has been tasked to investigate possible links between the apparent suicides of several high profile businessmen. Sent to Zurich and assigned a small team of specialists, Stubbs is under pressure to produce results quickly. With painstaking investigation they uncover a link to the CEO of a consultant firm with a deadly agenda.

Deftly plotted, Behind Closed Doors moves between the i...more Behind Closed Doors is a well crafted crime novel by debut author, JJ Marsh. Scotland Yard detective, Beatrice Stubbs has been tasked to investigate possible links between the apparent suicides of several high profile businessmen. Sent to Zurich and assigned a small team of specialists, Stubbs is under pressure to produce results quickly. With painstaking investigation they uncover a link to the CEO of a consultant firm with a deadly agenda.

Deftly plotted, Behind Closed Doors moves between the investigation by Beatrice Stubbs and her team, and the death scenes of corrupt businessmen at the hands of a skilled assassin. The advantage of this approach is that the reader witnesses the steps the killer takes to make each death look like suicide, and therefore appreciates the challenges Beatrice's team faces in connecting the deaths. Though the identity of the person responsible for the murders is suspected early on in the story, proving culpability is another matter all together. Beatrice's team has to combine their skills and think outside the box to find the proof they need to stop the murders.

The characters of Behind Closed Doors are an interesting group. We get glimpses of Beatrice's complicated personal history and romantic partnership but, normally based in London, she is away from her usual environment in Zurich so the focus is on Beatrice's professional behaviour. Beatrice proves to be a great leader of the team members she is charged with in Zurich, several of whom have quirky personalities. I enjoyed getting to know them, from the gruff Senior Detective Herr Kalin to the serious Estonian crime analyst, Sabine Tikkenen.

The novel has a European feel of formality in both tone and dialogue but there is flow to the narration. The more mundane aspects of the investigation are interspersed with the descriptions of murders to provide continuing interest but the plot does lack a sense of urgency despite the tight time frame until the final confrontation.

I was reminded of Nicci French's new series featuring Dr Frieda Klein as I read despite the obvious differences. Behind Closed Doors is an enjoyable read and a promising debut from a new author. (less)

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Jan 26, 2013 Sarah Buchmann rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

JJ Marsh’s debut hooks the reader with its promising title: because Behind Closed Doors anything can happen. The first door to be opened leads into a luxury hotel suite where the reader is witness to the murder of an arrogant jerk. The second door to be opened is that to Detective Beatrice Stubbs’ London flat. She gets an exceptional visit from her boss who has come to make her head of an interdisciplinary investigation into a couple of seemingly suicides. Beatrice meets her team of specialists...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Annemarie Neary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Marsh introduces an intriguing new detective in the person of Beatrice Stubbs, but the whole package here is terrific - snappy yet believable dialogue, fat cats murdered in a series of precise, cinematic episodes, and well-deployed research. Most of all, I loved her deft, economical descriptions of places and people. Here is the man from Interpol 'His mud-brown hair was slicked back with gel, so that each individual tooth of the comb had left its mark. Something about him rubbed her up the wrong...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Jo at Jaffareadstoo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes a book takes you by surprise and Behind Closed Doors certainly surprised me. I don’t normally read books set in Europe but to have a crime book with such a sophisticated plot and with intelligent and witty dialogue was just a delight. I just couldn't stop turning the pages and read the book quickly over the space of a couple of afternoons.
At first detective Beatrice Stubbs is an unlikely protagonist, she deeply flawed from a problem only hinted at, and we are led to believe that her se...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Liza Perrat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A brilliantly-crafted crime story in which, via the expert hand of JJ Marsh, we move through one high-profile murder after another. The plot is intricate, inspired and the conclusion daunting. I identified and sympathised with the detective, Beatrice Stubbs who, with her flaws, strengths and determination to track down this elusive killer, is a refreshing change from the usual tired-out, detective hack of so many crime novels. If you enjoy high-quality crime novels, you will be as gripped as I w...more

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May 05, 2012 Liza Perrat rated it 5 of 5 stars

A brilliantly-crafted crime story in which, via the expert hand of JJ Marsh, we move through one high-profile murder after another. The plot is intricate, inspired and the conclusion daunting. I identified and sympathised with the detective, Beatrice Stubbs who, with her flaws, strengths and determination to track down this elusive killer, is a refreshing change from the usual tired detective hack of so many crime novels. If you enjoy high-quality crime novels, you will be as gripped as I was, a...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

J Marsh kept me guessing until the nerve shredding climax of Behind Closed Doors. However it's not the very topical puzzle of who is disposing of a succession of fat cats or even the fascinating Zurich setting that make the book special, but the superb characterisation. Beatrice Stubbs and her mismatched team of Interpol investigators leap off the page as fully formed and utterly believable individuals. Their developing relationships prove as fascinating and unpredictable as the central mystery...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Frances Plino rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Behind Closed Doors introduces us to a new detective – one that I hope is going to feature again and again in future books. Beatrice Stubbs came to life for me in a way few fictional characters do. She irritated me at times, but not because she wasn’t well written, quite the opposite in fact. She annoyed me in exactly the same way a close friend would. I wanted to yell at her when she did something I considered dumb, hug her when she felt down and cheer her on when she got things right. In other...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Jo Furniss rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beatrice Stubbs is the refreshing matriarch of the story, a seasoned detective flown from London to Zurich to solve a serious of 'suicides'. The Swiss backdrop is nicely observed and the thriller aspect is engrossing - I'll look out for the second in the series, for sure...

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Feb 16, 2013 Lee Holz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Behind Closed Doors is a complex international police procedural and exciting thriller rolled into one highly entertaining book. Main characters are well developed and the writing is seamless and engaging.

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Apr 23, 2013 Valentina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interesting reading. A police investigation started about some dubious suicides, not many elements available as the deaths happened several years before the team started working on it. Interesting investigation plot which a nice twist at the end.
It started a bit slow but gained up speed quite fast. I would definetely read another book from this writer.

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Feb 14, 2013 Elita rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Definitely one of the best mystery books I've read! I totally loved this read. It was very easy to follow and captured my interest from the first chapter. I loved all the characters, especially Beatrice and Chris. The only downside is I just didn't want the book to end!!

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About J.J. Marsh

As a child, Jill read so obsessively she got kicked out of the school library. But her passion for words continued. She graduated in English Literature and Theatre Studies from the University of Wales and set up a theatre company. Since then, as an actor, director, teacher, writer and journalist, she’s worked in fifteen countries. She learnt something from each one.
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