Title: Behind Closed Doors
Author: J.J. Marsh
Published: Prewett Publishing April 2012
Synopsis: 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 ‘the incident’, arrives in Switzerland to lead the investigation. But there’s more to Zurich than chocolate and charm. Potential suspects are everywhere, her Swiss counterpart is hostile and the secretive world of international finance seems beyond the law. Battling impossible odds by day and her own demons at night, Beatrice has never felt so alone. She isn’t. Someone’s watching. Someone else who believes in justice. The poetic kind. Read an excerpt
Status: Read from August 19 to 20, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy the author}
My Thoughts:
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.
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About the Author
Jill grew up in Wales, Africa and the Middle East, where her curiosity for culture took root and triggered an urge to write. After graduating in English Literature and Theatre Studies, she worked as an actor, teacher, writer, director, editor, journalist and cultural consultant all over Europe. Now based in Switzerland, Jill works as a language trainer, forms part of the Nuance Words project and is a regular columnist for Words with JAM magazine. She lives with her husband and three dogs, and in an attic overlooking a cemetery, she writes.
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