Tread Softly (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 3)

British crime fiction where characters become people and place is part of the story.

“You don’t attract trouble. You go looking for it.”

On a sabbatical from the Metropolitan Police, Beatrice Stubbs is considering her future while touring Northern Spain.

In the Basque County, she encounters a distant acquaintance. Beautiful, bloody-minded journalist Ana Herrero is onto a story.

Beatrice, scenting adventure, offers her expertise. The two women are sucked into a mystery of missing persons, violent threats, mutilated bodies and industrial-scale fraud. They are out of their depth. With no official authority and unsure who to trust, they find themselves up to their necks in corruption, blackmail and Rioja.

Beatrice calls for the cavalry. The boys are back, and this time, it’s a matter of taste. But when her instincts prove fallible, Beatrice discovers that justice is a matter of interpretation.

Beatrice Stubbs murder mysteries are contemporary crime novels with a timeless feel. The focus is on human interest and strong personalities.

Each book works as a stand-alone novel.

If you enjoy Martin Walker, DL Sayers and Louise Penny, you'll love Tread Softly.



“The novel oozes atmosphere and JJ Marsh captures the sights, sounds and richness of Spain in all its glory. I literally salivated as I read the descriptions of food and wine. JJ Marsh is an extremely talented author and this is a wonderful novel.” – Sheila Bugler, author of Hunting Shadows

“There are moments of farce and irony, there are scenes of friendship, tenderness and total exasperation - and underlying it all a story of corruption, brutality, manipulation and oppression with all the elements you'd expect to find in a good thriller, including a truly chilling villain.” – Lorna Fergusson, FictionFire

“Reminds me of Nicci French's new series featuring Dr Frieda Klein.” Book’d Out

“I was hooked from start to finish by the plot, the rising tension and looming menace, and the many-faceted personalities—even minor characters leap off the page.” Goodreads

“Read this, and you'll be desperate for a seat on a Vitoria balcony with a glass of white Rioja, a plate of pintxos and the next Beatrice Stubbs to accompany them.” Annemarie Neary, author of A Parachute in the Lime Tree

• Raw Material: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 2)
• Human Rites: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 5)
• Bad Apples: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 6)
• Cold Pressed: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 4)
• Snow Angel: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 7)
• Behind Closed Doors: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 1)
• Honey Trap: An eye-opening mystery in a sensational place (The Beatrice Stubbs Series Book 8)
• The Beatrice Stubbs Series Boxset Two: Eye-opening mysteries in sensational places
• An Empty Vessel: The post-war British classic by Vaughan Mason
• THE VICARAGE MURDER an addictive crime mystery full of twists (Monica Noble Detective Book 1)