Durham College student novels are putting Northern Ontario settings and concerns into the mystery-fiction spotlight, as mechanical engineering student Joshua Marshall balances his studies in Oshawa with a growing body of published work.
Marshall, who writes under the name J.R. Marshall, has published two novels in The Spanish River Chronicles. His newest book, Spanish River: The Mysterious Franklin Street Harvest, was released in April, while the first entry in the series briefly reached Amazon’s Canadian detective-fiction top 10 this fall.
The Durham College Chronicle profiled Marshall on October 8, reporting that he is enrolled in the college’s Mechanical Engineering Technician program. The account provides a direct Durham connection to a series rooted in Marshall’s hometown of Elliot Lake, about five hours northwest of Oshawa.
Mystery series draws on Northern Ontario
The Mysterious Franklin Street Harvest follows four characters—Edward, Elizabeth, Sara and Brian—as they investigate a young woman’s disappearance from Elliot Lake. Marshall told the Chronicle that the series gives him a way to draw attention to Northern Ontario and to the feeling among some northern residents that their communities are overlooked by southern Ontario.
He also said his books explore differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures and some of the challenges Indigenous communities face. The second novel addresses the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, according to the campus newspaper’s interview.
Marshall’s first book in the series, Spanish River: The River of Dark Secrets, similarly uses northern settings and relationships. He described a “northerners versus southerners” dynamic that shapes part of the story, including the experience of a police officer arriving to investigate events in the community.
Student author began writing while in the navy
Marshall said homesickness helped inspire his writing. He began his first book, a science-fiction novel titled Swung with the Wind, while sailing with the navy in 2018.
He later turned to the Spanish River mystery series as another way to write about home. The Chronicle reported that readers in the area responded positively to seeing a familiar region represented in fiction.
The student author plans to return to science fiction after completing The Spanish River Chronicles. His current books are available through major booksellers, according to the Chronicle.
For the Durham College community, Marshall’s work is also a student-achievement story: he has continued developing and publishing fiction while completing a technical program. His books connect a current Oshawa student with stories and social questions centred hundreds of kilometres to the north.
Source
Biographical details, publication information and comments attributed to Marshall are from the Durham College Chronicle’s October 8 profile. No independent interview with Marshall was available for this report.
