Queen of Thieves

An electrifying historical adventure about a ring of bold and resourceful women thieves in post-World War II London. Gangland was a man's world. Or so they thought. The women knew different. London, 1946. The city struggles to rebuild itself after the devastation of the Blitz. Food is rationed, good jobs are scarce, and even the most honest families are forced to take a bit of "crooked" just to survive. Alice Diamond, the Queen of Thieves, rules over her all-female gang with a bejeweled fist. Her "hoisters" are expert shoplifters, the scourge of London's upscale boutiques and departments stores. Their lucrative business stealing and fencing luxury goods always carries the threat of violence; Alice packs a razor and has been known to use her heavy rows of diamond rings like brass knuckles. Young Nell is a teenager from the slums, hiding a secret pregnancy and facing a desperately uncertain future when Alice takes her under her wing. Before long, Nell is experiencing all the dangers, and glamourous trappings, that comes with this underworld existence. Alice wants Nell to be a useful weapon in her ongoing war against crime boss Billy Sullivan's gang of rival thieves. But Nell has a hidden agenda of her own and is not to be underestimated. The more she is manipulated by both Alice and Billy, the more her hunger for revenge grows. As Nell embraces the rich spoils of crime and the seedy underbelly of London, will she manage to carve out her own path to power and riches? Might she even crown herself the Queen of Thieves?

“The Queen of Thieves” is back! “Queen of Clubs” is the second in Beezy Marsh's thrilling UK historical series about a ring of all-female gangsters in 1950s London. London, 1957: After rising up against gangland's queen, Alice Diamond, formerly downtrodden Nell is living the perfect life of crime. Far from the East End slums where she was raised, she's now an accomplished professional thief by day-lifting luxury goods from high-end department stores-and a glamorous nightclub owner after dark. Dressed in stolen silks and furs, Nell cuts a dazzling figure in the dimly lit clubs where she calls the shots. But a betrayal and botched robbery suddenly reverse Nell's fortunes...and her old rival Alice is hell-bent on taking her down. Nightclub dancer Zoe is finally earning a living after escaping a poverty-stricken childhood. She'd rather work for Nell than set scores for Alice. But the life of luxury Zoe craves comes at a terrible price. When a vicious gang tightens its grip on Soho, all three women realize it pays to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

“Peaky Blinders”, but with women! In the thrilling final installment of Beezy Marsh's riveting crime trilogy about a real-life London gang that began with “Queen of Thieves”, we go back to crime queen Alice Diamond's bold beginnings in 1920s Soho. London, 1922. Orphan girl Alice dreams of more than toiling long hours in Pink's jam factory. Inspired by stories about the legendary Queen of Thieves, Mary Carr, who terrorized the streets of Victorian London, Alice decides to set up her own gang: the Forty Thieves. She has an accomplice too: sly seamstress Kate Felix from Whitechapel persuades Alice they'd make the perfect team. Before long, the pair are making headlines in the glitzy world of 1920s Soho, known for their daring heists and for the row of heavy diamond rings that Alice uses like brass knuckles in her frequent brawls. What Alice soon discovers is that a life of crime makes her powerful enemies, including some who are closer to home than they'd like. Alice must sacrifice more than she ever imagined, but the toughest and most beautiful diamonds are formed under pressure. From squalid slums and the grim confines of Holloway Prison to the glittering nightclubs of London in the roaring twenties, “Queen of Diamonds” is a fast-paced, gritty story of love, loss, and loyalty to the gang. Women's fiction with brass knuckles on!