1--What is the title of your latest release?
QUEEN OF DIAMONDS
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Peaky Blinders but with women thieves, who discover a life of crime in 1920s London is about love, loss and loyalty to the gang.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Alice Diamond and The Forty Thieves belong in London so that was easy! The timeline of the 1920s is to reveal how she put her gang together - plus, the Roaring Twenties in London has such a great juxtaposition of poverty and glamour, it’s just irresistible.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes, and it would be a wild ride. Although, I’d draw the line at stealing, so I probably wouldn’t last long in Alice Diamond’s criminal gang.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Dangerous, determined, diva
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
The secrets of the gang’s true criminal history in Victorian London and in the 1920s. These women were notorious!
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I tend to edit as I go along, writing chronologically, combing back over chapters to tweak things.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Sushi
9--Describe your writing space/office!
A creative mess. You may see a pile of papers on my desktop. I see creativity in action.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Daphne Du Maurier
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Powerful female narrative and a beautiful sense of place. The book is just stunning.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I think I was unloading the dishwasher when I found out that William Morrow had bought Queen of Diamonds and the second book in the trilogy, Queen of Clubs. I did a little victory dance around the kitchen.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical fiction.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
It’s a Wonderful Life. Never fails to make me cry.
15--What is your favorite season?
Tricky one. I love early summer in England, when the blossom’s on the trees and the birds are twittering in the hedgerows. I live in the countryside, so I love to watch the seasons changing.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With family and friends.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m guilty of bingeing shows on Netflix and streaming services when they captivate me. Lately I’m seduced by The Agency about the CIA in London, with Michael Fassbender.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Hearty British stews cooked in the Aga.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I ride horses or go for a swim.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m just finishing the first draft of my next book. It’s historical, set in London, but with a mysterious theme and a strong female protagonist.
Queen of Thieves #3
A Gritty Historical Crime Novel Set in the Roaring Twenties, Perfect for Winter 2025, Uncover Alice's Rise to the Top and the Sacrifices ... to Get There!
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!
Women's Fiction Historical | Coming of Age | Thriller Crime [William Morrow Paperbacks, On Sale: January 14, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780063342750 / eISBN: 9780063342811]
Beezy Marsh is an international #1 and Sunday Times top-ten best-selling author who puts family and relationships at the heart of her writing. She believes that ordinary lives are extraordinary. She is also an award-winning journalist, who has spent more than 20 years making the headlines in newspapers including The Daily Mail and The Sunday Times. She began her career as a writer after graduating from Leeds University with a Joint Honours degree in English Literature and French. She was Women’s Editor on The Northern Echo in the North East, where she grew up, winning awards for her reporting before moving to the Daily Mail, where as Health Correspondent she was nominated for a National Press Award for her investigations. Her historical novels featuring the gritty lives of working class women in the first half of the twentieth century have spent six weeks in the Sunday Times best top ten bestseller list in the U.K. and nine weeks at the coveted #1 slot in Canada. She is married, with two sons, and lives in Oxfordshire with a never-ending pile of laundry.
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