Queen of Thieves by Beezy Marsh (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks for the review copy of Queen of Thieves by Breezy Marsh.

Do you have a favorite piece of jewelry?  I love my pearls that my husband got me for a gift as well as my wedding ring.  I also have a favorite costume gold necklace that was my Great Grandma Kile’s that I love to wear.

Queen of Thieves is a thrilling new historical suspense novel that exposes the underbelly of London in the 1940s.  Nell lives in the slums of London and works a thankless job at a fur factory.  Her boyfriend Jimmy has disappeared after she told him she was expecting.  She joins up with the infamous Alice Diamond and her gang of Forty Thieves.  Alice runs her gang with rules and methods that have been being used since Queen Victoria’s time.  The hoisters steal from fancy shops with the thought that everyone deserves a bit of luxury, not just the rich.  When Alice Diamond realizes that there is a mole reporting on her gang’s happenings, she uses Nell as a spy to report on the rival Billy Sullivan’s gang.  Will Nell be able to navigate between the two gangs?  Has she been underestimated by both sides?

I thought Queen of Thieves was a riveting new novel and I read through it quickly.  I love historical fiction and I really liked this different setting and topic.  I didn’t know anything about these gangs of thieves in London.  In the PS section at the end of the book, author Beezy Marsh has a great discussion on the background of the Forty Thieves gang as well as her interviews with former gang members and their descendants.  I thought it was fascinating. 

I loved Nell’s character and her growth through the novel to become a stronger person that can take care of herself.  I liked the duel narrative between Nell and Alice to learn the background of both characters and how they got to their places in the world.  I enjoyed the thrilling ending and how it was set up with a hint that there could be a second novel.  I hope that we do get a second novel and more adventures of Nell and Alice.

I didn’t agree with the thieves though that theft is a victimless crime and that it’s just part of the standard losses of the stores.  While it was thrilling to read about the theft, I was annoyed as I know that the thefts drive up the prices for regular consumers.

I liked the post WWII setting and it’s look into continued rationing and hardship for the people of London.  It’s easy to think the war ended and everything went back to normal, but it wasn’t so quick.

Review Copy from William Morrow Books.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of the Bibliolifestyle Book Tour. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.