Q&A with Beezy Marsh

 

 

 

Beezy Marsh is the author of the new novel Queen of Diamonds, the third in her Queen of Thieves series. Also a journalist, she lives in Oxfordshire, UK.

 

Q: Queen of Diamonds is the third and final novel in your Queen of Thieves series--how do you see this installment fitting with the previous two?

 

A: Queen of Diamonds is a prequel to Thieves and Clubs, and while it can be read as a standalone, it also shows the reader how Alice Diamond set up her gang, The Forty Thieves, in the roaring 1920s and also introduces the feisty first “Queen” of the gang from Victorian England in 1890, a slum girl called Mary Carr.

 

Q: What inspired the plot of Queen of Diamonds?

 

A: My imagination mixed with some deep-dive historical research I did into Mary Carr, which convinced me that the whole story of The Forty Thieves really began in Victorian times and her story needed to be told.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: The research for this book is part of the historical and archival research I’ve been doing for over six years now into the whole gang, including meeting the descendants of some of the original thieves in London. So, it’s been a long-term project and a labour of love.

 

I feel I know these girls because the attitude of some of their relatives towards stealing was exactly the same, decades later. That came as a shock but hopefully it makes the way my characters speak and think about theft more convincing.

 

I’ve used court records and newspaper archives for background information on the crimes of Mary Carr and Alice Diamond, which has been fascinating.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: I want them to see the strength of these poor young women who lived outside the law and tried to carve their own path.

 

However, I feel that both Alice and Mary lose a lot and suffer in their quest for wealth and power, and they have to be tough to survive and sparkle like the diamonds they love.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m just completing another historical fiction novel. It’s a bit more mysterious than the Queen series but still set in London.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I love getting feedback from my readers. Writing can feel a bit lonely at times, as you are spending hours inside your own world, creating these characters and plots. So please do get in touch on Facebook or Instagram if you have any questions or comments about my work. I always tried to respond personally.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Beezy Marsh.