Orion Dash to publish Marsh's first fiction series

Orion Dash has acquired three novels from Beezy Marsh in a new gangland crime saga series, the author's first fiction titles. 

Editorial director Rhea Kurien bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Giles Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. The first title, Queen of Thieves, will be published in e-book and audio on 22nd August 2021. North American rights have been bought by Rachel Kahan at William Morrow/HarperCollins, with plans to publish in autumn 2023. 

Based on true events and people, Queen of Thieves will be set in post-war London, featuring an all-female gang of shoplifters, or "hoisters", called the Forty Thieves.

Kurien said: "I knew from the first chapter of Queen of Thieves that I was in the hands of a master storyteller and meticulous researcher. Beezy immediately swept me to 1940s post-war London with larger-than-life characters whose voices leap off the page. I loved that this series covers a part of history and an iconic group of women so little explored in fiction, and Beezy does it with such panache."

Marsh said: "I am thrilled to be published by Orion Dash and to be working with the dynamic editor Rhea Kurien on this exciting trilogy. The Forty Thieves fired my imagination from the moment I met some of the daughters and granddaughters of the original gang and I was delighted to find Giles Milburn of Madeleine Milburn Agency shared that vision too."

Marsh is the author of non-fiction titles including All My Mother's Secrets (2018), Her Father's Daughter (2019) and Keeping My Sisters' Secrets (2017), all published with Pan.