Diamond

*** THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER ***

'A brilliant historical crime read' Bella
'This thrilling and twisty crime novel is perfect for fans of Martina Cole' My Weekly
'A rollercoaster of crime, revenge and murder' The Sun

BEHIND EVERY STRONG WOMAN IS AN EPIC STORY...

In the early years of the last century, a desperate young girl changes her name and flees the confines of her brutal, dominating gangland family in London. Now calling herself 'Diamond Dupree', she goes to Paris to become an artist's model but the world there is different to what she had supposed it would be and she soon falls on hard times. When she manages to escape at the end of the First World War, she leaves behind her a mystery - and a dead man.

Back home in London, she reluctantly re-joins the Soho family 'firm' she'd once been glad to leave behind. Having grown tougher during her time in Paris, she soon becomes a force to be reckoned with, a feared and respected gangland queen. But then she meets Richard Beaumont, the youngest son of a wealthy aristocratic family, and sparks fly. But can she escape the long arm of the law and the hangman's noose, when the crimes of her past finally catch up with her?

For fans of Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers, as well as viewers of Peaky Blinders, this is historical crime fiction at its most compelling.

'No one delves into the underworld like Keane!' Woman's Weekly

'A gritty and enlightening read'Yours

'Authentically gritty' Crime Monthly

Dubbed 'Queen of the Underworld', Jessie Keane is of Romany gypsy stock. She was born rich, in the back of her gran's barrel top wagon, and her family thrived until their firm crashed into bankruptcy and became poor. Her father died when she was a teenager and she fled to London to escape grim reality, finding there a lifelong fascination with the criminal underworld and the teeming life of the city.

Twice divorced and living in a freezing council flat, she decided to pursue her childhood aim to become a writer. She sold her wedding dress to buy a typewriter and penned her first Annie Carter book, Dirty Game.

This was followed by five more Annie Carter books, all Sunday Times bestsellers, then Ruby Darke arrived in Nameless, Lawless and The Edge. Jessie's stand-alone novels include Jail Bird, The Make, Dangerous, Fearless, The Knock and The Manor.