The Queen of Fives

Quinn le Blanc is the "Queen," a title reserved for the most talented con woman in London. The position of queen is typically supported by an entire household of fellow con artists, but times have been tough lately, and the once-thriving crew is down to Quinn and one final servant faithful to the house itself. Deep in debt and running out of time, Quinn needs a score - a BIG one - to fix everything. She sets her sights on the Kendals, the richest family in town, with a very eligible bachelor who is finally on the market. But the spate of bad luck that's plagued her might not be more intentional than she thinks.

And this is where things get rough for me. First off, I actually really love this wrinkle. A third party lurking in the shadows to add extra complications for an unwitting MC is a great addition to the expected con/heist plot, and I found said third party to be the most interesting part of the whole story. And that's my frustration. I wanted to care about Quinn more, but I just couldn't. Her history and motivations don't get much attention, leaving us to simply accept that she's here because the story demands it. I would have liked to see her wrapping up a con at the start just to prove her skills so we can see the chasm between her normal con and how badly this one goes. It would make the twists hit harder when things start falling apart. More flashbacks about her own training as she ascended to Queen would have also been really great for fleshing out who she is. As it is, Quinn is the character with the least development. She's so good at hiding her feelings from the other characters, but it's sad that she also manages to keep them from the reader. The author's notes suggest there might be a spinoff of this book based on the con woman training school that Quinn attended, but it kind of felt like this was the spinoff book about the school's most famous graduate, and the school would be the setting of a full series. And to be honest, I would absolutely read that series. There's a lot of world building here to mine, and the snippets we got about training up the next generation of con artists were very fun.

The rest of the cast come in much stronger. The Kendals are a proper messy rich family full of issues, and the other players all have their own complicated motivations. The plot moves quickly, with multiple POVs If you like your cons with a side of soapy drama, this will definitely land for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Graydon House for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.