Best Seller
To Keep a Thief
By Maia Baker
By Maia Baker
Paperback
$21.00
Available on Jul 20, 2027 | 368 Pages
A thief poses as a housekeeper to swindle the rich, only to find herself falling in love with the lord of the manor, in this sexy historical romance debut from Maia Baker.
Quick Bramling is a hardened criminal. Or at least, that’s what she tells herself. Brokenhearted and penniless after both a theft and love affair gone wrong, Quick is desperate for a future that doesn’t involve doing the aristocracy’s dirty work. Naturally, she determines her best course of action is to commit to a life of crime. Her plan? Pose as a respectable housekeeper at country estate Halfwell House, steal a fortune right out from under everyone’s noses, and escape like a thief in the night. Because she is one. Right?
Guy Byrne throws a wrench in Quick’s scheme. His prickly upper-class exterior conceals a history not so different from Quick’s own. Equally unexpected: Quick’s growing affection for Guy, the house she means to burgle, and the people she works alongside. All it takes is some possible arson, a suspected ghost, and a wet-shirt incident for Quick’s carefully constructed defenses to begin to topple.
As the summer heats up, so does suspicion that something is amiss at Halfwell House. Quick must choose between her head—which tells her to stick to the plan and run away—and her bruised heart, which might be patched up by Guy, a welcoming home, and a newfound queer community of misfits like herself.
Quick Bramling is a hardened criminal. Or at least, that’s what she tells herself. Brokenhearted and penniless after both a theft and love affair gone wrong, Quick is desperate for a future that doesn’t involve doing the aristocracy’s dirty work. Naturally, she determines her best course of action is to commit to a life of crime. Her plan? Pose as a respectable housekeeper at country estate Halfwell House, steal a fortune right out from under everyone’s noses, and escape like a thief in the night. Because she is one. Right?
Guy Byrne throws a wrench in Quick’s scheme. His prickly upper-class exterior conceals a history not so different from Quick’s own. Equally unexpected: Quick’s growing affection for Guy, the house she means to burgle, and the people she works alongside. All it takes is some possible arson, a suspected ghost, and a wet-shirt incident for Quick’s carefully constructed defenses to begin to topple.
As the summer heats up, so does suspicion that something is amiss at Halfwell House. Quick must choose between her head—which tells her to stick to the plan and run away—and her bruised heart, which might be patched up by Guy, a welcoming home, and a newfound queer community of misfits like herself.
Author
Maia Baker
Maia Baker works on campaigns to tax the rich, including Massachusetts’s history-making Fair Share Amendment. The rest of the time, she writes love stories for queer people in every era. Originally from Pennsylvania, she lives in Boston with her partner and their cat in an apartment slowly being taken over by bookshelves. To Keep a Thief is her first novel.
Learn More about Maia Baker
