Bay of Thieves
Megan Davis
PUBLICATION DATE: 4 JULY 2024 | ZAFFRE | HARDBACK | £16.99
Vanessa lives a glamorous life in the South of France helping the rich get richer by hiding their money. She knows it’s wrong, but she’s a professional, and on the salary she’s paid, it’s easy to ignore the corruption she’s helping to conceal. When Kate joins the firm, it’s not long before she too is swept up in the illegal activities – and the rewards.
But when Rob, their boss in London, takes things a step too far with a lucrative but highly risky and immoral scheme, the chic veneer of their lives falls away, along with their excuses. Both women find themselves exposed – to greed, to the law, and to their increasingly dangerous clients, who would think nothing of having them removed.
Vanessa and Kate become desperate for an escape route, a way to beat the system without destroying themselves, but the only ones available make them worse than those they are seeking to evade. While one woman pulls away from corruption, the other is drawn in. But just how far will each of them go for money - their clients’ and their own - before someone is killed?
Set amidst the opulence of the Côte d’Azur, Bay of Thieves is a gripping and thoughtful exploration of the distorting power of wealth, its influence over morals and laws alike, and its ability to destroy beliefs held over a lifetime.
Megan Davis was born in Australia and grew up in mining towns across the world. She has worked in the film industry and her credits include Atonement, In Bruges, Pride and Prejudice and the Bourne films. Megan is also a lawyer and worked for many years at the world’s largest law firm. She was a whistleblower in London’s financial sector and is now an Associate at Spotlight on Corruption, an anti-corruption and transparency NGO that monitors corruption in the UK and elsewhere. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel, The Messenger, won the Bridport Prize for a First Novel, judged by Kamila Shamsie, as well as the Lucy Cavendish Prize, judged by Sophie Hannah. It has also been shortlisted for the CrimeFest Debut Novel of the Year. She lived in France for a number of years, but now lives in London. Bay of Thieves is her second novel.