Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

I’m from Missouri originally, but have lived large chunks of my life in Washington, D.C., Texas and California.  I practiced law for a number of years, then spent a decade at a Fortune 500 company, working in the legal department and as head of the Human Resources Department. 

I’ve settled back in the Ozarks now, with my husband and our two German Shepherds.

Can you tell us about India Black?  

India is the young and beautiful madam of a brothel in Victorian London.  When a government minister dies in her establishment and the portfolio of War Office documents he was carrying goes missing, India finds herself blackmailed into helping the British government recover the case from the Russian agents who have stolen it.  She is joined in the pursuit by a handsome British agent named French, and an odiferous street urchin called Vincent.  The chase leads from the Russian embassy to one of London’s grand hotels, and finally across the English Channel to France.

I wanted someone lively and forceful enough to carry the story.  India is tough, wary and confident. She’s survived a rough life and owns her own business.  She’s not intimidated by anyone, not the police, politicians or the swells who frequent her business.  We share some similar views (you can guess which), and her voice comes very naturally to me.

It has elements of all those genres.  I think of it as an old-fashioned adventure store, with some comic interludes and episodes of derring-do, with a few interesting historical facts tossed in for good measure.

The Victorian era fascinates me because certain aspects of it mirror (at least superficially) our own era.  Both societies contain a strong religious element, and a great divide between the rich and poor.  The British had the most powerful military in the world, as the U.S. does today.  And important and influential members of both societies believed in the superiority of their political, legal, religious and economic systems, and felt an almost messianic urge to use them for the improvement of other nations, which did (and does) not always work out so well.  Plus, some of those Victorians are enthrallingly eccentric.  Our public figures are dreadfully dull compared to the likes of William Gladstone, Bram Stoker, Sir Richard Burton, and Algernon Charles Swinburne.  Why make up characters when Benjamin Disraeli is readily available?

India Black is the first of a series.  What's next for India? 

I signed a two-book contract with Berkley, and I’ve delivered the second in the series to my editor.  I don’t have a fixed date for publication yet, but I’d anticipate that it will be sometime in 2012.  On her next outing, India must protect the life of a Very Important Person at the castle at Balmoral (subtle hint as to the identity of said VIP), with assistance from Vincent and French.

Have you read any good books lately?          

I just finished The Bishop’s Crime, published in 1940 by H.C. Bailey.  I love vintage mysteries, and this one was superb.  I’m trying to read more Victorian novelists, and recently read Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

My thanks to Carol for taking the time to answer a few questions.  For more information about Carol and India, please visit her website at http://www.carolkcarr.com/.