Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books: India Black by Carol Carr

India Black by Carol Carr

Monday, January 17, 2011

“My name is India Black. I’m a whore.”

So begins Carol Carr’s debut novel about a London Madame who finds herself in the middle of a compromising situation and coerced into helping the government retrieve some damaging documents. Set in 1876, it combines a little bit of history and a little bit of romance with spy-type action and intrigue. But the story really belongs to India herself who steals the show.

India’s life of running Lotus House and looking after her “tarts” is disrupted when a high ranking government official dies in her establishment. Afraid that the death will be bad for business, she decides the best thing to do is to dispose of the body (but in a place where it can be easily found out of consideration for his family; she’s not heartless after all…) and enlists the aid of a local street urchin named Vincent to help her (it won’t be the last time Vincent’s street smarts will come in handy). But someone has been watching Lotus House and India and Vincent are caught in the act. That someone is an English spy named French.

It seems the deceased was carrying around some important government documents that could damage their efforts to control a power struggle in Europe involving the Russians and the Turks. I didn’t totally understand all of the politics involved but the details aren’t really that important to the story. Suffice it to say that the government decides that India has certain talents that might be useful in getting the documents back from the Russian agent who they believe currently has them in his possession.

When India’s “talents” prove less than successful she goes off with French on a wild chase across the countryside in the middle of winter to catch the Russians before they can leave the country. Through a series of near misses and close escapes the pair manage to thwart the enemy and all ends well with India indicating this is not the last time the government will seek her assistance.

Although the plot is a little thin and predictable at times, I found India so likeable that it didn’t really matter. She is smart, witty and resourceful and her bold, blunt honesty has its own charm. She’s definitely got a mouth on her and she calls them like she sees them. French remains somewhat of an enigma and I’m hoping that as the series progresses we will learn more about him and his past. The same could be said for India as well as Carr focuses on the “here and now” and neither French nor India is given much of a background.

Carr never allows India to take herself (or her situation) too seriously and India’s first person narration works well here. I thought India Black was a lot of fun (I found myself laughing out loud several times) and am looking forward to her future adventures.

In case the FTC asks: I received an ARC from the author.

Posted by Daphne at 1:17 PM

4 comments:

Silver Thistle said...
I'm working my way through this one and really enjoying it. It's an easy, fun read so far. The cover is nicely done too :)

January 17, 2011 1:43 PM
Joanne @ Slice of Life said...
Well, shucks, I just came back from the bookstore and I actually had this one in my pile and decided to put it back. Maybe I'll pick it up on the next trip. :)
(I did buy three Susan Higgenbotham books, so I'd say I still made a good haul.)

January 17, 2011 1:53 PM
Aarti said...
This sounds like a fun book. Kind of like the Gail Carriger books- set in Victorian London but with a few liberties taken in terms of accuracy?

January 17, 2011 3:33 PM
Daphne said...
Silver Thistle - glad you are enjoying it!

Joanne - if your in the mood for something fun and a little different, give it a try!

Aarti - I'm not familiar with those books or really with Victorian London so can't really say if they are similar or about accuracy. The history is not the main point of the story though.

January 17, 2011 5:43 PM