{"id":547,"date":"2011-10-20T09:47:08","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T16:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=547"},"modified":"2011-10-20T09:47:08","modified_gmt":"2011-10-20T16:47:08","slug":"madam-india-black-at-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=547","title":{"rendered":"Madam India Black, at it again"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you enjoy reading fiction set in Victorian England, then give this India Black series a try. Dickens, of course, showed the chasm between rich and poor, and focused his literary light on the dark side of London inhabited by thieves and worse. Today, Anne Perry, in her two mystery series, does an eye-opening job of making us aware of the crime, squalor and poverty that existed side by side with royalty, fine drawing rooms and banquet halls.<\/p>\n

In her India Black novels, Carol K. Carr goes a step further, giving us a madam of an upscale London brothel as our heroine. If the idea of reading about the degradation of women and seamy sex puts you off, don\u2019t worry. Carr admirably pulls off the difficult feat of making India\u2019s stories suspenseful, even humorous, without glorifying or wallowing in prostitution. India is a tough young woman on her own, making her living in one of the few ways available to her. She\u2019s matter of fact about what she does, and she takes pride in running a clean, safe establishment. That she\u2019s a madam is a fact of her life. Her adventures have to do with espionage and mystery away from the brothel, and her life experience makes her a clear-eyed observer of human nature with all its weaknesses.<\/p>\n

By Linda Brinson<\/p>\n

INDIA BLACK AND THE WIDOW OF WINDSOR. By Carol K. Carr. Berkley Prime Crime. 309 pages. $14, paperback.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>India Black is back in a spirited romp through wintry Scotland that\u2019s even more entertaining than her outing as a spy.<\/p>\n

As those who read the series debut novel know, when a prominent member of the British government inconsiderately dropped dead in her brothel, losing some important papers in the process, India Black acquitted herself admirably in the damage-control effort. In India Black<\/em>, she was pressed into service helping French, a handsome British spy, recover the memo before it gave strategic information to the Russians. Her capabilities caught the eye of Disraeli, the prime minister, familiarly known as Dizzy.<\/p>\n

So When Dizzy runs into another delicate and potentially serious situation, he turns to India as well as French. A s\u00e9ance has made Queen Victoria (aka Vicky) believe that her dear departed Prince Albert wants her to spend Christmas at their home in Balmoral, Scotland. Aside from the fact that he hates the cold, drafty house, Dizzy is afraid that Scottish nationalists have manipulated the queen as part of a plot to assassinate her.<\/p>\n

French does his spying at Balmoral as the British gentleman he is, but India must play the role of lady\u2019s maid to infiltrate what\u2019s going on in the world of the servants. Vincent, the wily street urchin who\u2019s devoted to India, decides to tag along, of course.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s assignment is to be the personal assistant \u2013 which can include anything, any time of day or night \u2013 to an aged marchioness who is some sort of cousin to the queen. The old lady is addicted to snuff, and one of India\u2019s greatest challenges is to keep her from sniffing anything handy \u2013 sugar, pepper, you name it \u2013 up her nose, often with messily disastrous results. The old lady is completely dotty \u2013 or is she? As events transpire, India finds herself wondering more and more what\u2019s really going on.<\/p>\n

There\u2019re intrigue and danger aplenty as India, French and Vincent conspire to try to save the queen from imminent danger, without noticeably disrupting the festivities. Carol Carr paints an amusing picture of Queen Victoria\u2019s family and retinue. The marchioness is hilarious in herself, as are India\u2019s attempts to play her unaccustomed servant\u2019s role convincingly.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll enjoy this fast-paced, irreverent novel a lot more than the queen\u2019s guests enjoyed Christmas at Balmoral. The possibility of romance in the air, plus a hint of revelations to come about India\u2019s past, make the reader impatient for the next book in this highly original series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you enjoy reading fiction set in Victorian England, then give this India Black series a try. Dickens, of course, showed the chasm between rich and poor, and focused his literary light on the dark side of London inhabited by thieves and worse. Today, Anne Perry, in her two mystery series, does an eye-opening job […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[160,38,36,75],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical-fiction","category-mysteries","tag-carol-k-carr","tag-fiction","tag-india-black","tag-victorian-england"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":550,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions\/550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}