Carol K. Carr Guest Post plus Giveaway

Last month I had the opportunity to read Carol K. Carr's wonderful book, India Black.  Today I am thrilled to have her here with us.  She is an author we truly need to watch and I am so happy to get to know more about her as I know she is destined to bring us many more stories we can "escape" into and love.  
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Thank you, Lori, for inviting me to guest blog about my first novel, India Black. (And thank you for your very kind review in December – it made my day when I read it.)

 I waited until well into middle age to publish my first book. Well, not really. Who lives to be 104? Anyway, I’m a little older, I suppose, than the average first-time author, but I look at all those years spent working as a lawyer as a very valuable education in human nature. I’m from Missouri originally, but have lived large chunks of my life in Washington, D.C., Texas and California. I’ve settled back in the Ozarks now, with my husband and our two German Shepherds.

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 French, a handsome British agent, and an odiferous street urchin named Vincent. The chase leads from the Russian embassy to one of London’s grand hotels, and finally across the English Channel to France.

India popped into my head several years ago, but it took some time to get her out of there and put her story on paper. There was never any question that eventually I would tell India’s story – she’s a very persuasive woman, and won’t take no for an answer. The inspiration for her is a fictional character, Harry Flashman, in a series of books by George Macdonald Fraser. Harry is not your typical hero – he’s a drunken, carousing, womanizing coward, who just happens to get involved in critical moments in history, and somehow emerges smelling like a rose. After reading about Harry, I wanted to create a female character who was bold, adventurous, unconventional, and above all, amusing.

The Victorian era has always fascinated me because it’s very similar to our own. There was a strong religious element to Victorian society, 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 many political, intellectual and religious leaders believed in the superiority of their views 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. I would not have enjoyed living in the Victorian period however – I have an obsession with personal cleanliness. Can you imagine riding the underground on a hot August afternoon in London? And then there’s that little issue of women’s rights.

India Black is the first in a planned series. The second India novel has been delivered to the publisher, and while no date has been set for its publication, I’d anticipate that it will see the light of day sometime in 2012. India, French and Vincent are tasked with protecting a Very Important Person at Balmoral Castle from assassination during the Christmas festivities.

Thanks for the opportunity to introduce myself and India to your readers, Lori. I hope they enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

You can visit me at my website for more information and updates: http://www.carolkcarr.com

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Thank you Carol so much for taking the time to be here today.  
My original review post can be found here.

Giveaway is open to U.S.  & Canada Residents 

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CONTEST WILL END ON JANUARY 25TH AT 11:59 P.M. CST