India Black and the Widow of Windsor

August 15, 2011
When Queen Victoria hears via a medium that her late husband, Prince Albert, wants her to travel to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the monarch decides to accede to his wish in Carr’s engaging follow-up to 2011’s India Black. Since the prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, has learned that Scottish nationalists are plotting against the queen’s life, Disraeli recruits India Black, a feisty brothel owner with spy experience, to go undercover as a maid in the royal party, assigned to a cranky and quirky marchioness with a penchant for inhaling any powder within reach that’s not actually snuff. The irreverent Black, who refers to her sovereign as “a podgy neurotic,” has her hands full with her ostensible employer as well as fending off the lecherous prince of Wales while trying to identify the main conspirator. Fans of Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness series will be pleased.

Starred review from October 1, 2011

Great Scot! Queen Victoria is spending the Christmas holidays in Scotland at Balmoral, which puts her in mortal danger from a rumored Scots-nationalists assassination plot. Who better to go undercover to smoke out the traitors and prevent a murder than the unlikely trio of government spy French, London madam India Black, and street urchin Victor? India poses as a lady's maid to a crazy-like-a-fox old marchioness who's feeding her clues as often as she's inhaling her beloved snuff. When a couple of shady incidents come suspiciously close to the Queen, we know our trio is getting warm. Plenty of behind-the-scenes escapades and a bit of parry and thrust round out this immensely satisfying castle intrigue. VERDICT Following a strong debut (India Black), Carr's Victorian series just gets better. Featuring historical authenticity, sharp vocabulary, and plenty of parenthetical asides, this romantic suspense romp delivers both action and guffaws.

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