by Bharti Kirchner
We are delighted to welcome novelist Bharti Kirchner as our guest.
The author of several novels and cookbooks, Tulip Season (Booktrope Editions, May 2012 trade paperback and ebook formats) is Bharti's first mystery.
Today Bharti writes about getting intimate with your main character. And she is giving one of our readers a chance to win a copy of her book; details below.
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Mitra Basu, a young Seattle landscape designer, is the amateur sleuth in my recently released novel Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery. I must say I've known her much longer than that.
Photo provided courtesy of
Bharti Kirchner
Years ago, an image of a seventeen-year-old girl had flashed into my head. She'd been sent to Alaska by her mother in India. Alone? At such a young age? In such a bitter cold climate? Just the word Alaska alone is enough to make many Indians shiver.
I had no idea where the image came from and didn't dwell on it. Much later, when I began writing Tulip Season, I realized that Mitra was that young girl and Alaska was her backstory. Self-reliance is built into her bones. She somehow manages to survive in Alaska, get an education, and relocate to Seattle.
As the book opens, Mitra, a dedicated gardener, receives the news that her best friend Kareena has disappeared. Flowers are a solace for her. "(Mitra) paced frantically back and forth in front of the window, too keyed up to sit still. The plum tree in her north yard was a billowy cloud of delicate white blossoms."
Soon Mitra jumps into action, despite threat from Kareena's husband, Adi. There's a bit of irony here. Kareena is a domestic violence counselor and Mitra suspects Adi of wrong-doing. She just can't prove anything.
Neither Adi nor police would do much, so Mitra gathers friends and community members and goes in search of Kareena. "Her career focus in art and botany — the study of the physiology of new growth, the awareness of color and light, and harmony of arrangements — hadn't prepared her to confront a situation like this. She looked up to the sky, out of a gardener's propensity to check the weather. The blue infinity helped her to see beyond the immediate, and provided her with an approach."
Weeks roll by. Mitra is constantly thwarted in her attempts to find Kareena. She loses clients. Friends begin to question her. Her days are bereft of their shine. "(T)he sky resembled an unlit charcoal oven." Still, Mitra doesn't give up.
Her quest eventually leads her to India. "(S)he contemplated her arrival. Kolkata — noise and dust, twisty alleys, impossible traffic, and still with scenic beauty and friendliness. Would Kareena gasp in amazement when she saw Mitra in the midst of such chaos and beauty? Would she want to empty out the contents of her heart and say, "Let's go sit and catch up?" With warmth and only the tiniest touch of chiding, Mitra would convey her concerns: How could you leave your best friend imagining the worst for so many weeks? Don't ever go missing on me again."
Such a pleasant outcome might not be in the stars. Mitra will have many more challenges ahead of her. What I've learned from Mitra is this: If you believe in something strongly, then don't give up, even if everyone is telling you to do so, even if everything around you seems to be conspiring against you.
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Bharti Kirchner is the author of nine books and hundreds of short pieces for magazines and newspapers; her essays have appeared in ten anthologies. Bharti has won a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, a 4-Culture Literature Award, a City Artist's Project award, two Seattle Arts Commission literature grants, two Artist Trust literature grants, and has twice been a Fellow of Jack Straw Productions. She has been honored as a Living Pioneer Asian American Author.
Prior to becoming a writer, Bharti worked as a systems engineer for IBM and as a systems manager for Bank of America, San Francisco. She has also worked in Europe and other continents as a computer systems consultant. She currently calls Seattle home. Learn more about the author by visiting her website at BhartiKirchner.com.
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Tulip Season
Bharti Kirchner
A Mitra Basu Mystery
A missing domestic-violence counselor … A wealthy and callous husband … A dangerous romance …
Kareena Sinha, an Indian-American domestic-violence counselor, disappears from her Seattle home. When the police dismiss suspicions that she herself was a victim of spousal abuse, her best friend, Mitra Basu, a young landscape designer, resolves to find her.
Mitra's search reveals glimpses of a secret life involving her friend and a Bollywood actor of ill repute. Following the trail, Mitra is lured back to India where she uncovers the actor's ties to the Mumbai underworld and his financial difficulties - landing her in a web of life-threatening intrigue where Mitra can't be sure of Kareena's safety or her own.
For a chance to win a copy of Tulip Season, courtesy of the author, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Bharti Kirchner: Tulip Season" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code — 2872 — for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends August 8th, 2012.)
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