by Barb, celebrating Valentine’s Day in Key West
Since it’s Valentine’s Day, our topic is obvious–romance. Just as all stories, regardless of genre, often contain a crime, all crime stories, regardless of subgenre, may contain romance, or romantic tension. There are straight up Romantic Suspense stories, there are Rom-Com mysteries, there are continuing series with continually growing relationships.
Wickeds, tell us about your favorite combinations of crime and romance. Favorite romantic suspense or rom-com, favorite couple, (or triangle), best author of crime and romance, favorite story of falling in love, or any other combination.
Julie: This is a tough one! My favorite couple is probably Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson, and the triangle would include Sethos. Elizabeth Peters kept the romance alive throughout the series. The difference between romantic suspense and mysteries with romance is an important distinction. K.D. Richards writers romantic suspense for Harlequin, and she needs to make sure that the romance is at the forefront. I enjoy that these sorts of books focus on different characters in the world of the book, and that they move around. Romances in mysteries that don’t get resolved aggravate me if they go on too long, though I was frustrated by one and realized that though the series is 20+ years old, in book time it’s been 3 years.
Liz: I think hands down my favorite couple is Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne from Julia Spencer Fleming’s series. I was alway smitten with the two of them! I don’t love triangles either, but I definitely do always like a romantic subplot.
Jessie: I enjoy a bit of romance in the mysteries I read and the ones I write. I don’t ever want it to hijack the story, but I appreciate the way it rounds out the lives of characters. As to a favorite, I find the on again, off again romance portrayed in Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway novels. It feels messy and real.
Barb: I’m happy with a little romance in my mysteries, though I don’t read romantic suspense and haven’t yet dipped into rom-coms. I have been reading more widely in women’s fiction and fantasy-romance since covid–something I would never have considered before. My favorite couple in mysteries are Reg Wexford and his wife Dora. For me, their long marriage was an antidote to the substance-abusing, tortured, lone-wolf detectives I kept encounting in the 90s. An unabasedly uxorious man, Wexford does have his flaws. He prefers one of his daughters over the other, something he feels profound guilt about. I thought this was a great flaw to explore as this story is so seldom told from an aware parent’s point of view.
Edith/Maddie: I have read a few of Jenn McKinlay’s recent rom-coms and really enjoyed them. One of my favorite couples in crime fiction is Deborah Crombie’s Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid. They’ve been wrangling jobs with the London police even as they manage parenting three children and keep their relationship alive – for about twenty books now. I always have romance in my protagonists’ lives, too.
Sherry: I’m late to the party — sorry about that. I’m one of the few people who doesn’t mind a love triangle. So if you love a love triangle read the Janet Evanovich books. I love Russ and Clare too. Julia set them up and brought them together in a realistic, heart-wrenching way.
Readers: Do you read romantic suspense? Rom-coms? Romance? Who are you favorite mystery-related romantic partners?
Roarke and Eve Dallas from the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb. I also liked Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson.
Those are two good ones!
I’m with Liz. I adore Clare and Russ in Julia Spencer Fleming’s mysteries.
I don’t read much straight romance, but I love the occasional romantic suspense.
I adore them, too!
I’ve read romantic suspense and a few rom-coms. I don’t read a lot of straight romance, although I am reading a women’s fiction now with a strong romantic thread. MAYBE THE BIRD WILL RISE.
I don’t like triangles that go on forever.
Another recommendation. Thank you.
Think I love them all – well not really triangles. But I will say that as of late it would be romantic suspense. My favorite is always the one I just finished reading, which in this case would be AMISH CHRISTMAS ESCAPE by Dana R. Lynn.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Interesting. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I’m a big fan of Phryne and Jack in the Miss Fisher Mysteries. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Now there’s a complicated couple!
Yes! I hadn’t even thought of them.
Roderick Alleyn and his artist wife Troy, in Ngaio Marsh’s mysteries.
Good one!
Great post for Valentine’s Day. My favorite couple is Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell and Stoker.
So many good couples here!
Oh my! I don’t think I have any specific romantic couples although I always want the best for each. And I am with the group that says “ugh!” to triangles that last overly long. Very formulaic and feels like the author took the previous book and just changed the crime and the stories’ villains. Probably wrote from one to the next without any story arc. That’s not character growth. Merely bad habits.
I always wish the best for each, too!
Nick and Nora Charles. I confess, I haven’t read the book, but I live The Thin Man movies.
The books are great and the movies are classics.
Read the book. These are my favorite of all time movies.
I like most romantic couples. The only triangle I truly disliked was one that went on forever. It was pretty dragged out without any advancement after several books and I gave up the whole series. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
That kind of lack of movement (particularly if combined with a lot of dithering) can get me to give up on a series too.
Putting in a vote for Zoe and Pete in Annette Dashofy’s Crime in the Country series, and I’ll second Deborah Crombie’s Gemma and Duncan and Julia Spencer Fleming’s Clare and Russ, both mentioned above. Not a fan of love triangles, but they don’t put me off from a series.
Zoe and Pete! Excellent choice.
Hi Kait. I want to thank you most sincerely for selecting me as the winner of DEATH DRIVE❣️❣️🕺🕺 I did not know how to thank you, because I didn’t have your email address, but am so glad to connect with you this way. I will love to “dive” into your thrilling plot. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your generosity🙏 Luis at ole dot travel
I like romance in my cozies, but I get impatient when the heroine has a hard time deciding on a beau for more than a book in the series. To me, it detracts from the flow of the story, though it adds word count😂. I prefer things to flow well in the romance department, and if they are already married, like Nick and Nora Charles, the better. I wish very Joyful and Blessed Valentine’s Day to y’all ❣️Luis at ole dot travel
Happy Valentine’s Day, Luis! I don’t like those series, where you realize that if the protagonist was a friend, you’d say, either pick one or for goodness sake shut up about it!
Nock and Nora are the best.
I’m not a fan of triangles that last more than a book or two. Yet there is one series I keep reading that is infamous for it’s love triangle.
There is one couple I know I’m blanking on that I have really enjoyed.
But I have recently been reminded of how much I loved Odelia Grey and Greg Stephenson from Sue Ann Jaffarian’s series. Yes, there was a love triangle for a book or two, but she moved past that and built a couple with a solid relationship.
Okay, now I’m guesssing. Joanne Fluke? Janet Evanovitch? Charlaine Harris?
I was talking about Joanne Fluke. Haven’t read much of Janet Evanovitch’s work (and only the first couple in the Stephanie series) and non of Charlaine Harris’s books.
Oh, Morelli and Stephanie and Ranger are the best. Hannah Swensen, Norman and Mike were good but not hot like the first one.
Thanks for all the kind words, y’all. It’s the best Valentine’s Day present I can think of – unless one of you also wants to drop by with a big box o’ chocolates.. 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day, Julia!
I love the older cozies before so many became formulaic. Favorite couples: Charlotte MacLeod’a Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn; and, Carolyn Hart’s Annie and Max Darling. I very much dislike triangles and never read a second book with them.
I love romantic suspense as well as cozy mysteries. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Ranger, Stephanie Plum and Morelli are a fantastic couple. My very favorite is not a triangle but are Melanie Middleton and Jack Trenholm in the Karen White Tradd Street books are a really good romantic couple. I absolutely love Derek Stone and Brooklyn Wainwright. They are the best. There are others but these are favorites. And by the way, the Fifty Shades of Gray couple are the absolute best ever. Christian Gray and Anastasia Steele. Oh my!