Romance is a big seller, as are thrillers full of tension. Romantic suspense authors like Nora Roberts have the best of both genres. Readers have two themes to intrigue them - the interaction between hero and heroine and the fear that a villain will get one of them. With a very skillful writer, there's the fear that the villain will be one of them.
This is a new segment in the mass-produced romances that used to be called 'bodice rippers'. The main theme, which shows up practically on page one, is the strong attraction between a beautiful young girl and a generic male character. The recent twist is to have the inevitable misunderstanding complicated by a mystery. It does make things more interesting than the old boy-meets-girl, girl-runs-away plot.
Novelists of great stature such as the prolific Nora Roberts, with hundreds of books to her credit, offer more than an involved plot and rote interaction between generic characters. Roberts never includes scenes merely to fulfill the requirements of a plot outline. She does not create characters that are mere sketches. Her dialogue is believable and her heroes and heroines memorable.
Roberts moved from straight romance novels to mysteries, writing under the name J. D. Robb. Her New York police detective's relationship with her husband is the key theme, although crime moves the plot along.
Mystery writers have long included romantic themes in their books (opinions differ on whether mysteries are suspense novels or whether the two genres are different.) When Dorothy L. Sayers had her aristocratic hero, Lord Peter Whimsey, finally fall in love, the object of his desire was charged with murder and refusing to help her own defense. The theme of frustrated love was developed to the point that some critics suggested Sayers was in love with her own character - but her readers loved it.
Another fine writer with a romantic figure as main character is Martha Grimes, whose handsome inspector Richard Jury falls in love often in the course of his investigations. Unfortunately, his fair ladies are either doomed, so full of self-doubt that they can barely function, or too diffident to cast the lures that would give Jury a clue. Some readers find this state of affairs annoying, but others are addicted to the man's complexity and eagerly await each new installment in the series.
Dick Francis wrote thrillers based on steeplechase racing in England. One character is a private investigator, but others are architects, pilots, stud farm owners, and the like. These heroes encounter terrifying bad guys, but many fall in love in the midst of murder and mayhem. Sometimes the ins and out of love follow a character through more than one novel.
There's no need for readers to sacrifice their love of good writing when they look for mystery and romance. Many fine writers create memorable characters. It is not unusual to have a bestseller show up in the cinema and on television, . Millions of readers carry these men and women around in their heads and their hearts, little wisps of fantasy that liven up everyday doldrums.
This is a new segment in the mass-produced romances that used to be called 'bodice rippers'. The main theme, which shows up practically on page one, is the strong attraction between a beautiful young girl and a generic male character. The recent twist is to have the inevitable misunderstanding complicated by a mystery. It does make things more interesting than the old boy-meets-girl, girl-runs-away plot.
Novelists of great stature such as the prolific Nora Roberts, with hundreds of books to her credit, offer more than an involved plot and rote interaction between generic characters. Roberts never includes scenes merely to fulfill the requirements of a plot outline. She does not create characters that are mere sketches. Her dialogue is believable and her heroes and heroines memorable.
Roberts moved from straight romance novels to mysteries, writing under the name J. D. Robb. Her New York police detective's relationship with her husband is the key theme, although crime moves the plot along.
Mystery writers have long included romantic themes in their books (opinions differ on whether mysteries are suspense novels or whether the two genres are different.) When Dorothy L. Sayers had her aristocratic hero, Lord Peter Whimsey, finally fall in love, the object of his desire was charged with murder and refusing to help her own defense. The theme of frustrated love was developed to the point that some critics suggested Sayers was in love with her own character - but her readers loved it.
Another fine writer with a romantic figure as main character is Martha Grimes, whose handsome inspector Richard Jury falls in love often in the course of his investigations. Unfortunately, his fair ladies are either doomed, so full of self-doubt that they can barely function, or too diffident to cast the lures that would give Jury a clue. Some readers find this state of affairs annoying, but others are addicted to the man's complexity and eagerly await each new installment in the series.
Dick Francis wrote thrillers based on steeplechase racing in England. One character is a private investigator, but others are architects, pilots, stud farm owners, and the like. These heroes encounter terrifying bad guys, but many fall in love in the midst of murder and mayhem. Sometimes the ins and out of love follow a character through more than one novel.
There's no need for readers to sacrifice their love of good writing when they look for mystery and romance. Many fine writers create memorable characters. It is not unusual to have a bestseller show up in the cinema and on television, . Millions of readers carry these men and women around in their heads and their hearts, little wisps of fantasy that liven up everyday doldrums.
