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 with the stature of Nora Roberts offer their readers well-crafted stories. Characters are believable; in fact, they may become more real to fans than real-life public figures or celebrities. Roberts creates characters, plots, and settings that are so compelling that readers eagerly follow her trilogies and series. She never adds sketchy passages that serve only to advance the plot.
Roberts wrote strictly romances for years, but now she has a best-selling series written under the pseudonym of J. D. Robb. Her heroine here is not a librarian or a schoolteacher but a New York policewoman. The romantic interest is the detective's husband, and this skilled writer has made their on-going relationship the central theme of the series.
Combining romance and mystery is nothing new for popular novelists. Dorothy L. Sayers set her immortal hero, Peter Whimsey, a difficult path to domestic bliss when she had him fall for a woman charged with murdering her lover. Peter's Helen is full of remorse for bad life choices and also fiercely independent, so Peter can't just ride in on his white horse and sweep her away. First of all he has to find the real murderer, just to get her out of goal where he can pursue her properly.
Martha Grimes has characters so complicated that some readers lose patience. Others, however, get absolutely addicted to her morose, handsome hero, Inspector Richard Jury. His friends, acquaintances, and fairly numerous lovers are funny or ridiculous, driven or inhibited, rich and poor - but never boring. Even her bad guys are complex. One of them is a perennial suspect, with Jury never quite sure of the whole story.
Not all the good authors are women, either. Dick Francis wrote action books based on the world of thoroughbred racing. They are all mysteries, with a central character investigating dark plots among the aristocracy as well as the lower classes. Both worlds are expertly depicted, and the heroes narrowly escape death but never the mayhem that goes before it. However, some of his best books involve romance: Matt Shore falling for his Nancy or Sid Halley losing his first wife to his ambition to be leading steeplechase rider.
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 with the stature of Nora Roberts offer their readers well-crafted stories. Characters are believable; in fact, they may become more real to fans than real-life public figures or celebrities. Roberts creates characters, plots, and settings that are so compelling that readers eagerly follow her trilogies and series. She never adds sketchy passages that serve only to advance the plot.
Roberts wrote strictly romances for years, but now she has a best-selling series written under the pseudonym of J. D. Robb. Her heroine here is not a librarian or a schoolteacher but a New York policewoman. The romantic interest is the detective's husband, and this skilled writer has made their on-going relationship the central theme of the series.
Combining romance and mystery is nothing new for popular novelists. Dorothy L. Sayers set her immortal hero, Peter Whimsey, a difficult path to domestic bliss when she had him fall for a woman charged with murdering her lover. Peter's Helen is full of remorse for bad life choices and also fiercely independent, so Peter can't just ride in on his white horse and sweep her away. First of all he has to find the real murderer, just to get her out of goal where he can pursue her properly.
Martha Grimes has characters so complicated that some readers lose patience. Others, however, get absolutely addicted to her morose, handsome hero, Inspector Richard Jury. His friends, acquaintances, and fairly numerous lovers are funny or ridiculous, driven or inhibited, rich and poor - but never boring. Even her bad guys are complex. One of them is a perennial suspect, with Jury never quite sure of the whole story.
Not all the good authors are women, either. Dick Francis wrote action books based on the world of thoroughbred racing. They are all mysteries, with a central character investigating dark plots among the aristocracy as well as the lower classes. Both worlds are expertly depicted, and the heroes narrowly escape death but never the mayhem that goes before it. However, some of his best books involve romance: Matt Shore falling for his Nancy or Sid Halley losing his first wife to his ambition to be leading steeplechase rider.
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.
