This Rec League came from our very own Sarah:
What mystery series do you recommend that would also appeal to romance readers? Genre crossover is a lovely thing, and many, many romances feature a (delicious) mystery element. But for this Rec League, I’m looking for those books that are marketed and sold predominantly as mysteries that would also appeal to romance readers, especially books that romance fans might not be aware of.
Amanda: Obvious options aside, like Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock and Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell.
Sarah: The Lady Darby series by Anna Lee Huber ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is a good one, as there’s a slowly evolving romance over each book. And Amory Ames ( A | BN ) is a good fit for this one, too, though instead of a romance, it’s the repair of a marriage. I’ve mentioned those before, and they may likely already be more widely known.
I think part of the danger for me as a romance reader treading out into mystery is that I fear for the romantic protagonists, if there are any!
Elyse: Rhys Bowen has several historical mystery series with romance elements!
Tara: There’s a two-book f/f series by Lee Winter called On the Record. The first book has two celebrity reporters who can’t stand each other. They’re both at the same tech company launch in LA and notice that there are 30+ sex workers there from Nevada and there’s something weird about a missing pallet of pink champagne. They work the story together, more twists happen, and a great enemies-to-lovers romance happens along the way. In the second book, Under Your Skin, they’re getting married and there’s a mystery around subdermal chips.
I love this series so much because it balances mystery with romance very well. The dialogue is also very snappy, reminiscent of movies like His Girl Friday and The Philadelphia Story.
Sarah: HELLO.
Tara: Yeah, they’re super fun and have one of my all-time fav couples.
Shana: I would recommend Sue Ann Jaffarian’s Odelia Grey series. ( A | BN | K | AB ) They’re lighthearted mysteries about a plus-sized paralegal and her diverse group of friends, with a central romance that builds over the first few books. The couple later solve mysteries together. The hero uses a wheelchair and the disability rep is strong.
Sarah: HELLO AGAIN.
Sneezy: Oh HAI!!
I haven’t thought of anything yet, but this is already shaping up to beat my wallet into a pulp
Catherine: Are the Peter Wimsey novels that feature Harriet Vane too obvious? Starting with Strong Poison, in which Harriet has been accused of her lover’s murder and Peter is nowhere near as romantic as he thinks he is, moving through the tension and bitterness and secret codes of Have His Carcase to the gorgeous, Oxford-set Gaudy Night, which really is at least half romance, and a very good one, too. And then Busman’s Honeymoon, with a murder set just as Harriet and Peter are beginning to figure out married life. There are a few short stories set after this, too, but I don’t recall their names…
On a very different note, Kerry Greenwood always includes romantic subplots in her mysteries – her actual heroines, Phryne Fisher ( A | BN | K | AB | Au ) and Corinna Chapman, both settle down (for an extremely unconventional version of this value, in the case of Phryne) with their lovers fairly early on, but there is almost always a set of lovers to be helped in the stories.
EllenM: Oh man this is my JAM. Super agree with Lady Darby; I have to say i’ve been less invested in the books since the main couple got married.
The Wrexford and Sloane mysteries by Andrea Penrose ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) also have a lovely slow-burn romance that seems like it’s going to resolve somehow in the next book (book 4). I’ve also started reading and enjoying the Bess Ellyott mysteries ( A | BN | K | AB ) (set in the Tudor era, heroine is an herbalist) and it seems like there’s a romance shaping up.
Sneezy: Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline might fit the bill, but it definitely straddles the line between suspense, mystery, and paranormal romance.
It’s an ownvoices Métis novel building on Metis’ Rogarou stories. Joan has been looking for her husband Victor, who has been missing for close to a year, when she sees him trying to bring people to Jesus…as Reverend Eugene Wolff. He doesn’t even recognize her.
I had to flip to the end! I feel like while it isn’t a cliffy, I WANTS A SSSSSEQUEL!!!!!! WHERESSS ISSSS IT????? Which is likely a result of my romance-minded view where I want EVERYTHING to be tied off with a big red bow at the end. Plus I was sweating and reading through my fingers, so maybe the way it ended was the point.
For the romance part of the book, without spoiling anything, I will say Joan and Victor fight hard as fuck for each other.
Anyway, it’s touted as the #1 best selling book in Canada in 2019, and I can definitely see why. It’s by the same author who wrote The Marrow Thieves.
Which mysteries do you think would appeal to romance readers?
I use my Library/overdrive wish list to “store” future book ideas or even books I’ve read and want to be able to remember. Does anyone else do this? Anyways I went back through all 40 pages and found these:
Ravenwood Mysteries
Sabrina Flynn
I remembered these as soon as I hit post yesterday. They are excellent!
The Wages of Sin
Sarah Gilchrist Mystery
by Kaite Welsh
I’ve only listened to the first one but it was intriguing and had a wonderful narrator
A Deadly Affection
Dr. Genevieve Summerford Mystery
Cuyler Overholt
So far there are only 2 but they were both very good and I was very invested in the romance. I’m really hoping there’ll be any others
A Mortal Bane
Magdalene la Batarde Mystery Series,
Roberta Gellis
I loved these.
Shinju (Sano Ichiro #1)
by Laura Joh Rowland
The romance doesn’t begin till 3rd or 4th book, it’s been a decade since I read these it’s a long series.
The following are series I’ve been meaning to try but haven’t yet gotten around to:
What the Dead Leave Behind
Gilded Age Mystery Series, Book 1
Rosemary Simpson
The Anatomist’s Apprentice
Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mystery Series, Book 1
Tessa Harris
The Anatomy of Death
Doctor Dody McCleland Series, Book 1
Felicity Young
The Gilded Shroud (Lady Fan Mystery Book 1)
by Elizabeth Bailey
I’m dropping back in to recommend a book I started yesterday (after reading a rave review for it on AAR and discovering it was available through KU)—and I apologize if someone already mentioned it above and I missed it: N.R. Walker’s TALLOWWOOD. Two cops—one older and based in Sydney, one younger and based in his hometown of Tallowwood in the Australian rainforest area—team up to solve a series of murders targeting gay men (the crimes are not described in overly explicit detail, but cw/tw this is a murder mystery and readers are provided with information about the condition of the victims’ bodies and how the murders were committed). Both cops are openly gay and the older one has suffered a terrible loss. The younger cop is Aboriginal but I haven’t encountered any “otherizing” (in fact, a thoughtless comment by the older cop—for which he is very contrite—is slammed back by the younger one with the response it deserves). The developing feelings between the two cops are firmly in the background but a romance is definitely brewing. If I hadn’t had plans last night, I would have made a Bad Decisions Book Club and stayed up all night to finish it. I hope I can finish it today!
okay I need to be stopped…
Elusive
On the Run Series, Book 1
Sara Rosett
this series is contemporary and it also has a marriage-in-need-of-repair romance. Actually they are divorced as the series begins. I have only read the first two so not sure how romance subplot will be resolved but it’s holding my interest. Rosett also has a series which is set in the 1920’s but I haven’t read those.
The Zig Zag Girl
Stephens and Mephisto Mystery Series, Book 1
Elly Griffiths
others have mentioned Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series but I’ve really enjoyed this one that centers around a jaded magician who travels across England performing in variety show which are becoming increasingly obsolete with the popularity of Television, and his straight-laced detective friend who he served with in the war. This isn’t M/M they each have romantic storylines.
Countess of Harleigh Mystery Series
Dianne Freeman
Murder on Millionaires’ Row
Rose Gallagher Mystery Series, Book 1
Erin Lindsey
There is a fantasy element to this which I almost hesitate to mention because it may turn some people off and It’s much more historical mystery than fantasy.
Kate Carlisle has a series of books with Brooklyn Wainwright, a book restoration expert, who stumbles on murders. Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery Is the first. I believe there are 12 books now. Derek Stone Is the hero who helps solve the mysteries..
Laura Childs: Death by Darjeeling (Tea Shop Mysteries Book 1). Romance elements, but not strong. Theodosia Browning is the tea shop owner. Love interest comes and goes. Theodosia (Theo) is more convincing as the tea shop owner than someone heading for a HEA.
I find that cozy mysteries are light on romance, but the heroine always lives.
lils
I got to this thread just as I am searching for a recommendation for my mother. She is in her 70ies and English is not her first lanuguage. She loved Amelia Peabody but that’s done and historical language is a bit of barrier. She also loved Alexander McCall Smith “No 1 Detective Agency” but went through this at all.
I just got her started on Sue Grafton Alphabet series and she is finding it too violent. Surprised me, I guess I have read so much more gruesome stuff now that Kinsey Millhone doesn’t register as scary/problematic anymore.
So from the rec’s above, can someone recommend something that is reasonably modern (say, set in 60ies or later) and not too violent, or, rather, less violent than Sue Grafton?
@MD
I shared books with my grandmother, so I can tell you what she really enjoyed:
Have you tried Robert B Parker’s Spenser series? Perhaps start at book 4 or 5? Grandmom really enjoyed all of those, and I love Spenser and Hawk. And they are a LOT of dialog, which might be easier reading, and there are a zillion of them. (My favorite is Small Vices, which is also the first Spenser book I read.)
CS Harris wrote a series as CS Graham which is thriller / action. I think Grandmom was ok with these, but didn’t love them as much as the historicals we both loved.
Faith Hunter has written straight mysteries as Gwen Hunter. See if you can find the Dr. Rhea Lynch series which is about an ER doctor. I found these after Grandmom died, but think she would have liked them.
You could also try Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series, although I’m gunshy on restarting that series after “Bad Blood”
Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti is one she very much enjoyed, and I still read every book as it comes out.
Have you tried Faye Kellerman’s Decker & Lazarus series? I believe Grandmom read these.
Andrew Greeley wrote the Blackie Ryan mysteries, which are about a Chicago priest who keeps getting involved in mysteries.
Not the slightest bit romantic, but Grandmom thoroughly enjoyed Christopher Fowler’s Bryant & May series, which is about two London Detectives who should have retired decades earlier. The first books has lots of flashbacks to WWII.
I have a strong preference for historicals, so my list there is longer.
@Michelle Thanks so much – this is really useful and I will look into these, looks like there are some really good choices my mother’s likely to enjoy.
Coming in late, and I see most of my recs are already listed, like Victoria Thompson, the Sebastian St. Cyr books, Emma Jameson’s Lord & Lady Hetheridge series, Sheri Cobb Smith, Michelle Diener’s Tudor era & Regency era books(she’s now writing sci-fi romance, but I wish she would revisit the Tudors!).
For fans of British golden age mysteries, in addition to Marsh and Christie, there’s also Patricia Wentworth. All of her books are standalone and have romantic threads. Most of them have a little old lady PI called Miss Silver. They are often on sale on Kindle.
There are also a couple of series on my TBR that I haven’t started yet: the Atlas Catesby Mysteries by D. M. Quincy(Regency era) and Lucinda Brant’s Georgian era Alex Halsey mysteries.
I haven’t read through everything on this post yet (but plan to go back and do so!), but I want to recommend the Charles Lenox series by Charles Finch. There are at least three different romance story lines running through the series of books. The main element is for sure always the mystery, but the light focus on these three romances is satisfying as well. Start with A Beautiful Blue Death (there are three prequels to the series which I have not read yet). These are set in Victorian England and I absolutely positively adore them (book 3 was far and away the weakest so if you get that far and aren’t sure whether or not to go on, I highly recommend you keep going)!
@Karin:
Those Alec Halsey mysteries look good.
@Stefanie, ikr? I still haven’t gotten to them despite being cooped up in the house for a month. A warning, Lucinda Brant’s Georgian romances can get pretty dark and angsty.