Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Spicing Up Crime Fiction With Romance




For those not familiar with the crime fiction genre, it's probably imagined to be populated by grim policemen and wisecracking private eyes. For those of us who love the genre, we're well aware of the fact that mysteries have something for everyone-- even on Valentine's Day. Yes, there are thousands of mysteries out there where the hero travels alone. There's nary a significant other in sight, and relationships consist of one night stands. But there are also thousands of mysteries out there that are spiced up with couples in committed relationships.

What better topic for Valentine's Day than this? A few of my favorite series immediately came to mind, but I thought I'd ask for recommendations on my blog's Facebook page. More series were brought to my attention, so after making a list and checking it a dozen times, I thought I'd share six authors who write crime fiction series in which the relationships between the main characters are every bit as important as who died and why. I found that they fit quite nicely into three categories: Works in Progress, Tried and True, and Forbidden Fruit. I've included two links with each series, one for the author's website and the second to a page where you can see all the books in the series in order.

Are you ready for some top notch recommendations? I hope so because I'm banking on all of you to chime in with your own!


Works in Progress


Facebook friend, Martha D., mentioned one of the series that popped into my head very quickly: Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper series set in central California. When the series begins, Benni is a young widow who's just become the director of a folk art museum. She meets and eventually marries Police Chief Gabe Ortiz, and I have to admit that I almost stopped reading the series because of Gabe!

When we first meet Gabe, he's a typical Hispanic male, full of machismo and the knowledge that all women have their place-- and it's definitely not in the middle of murder investigations. But Fowler's two main characters work hard at their relationship. Benni and Gabe still have their rough patches, but they're getting used to each other. Their strengthening relationship-- and all the books in this series-- work.


The series that immediately sprang to my mind was Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series set in England. When this series begins, Duncan is a superintendent at Scotland Yard, and Gemma is his sergeant. Their working relationship gradually blossoms into love. Duncan is divorced and has a young son. Gemma is a single mother with a young boy of her own. Through each of the books readers experience these two melding together with their children into a family: how their relationship factors into their careers, how they work to make sure their children feel loved and important through the transition, how their diverse backgrounds lead to misunderstandings, and how they can all  be affected by tragedy. Crombie's series is one of my very favorites, and when the talk is about relationships, Duncan and Gemma are tied for the number one spot on my Billboard Top of the Charts. You'll just have to wait to learn about the other series!


Tried and True


My dear friend, Jean T., recommended Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series, set in Victorian England. I vividly remember beginning to read it back in 1979 or so. It has to be one of the longest running mystery series ever!

Thomas Pitt comes from humble beginnings and has worked hard to become a police inspector. His wife, Charlotte, is from an upper class family, and her connections often help Thomas with his investigations. These two people from such very different backgrounds have certainly had their misunderstandings, but they've worked hard to forge a lasting relationship that's just as much fun to read about as the mysteries they solve.




Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series was recommended by Cath of the excellent blog Read Warbler. Daisy is a journalist in 1920s England, and her husband, Alec Fletcher, is a Scotland Yard detective. (I'm beginning to see a theme here, with all these British policemen marrying smart and intrepid women!)

Their marriage has lasted through twenty books, so I'm sure their love is here to stay-- because of their genuine love for each other and because of their need to face all life has in store side by side.






In the top five of my "relationship mystery" books is Donis Casey's Alafair Tucker series. Alafair Tucker is a ranch woman in the Oklahoma of the 1910s. She and her husband are raising ten children, and now that the eldest are old enough to help keep an eye on the younger ones, Alafair has a bit of free time to solve crimes. (Of course with children being children, some of Alafair's brood manage to get involved with a few of the crimes, too.)  Alafair and her husband Shaw have grown together over the years. They are well acquainted with each other's strengths and weaknesses. It's a marriage filled with love and commitment, and Casey's books are a delight to read whether Alafair and Shaw are taking care of their passel of young'uns or trying to solve a crime while running their ranch.




Forbidden Fruit


In my first category, I mentioned that two series tied for the number one spot on my personal list. Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series is the other one tied for first.

The first book in the series, In the Bleak Midwinter, won a boatload of awards, and although it took me a few years to overcome my innate skepticism over all the hype, I now know why it did. Clare and Russ are wonderful, fully fleshed characters, and readers get to know their endearing quirks as well as how strong each of them is.

Clare is Reverend Clare Fergusson of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Millers Kill, New York. She is single and she works very hard to do as much as she can for her fellow human beings. Russ is the Millers Kill police chief, and he is very much married, although he and his wife have grown apart over the years. With Clare and Russ spending so much time in each other's company, readers can see how good they are together-- how they belong together. As the series progresses, the two fall in love, and it is painful to watch because these are two very good, very honorable, people. As Clare says in Out of the Deep I Cry, "We're going to break each other's heart."  This is forbidden fruit at its finest, and I have to know how their lives are going to turn out.


They're Not All Fairy Tales


As I said at the beginning of this post, crime fiction lovers know that there's something for everybody. This also holds true for "relationship" mysteries. Not all relationships turn out well. Sometimes partners prove themselves to be abusive. 

Just ask Stella Hardesty, a 50-year-old widow who once suffered domestic violence and now runs a sewing shop in Missouri. You see, Sophie Littlefield in her Stella Hardesty series has created a woman who's been there, survived that, and refuses to wear the t-shirt-- but she won't refuse to help any woman who comes to her for help with an abusive partner. Stella knows what relationships are supposed to be like, and with her on the scene, abusers had best change their ways!



Now that I've listed mine-- with the help of a few of my friends-- it's time for some much-wanted input from all of you. Did I list any of your personal favorites? Which ones? More importantly: which ones did I leave out? A true bookaholic can never have too many recommendations!

18 comments:

  1. I have fallen in love with your blog. I've read the Carola Dunn mystery. I've read a few Earlene Fowler. Need to go back and start from the beginning.Love Anne Perry. Haven't read Julia Spencer Fleming but want to so badly,.

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    1. Thank you so much for these kind words. I've been enjoying your blog, too, and I'll be mentioning it in my weekly link round-up in a few days! :-)

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  2. Cathy - What an interesting idea for a post! And you're right that when it's done well, mixing some romance with crime fiction can work really well. I actually like the way the romance turns into marriage in Camilla Läckberg's series featuring Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström. Oh, and Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman and her lover Daniel Cohen make a great pair.

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    1. Lackberg's series almost got included in this post, Margot, and I have Greenwood's first Corinna Chapman book waiting for me on my Kindle! :-)

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  3. There are a couple of series by Elizabeth Peters that come to mind. Her Amelia Peabody series fits in the tried and true category, and her Vicky Bliss series fits in the work in progress category. Peters has a wonderful sense of humor, and you can often expect that when the hero rides the rescue, it's as likely the saddle will fall off and leave him sitting on the ground while the horse gallops away as that he'll succeed immediately in saving the day. And her heroines are smart, strong women who usually find ways of making the villains regret their actions.

    Joan Hess has the Claire Malloy series, another work in progress. Claire is a bookstore owner whose husband died in a collision with a chicken truck, while on the way to a motel with his college student passenger. Claire is raising her teenage daughter, and her love interest is a local police detective. Hess also has a wonderful sense of humor.

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    1. Perfect additions, Pepper! Now I want to get my hands on all these books!

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    2. Word of warning...get the Elizabeth Peters books in paper. They're available as ebooks, but the publisher apparently didn't have someone proofread them after they were scanned in, so there are odd words that are, in reality, several words wrongly and weirdly combined by the scanning program, and often the ends of chapters are missing.

      The Amelia Peabody series begins with "Crocodile on the Sandbank". The Vicky Bliss series begins with "Borrower of the Night". The Claire Malloy series begins with "Strangled Prose".

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    3. I've been noticing complaints and notices of fixes on various eBook listings on Amazon. I've gotten more than a few paper books that made me wonder if they decided to save money and use their spellchecker instead of an editor.

      "Oh, it's just books. What does it matter? No one will complain."

      Heh, heh, heh....

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  4. You already listed my favorite couple: Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. These two are true partners and such good people that I just love them.

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    1. I'm so glad that I listed your favorite, Barbara!

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  5. I've read a few of the Anne Perry books and enjoyed those very much. I've jotted down a couple of recs from this post, Deborah Crombie and Julia Spencer Fleming who I have actually had recced to me before, so it's time I did something about that. I have to say that relationship crime series are probably my very favourites.

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    1. They tend to be my favorites, too, Cath. I think you'll really enjoy Crombie and Spencer-Fleming!

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  6. I'm not familiar with the majority of the authors listed. But I am already a fan of Earlene Fowler. I am reading all of her Benni Harper series. I have just finished Mariner's Compass and have Seven Sisters in the wings. I am a quilter so I like the reference to quilting blocks. And also that Benni and Gabe are working at making their marriage work.

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    1. I really enjoy the quilting aspect of Fowler's books, too, Judy-- and Fowler is so much fun to meet!

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  7. Cathy -

    I like this blog - good idea. Hope I don't come across as anti-romance but two other categories popped to mind as I read your post above. How about "It's done, kill it" for all those romances that drag on and on but never seem to get anywhere except into the next book. And maybe it's time to introduce a fresh face. My nominees would be Nesbo's Hari and Rakel, though I am sure there are many others, none of whom pop to mind at the moment. My other category would be "Never Happened" and my top of the list would be Rankin's John Rebus and Siobhan Clarke. I've read all eighteen books and can't recall any smoke in their relationship at all....but somehow it worked for Rankin. Ken

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    1. Thanks so much for the input, Ken! It's a shame you couldn't have joined in the mini-discussion we had on my blog's FB page beforehand; you certainly could've added another dimension or two to this post!

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    2. LOL! I can think of an "It's done, kill it." I'll bet there are more than a few out there...

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    3. The first one I thought of was Janet Evanovich!

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