Mysterious Romance

by Karen M. Davis

I love a good romantic mystery. In fact, like so many other keen readers, I love all types of books in various genres, including fiction and non-fiction. But I have to say my favourites are crime, murder mysteries, historical romance, and romantic suspense, because they all contain some kind of mystery. I’d argue that most books have some form of mystery weaved into the story somewhere. It’s not always solving a murder, or discovering some deep, dark family secret. It can be anything really; a discovery, a shocking or traumatic event, a broken love story? There has to be something to drive the plot so that other events can occur – like a budding romance. Even in strictly romantic fiction there is always a “reason” why the lead characters meet or are thrown together. That often involves solving a mystery, or working though some sort of problem so they can move forward.

My dilemma as I attempt to write my first mysterious romance novel – fearfully stepping out of my comfort zone of writing “what I know,” which is crime – is staying on track with the mystery and not letting the romance between my main characters run away with the story. I have an issue with balancing all the different aspects of the book as the romance tends to want to race ahead of everything else. I’ve been told that this type of book has to be led by the said “mystery” and events surrounding it, and that the romance should be secondary. Logically, I can understand this, but sometimes my mind has other ideas.

I also love mystery romance novels that have an element of suspense as well as a ghostly presence (especially historical novels) involved in the story. Yet I worry whether this is believable to some readers? The setting I have chosen for my “attempt at a mystery romance,” is an old country farm house in rural New South Wales. It has been in the one family for generations and of course something terrible happened there years ago. So it’s probable that there could be a few cranky spirits hanging around the place, isn’t it? Do readers like that? I suppose it comes down to whether an individual believes in that kind of thing or not?

So my question is:  mystery, suspense, romance--what is more important? Does it have to be a combination of all of the above? Are you limiting your audience by making it a bit spooky?

I love to love...doing what makes me happy.

I love to laugh...at and with my children because they can be very funny.

I love to learn...anything to do with writing.

You can find Karen's latest release, Deadly Obsession, at most large retailers, book stores, and online.