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Romantic suspense novels vs. Mystery
My latest novel THE INFERNO COLLECTION, published in hardcover by Five Star/Gale went under their romance category. Actually, the novel is a strong murder mystery thriller with an element of romance. I've noticed that the men who've read my novel enjoyed it just as much as the women. When a mystery novel is categorized as "romantic suspense", does this mean the publisher is saying the book is only for women? Is it a way of saying that mystery is not really an important element in a book? In my case, I spent years writing a novel that I considered quality. Opinions please!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Morgan Mandel on -
Sometimes it depends on the market and who you're trying to reach. Romantic suspense seems to be stronger lately,so maybe your publisher wanted you categorized to take advantage of the current market.
My mystery, Two Wrongs, can be either categorized as a romantic suspense or a mystery. It depends on
my audience what I choose to call it, but my publisher has it under mystery, not romance. It came out 2 years ago, so tastes have probably changed since then.
Morgan Mandel
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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Seewald on -
Morgan,
I read a lot of mysteries that I would consider romantic suspense as well. Faye Kellerman's work is quite romantic. J.A. Jance and Tami Hoag write mysteries that have strong romance elements. A number of men as well as women have enjoyed THE INFERNO COLLECTION. I would hate to think the audience was limited because the book was placed in a category. This is a problem with genre novels; publishers wants to pidgeon-hole the writing. Very medieval!
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Permalink Reply by Mary Dee on -
Mystery is a term that automatically attracts me. Romantic Suspense is something I would not touch (actually would avoid) unless very highly recommended by someone who likes the same sort of books that I do. That is just me, but I wonder if others have similar tastes. Most of my men friends do not read romantic anything in public.
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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Seewald on
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Sometimes there's a narrow line separating mystery and romantic suspense.. Jayne Ann Krentz, for example, is a writer of romantic suspense. This means the romance is more important to the story than the mystery. However, she is an intelligent writer who writes quality fiction so there is always a good mystery in her novels as well. Many mystery writers have strong romances in their novels. It's something of a balancing act. The last John Sanford novel I read had strong romantic elements although it was a mystery thriller. With my novel, THE INFERNO COLLECTION, I also did a balance between the two genres. I confess that the mystery thriller aspect was what guided the story line. However, character development was also crucial. Kim Reynolds is a complex human being as well as a librarian sleuth. Dealing with her personal demons and finding love is a significant aspect of the novel as well.
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On the way home from work yesterday, I passed a house that already had a lighted and decorated Christmas tree up and showing by the window.Is it not too soon for that? In my mind, the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas Season starts. That's when it's fair game to put up a tree and decorations and start shopping. The way things are going this year, I'll be lucky if I get organized enough to decorate a few days before Christmas.
With our dog, Rascal, who lives up to her name, we'll probably go with a fiber optic small tree on top of an end table. One of these days I may pull put the larger tree from the box in the basement and set it up, but not until our doggy is a little more sedate. I don't feel like chasing her to get ornaments out of her mouth. I will be putting up knick knacks, lights inside and decorations on the walls, so it will still look Christmasy. No lights outside because for some reason we have no outlets outside.
While we're on the subject of Christmas trees and such, be sure to add holidays in your books. You can mention decorations and lights or Easter eggs and baskets, or even mattress sales in your descriptions to ground the reader as to the season.
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What about you? What kind of music do you like? Do you tweet during a favorite show or event?
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