The subgenres of mystery fiction have all waxed and waned through the years, including romantic suspense (which is kind of a half-breed, being a subgenre of the romance category, too). Although it's often said that romantic suspense is an enormously difficult category to market effectively, the genre, perhaps first personifed by the recently-deceased Phyllis A. Whitney, still seems to be holding its own with authors like best-selling Nora Roberts/JD Robb, who last year won the Quill Award for Best Book of the Year, and Elizabeth Lowell, whose Blue Smoke and Murder will have 200,000 copies in its first printing in May. It's a guilty pleasure for some, but this seeing as how this is Valentine's Day, go ahead and indulge yoruself--grab your copy of that dog-eared Mary Roberts Rinehart (or maybe hide it under that copy of Newsweek, if you must), pop a few hazelnut truffles and enjoy.
Barbara Peters, of Poisoned Pen Books, recently posted her suggested reading list of mysteries for Valentine's Day:
- Isis Crawford - A Catered Valentine's Day
- Ruth Dudley Edwards - The Saint Valentine's Day Murders
- Andrew M. Greeley - St. Valentine's Night
- George Dawes Green - The Caveman's Valentine
- Lee Harris - The Valentine's Day Murder
- Carolyn G. Hart - Deadly Valentine
- G.A. McKevett - Sugar and Spite
- Dougal McLeish - The Valentine Victim
- Leslie Meier - Valentine Murder
- Denise Swanson - Murder of a Pink Elephant
For more recommendations, check out the "Love Can Be Murder" list, courtesy of the Springfield City Library.
Or if cozies are more your taste, try this list from the Cozy Mystery site.
And for all you guys out there -- diamonds may be forever, but remember that chocolate is an aphrodisiac...
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