Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Paranormal Romantic Suspense/Mysteries Series

by Madelle Morgan


The RTG theme this month is paranormal romance. Although I don’t write ‘em, for pure entertainment I sure love to read light mystery/suspense with a psychic heroine in a relationship with a yummy hero. Here are three of my favorite series.

First book in the series.
Author Victoria Laurie’s Psychic Eye cozy mysteries

The heroine, Abby Cooper, is a professional psychic whose boyfriend Dutch is a hunky FBI agent. Her best friend Candice is a private investigator. Abby uses her gift to help solve Dutch and Candice’s cases. Needless to say this regularly puts Abby in life-threatening danger. 

A cool aspect of this eleven book series is that it’s written by a professional psychic. The reader therefore gets insight into how a real life psychic receives information from “her crew” aka her spirit guides. 

Dog lovers: Abby owns an adorable dachshund named Eggy.



Author Heather Webber’s Lucy Valentine cozy mysteries
First book in the series.

Another must-buy for me is the latest fun mystery novel about psychic Lucy Valentine and her developing romance with a gorgeous former firefighter turned private investigator. 

As the series progresses Lucy comes to terms with her unique talent – finding lost items – and applies it as the head of the Lost Loves Division in her father’s matchmaking business. (He makes clients fill out extensive forms, but actually reads their auras to find a match.) 

You’d think finding lost loves would be straightforward for a psychic, but Lucy keeps getting mixed up in murder. If you’re feeling a bit down, the humor in this four book series is the perfect antidote. The well-drawn characters in her family are very amusing. 

Cat lovers: Lucy has a special three legged cat named Grendel.

First contemporary in the series.
Author Jayne Anne Krentz’s Arcane Society series. 

Jayne says on her website that this series is “romantic suspense with a psychic twist.” The very old Arcane Society is a secret society devoted to psychical research. 

Members genetically pass on their gifts to the next generation, and avid readers can follow families through the decades. 

Each stand alone book is set either in the past or present day and describes a uniquely gifted heroine and hero’s dangerous journey to love and commitment.  The Arcane Society has a matchmaking service to bring together gifted members but these special talents seem to find each other irregardless. Because the books in this series are either contemporaries or historicals written under three pseudonyms, to find them it's easiest to consult the list of twelve books in the series.

Two reasons I love the Arcane Society series are:
  • the hero and heroine both have powerful psychic abilities, creating a dynamic that REALLY complicates their relationship, and
  • the psychic abilities are actually DIFFERENT - not the usual clairvoyant or psychometry types. Jayne’s wonderful imagination creates incredible psychic gifts that will intrigue the most jaded reader of paranormal romantic suspense.


 Which paranormal romance series do you enjoy?

4 comments:

Judith Ashley said...

I remember reading and enjoying some early Arcane Society books but I've not read much in this genre for a very long time. I do like Sarah Addison Allen but I think her books are considered magickal realism and I'm not sure if that is a sub genre of paranormal or not.

Sarah Raplee said...

Hi Madelle,

Thanks for introducing me to a couple of new-to-me authors! Can't wait to read the books in their two series. I'm already a Jayne Ann Krentz fan.

Since you referred to the first two series as 'cozy mysteries', does that mean they can only be found in the mystery section of the bookstore?

These books sound like a romance/cozy mystery hybrid. AWESOME!

Madelle Morgan said...

Hi Sarah,

Yes, the Victoria Laurie and Heather Webber books are shelved in the mystery sections. Although the romance is a subplot, the evolving relationships are definitely an element of these series.

Diana McCollum said...

I think the only series I've read are the Jane Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick ones. I like most paranormal, just haven't read a lot of series.