A Little Romance with Your Mystery?

On Writing Mysteries with a Romantic Subplot

by Shéa MacLeod

I admit it, I love mysteries, but I always want a bit of romance (or a lot of romance) mixed in. I remember when I first read Agatha Christie. I loved her novels, but I always thought, “You know, this couple would be perfect together. This is the exact moment that we should get a hint they’re going to live happily ever after. I want more romance!”

You might point out that Christie did, in fact, often hint at romantic involvements, but it wasn’t explicit enough for my taste. I don’t mean explicit in the sexual sense, but rather in the sense of romance. Of giving me, the reader, that wonderful satisfaction of knowing that not only have these two people survived a killer and justice been served, but they are now madly in love and their future is bright.

“But it’s hard to get romantic when there’s a dead body involved.”

I beg to differ! There’s something intrinsically romantic about trying to solve a puzzle together, seeking justice together, protecting each other. Isn’t that the heart and soul of a committed relationship? Isn’t that what we all want? Someone to cherish and protect who will do the same for us?

I suppose that is why when I started writing my cozy mysteries, I wanted to make sure that there was always a romantic subplot. Human relationships are the most fascinating thing to me. In fact, they’re usually the reason the victim is murdered in the first place! Jealousy is the dark underbelly of love, and such an excellent motive for murder. So I wanted to explore the various aspects of human relationships. Not just those that resulted in death or betrayal, but those that resulted in happiness.

The beauty of having a long-term protagonist from book to book is that I get to explore those relationships over time. I’m not focused on getting the Happily Ever After by the end of book one (after all, these are not Romantic Mysteries which would require that!), but rather I’m exploring the process of getting to that Happily Ever After over time. That includes the occasional misunderstanding, bump in the road, or even break up in one instance.

But being a romantic at heart (and a reader and writer of romance), I always keep the rules of romance in mind, even when writing a cozy mystery. I want to give my readers satisfying endings. Not just that the mystery is solved, but that the relationship between my heroine and her hero is moving forward. Maybe the pace is slower, but they’re getting there.

And that’s the key, I think, to meeting reader expectations when it comes to romance in mysteries, whether you are writing a full-on romance with a mystery subplot, or a mystery with a romantic subplot. It must be satisfying, always. Because we all live for Happily Ever After. Even when murder is involved.

Shéa MacLeod is the author of the bestselling Lady Rample Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in jazz-era London, as well as the contemporary Viola Roberts Cozy Mysteries.

She lives in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest where she fuels her writing habit with copious amounts coffee, wine, and chocolate.

Website: https://www.sheamacleod.com/

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