Readers enjoy stories of people falling in love, even ones where nothing more exciting happens than boy meets girl. When things get complicated by conflict or danger, they like it even better. Romantic suspense authors like Nora Roberts regularly top the best seller lists, since contests between heroes and villains make good reading.
The mystery is a fairly new twist in what many think of as romance novels. Contract authors retain the central theme of a beautiful, naive woman meeting a strong, enigmatic male. The mystery angle brings in private eyes, law enforcement officers, or government agents rather than the usual cowboys, boys next door, or exotic millionaires.
However, novelists like Nora Roberts offer a lot more to their readers. Roberts has set a high standard with believable characters in real-life dilemmas. Her dialogue is intriguing and the struggles of her characters absorbing. There are no throw-away scenes that advance the plot or fulfill a formula.
Roberts moved from straight romance novels to mysteries, writing under the name J. D. Robb. Her New York police detective's relationship with her husband is the key theme, although crime moves the plot along.
Mystery writers have long included romantic themes in their books (opinions differ on whether mysteries are suspense novels or whether the two genres are different.) When Dorothy L. Sayers had her aristocratic hero, Lord Peter Whimsey, finally fall in love, the object of his desire was charged with murder and refusing to help her own defense. The theme of frustrated love was developed to the point that some critics suggested Sayers was in love with her own character - but her readers loved it.
Martha Grimes has characters so complicated that some readers lose patience. Others, however, get absolutely addicted to her morose, handsome hero, Inspector Richard Jury. His friends, acquaintances, and fairly numerous lovers are funny or ridiculous, driven or inhibited, rich and poor - but never boring. Even her bad guys are complex. One of them is a perennial suspect, with Jury never quite sure of the whole story.
Dick Francis wrote thrillers based on steeplechase racing in England. One character is a private investigator, but others are architects, pilots, stud farm owners, and the like. These heroes encounter terrifying bad guys, but many fall in love in the midst of murder and mayhem. Sometimes the ins and out of love follow a character through more than one novel.
Many authors are tops in the romance suspense field for the brilliance of their plots and the excellence of their writing. A great novelist creates characters that develop over time, in a series of books, and may become as much a part of reality for readers as do the 'real life' people they know.
The mystery is a fairly new twist in what many think of as romance novels. Contract authors retain the central theme of a beautiful, naive woman meeting a strong, enigmatic male. The mystery angle brings in private eyes, law enforcement officers, or government agents rather than the usual cowboys, boys next door, or exotic millionaires.
However, novelists like Nora Roberts offer a lot more to their readers. Roberts has set a high standard with believable characters in real-life dilemmas. Her dialogue is intriguing and the struggles of her characters absorbing. There are no throw-away scenes that advance the plot or fulfill a formula.
Roberts moved from straight romance novels to mysteries, writing under the name J. D. Robb. Her New York police detective's relationship with her husband is the key theme, although crime moves the plot along.
Mystery writers have long included romantic themes in their books (opinions differ on whether mysteries are suspense novels or whether the two genres are different.) When Dorothy L. Sayers had her aristocratic hero, Lord Peter Whimsey, finally fall in love, the object of his desire was charged with murder and refusing to help her own defense. The theme of frustrated love was developed to the point that some critics suggested Sayers was in love with her own character - but her readers loved it.
Martha Grimes has characters so complicated that some readers lose patience. Others, however, get absolutely addicted to her morose, handsome hero, Inspector Richard Jury. His friends, acquaintances, and fairly numerous lovers are funny or ridiculous, driven or inhibited, rich and poor - but never boring. Even her bad guys are complex. One of them is a perennial suspect, with Jury never quite sure of the whole story.
Dick Francis wrote thrillers based on steeplechase racing in England. One character is a private investigator, but others are architects, pilots, stud farm owners, and the like. These heroes encounter terrifying bad guys, but many fall in love in the midst of murder and mayhem. Sometimes the ins and out of love follow a character through more than one novel.
Many authors are tops in the romance suspense field for the brilliance of their plots and the excellence of their writing. A great novelist creates characters that develop over time, in a series of books, and may become as much a part of reality for readers as do the 'real life' people they know.
About the Author:
You can visit mjflournoy.com for more helpful information about Romantic Suspense Authors Like Nora Roberts.
No comments:
Post a Comment