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The most romantic mysteries you've ever read (2008)
Just before Valentine's Day 2008, we asked: "What is the most romantic mystery novel you've ever read?" We offered a small prize to everyone who responded, and a grand prize -- a $35 gift certificate -- to the explanation we like best. We'll get to the grand prize winner in a moment, but first a few of our favorite runners-up:
THIS ROUGH MAGIC by Mary Stewart
The sun-drenched Isle of Corfu, an out-of-work actress on holiday, the arrogant son of a famous Shakespearean actor, a young Greek god on a motorcycle ... and a body on the beach. Sigh.
AUNT DIMITY'S DEATH by Nancy Atherton
The entire Aunt Dimity series is quite romantic. I chose the first in the series because that's where Lori Shepherd not only meets the love of her life, Bill Willis, but also falls in love with her English country cottage and discovers the otherwordly love of Dimity. The Aunt Dimity books are sweet, gentle, kind, uplifting. Sounds pretty romantic to me!
Nancy Martin's Blackbird Sisters mysteries
All of them, because the romance between Mick and Nora is so well drawn. He will do anything for her, even if it's wrong. Anything.
Any of J.D. Robb's DEATH series but especially NAKED IN DEATH
The initial chemistry between the wealthy not-so-ex con man Roarke and the tough-as-nails-but vulnerable NY cop Eve Dallas is hot, but it is the true meeting of two damaged souls who fall in love against all odds that makes this series wonderful. In each and every book, Eve and Roark's love grows stronger. And they are also well-written police procedurals, set in a slightly distant future.
REFLECTING THE SKY by S.J. Rozan
The series features young (twenty-something) PI Lydia Chin and her older, more experienced partner Bill Smith. With each book, Rozan provides additional glimpses into their very close but complex relationship. Bill and Lydia are vastly different, from different cultures and with different perspectives on life, but that only seems to draw them closer, not further apart... The serious and adult treatment Rozan affords these characters and their complicated relationship is nothing short of brilliant.
These are just a few of the major highlights among the many responses we received -- great writers, great series and great romances. We recommend them all, and encourage you to give them a try if you're not already familiar with them.
But by far the consensus choice for most romantic mystery ever -- cited by nearly one third of all respondents -- was Dorothy L. Sayers and her couple Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. We had votes for HAVE HIS CARCASE, GAUDY NIGHT and BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON. Add in STRONG POISON, and that's all four books in which the couple appears. (Odd that STRONG POISON wasn't nominated. It's easily as romantic as the others, plus it has the nice secondary romance between Parker and Lady Mary.)
It's easy to see why Peter and Harriet are such as a beguiling couple. They meet under impossible circumstances: Harriet on trial for the murder of her lover (STRONG POISON). They spend most of their next encounter hurling insults at each other (HAVE HIS CARCASE). Harriet and Peter spend weeks apart while she investigates shennigans at Oxford, all the while examining the lives of the women around her -- and her own life -- in perhaps the finest contemplation of heart and mind in all of fiction (GAUDY NIGHT). And finally, Peter and Harriet face the delightful reality of marriage (BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON).
We had many good Sayers comments to choose from. Here's our favorite, from Julia Buckley, winner of a $35 gift certificate:
HAVE HIS CARCASE by Dorothy Sayers
Peter is pursuing Harriet and has been ever since STRONG POISON, where he fell in love basically at first sight, when he saw Harriet on trial for murder. But there is a lovely scene in HAVE HIS CARCASE when Peter tells Harriet he would love to see her in a claret-colored gown. Harriet seems to ignore him, but later she is dancing at a seaside resort, wearing a claret-colored gown, and it's obvious she's done it for Peter, and that she's been thinking about him. Harriet feels self-conscious because Peter hasn't praised her dancing: "Darling, if you danced like an elderly elephant with arthritis, I would dance the sun and the moon into the sea with you. I have waited a thousand years to see you dance in that frock."
Buy Dorothy Sayers novels from The Mystery Company now!
Thanks to everyone who participated in this!
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