Hello there. I’m curious to see if anyone could recommend me any romance/romance-adjacent novels that are also murder mysteries. Specifically, I’d love it if they were mysteries similar to that of Agatha Christie/’parlor room’ murder mysteries.
If possible, I’m sort of aiming for a book that fits this prompt that would be:
\-not too heavy — I don’t mind it being dark, given the genre, but just not overly grim
\-relatively short (less than 400 pages ideally)
\-LGBTQ+ romance if possible (happy to read straight romance as well, though!)
Thanks for any and all help!
by blueeyesredlipstick
5 Comments
Have you read Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence series, about a young couple who fall in love and sleuth together? It’s delightful, I think there are four.
Plus, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? is a romance plus a mystery.
There are the mystery novels – a bit dated now but still good – by Mary Stewart, which always include a romance of the wholesome sort. eg The Gabriel Hounds, Airs Above The Ground.
*The Mimicking of Known Successes*, by Malka Older. 166 pp. Meets all your criteria.
Check out Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Sweeney series. I admittedly haven’t read the entire thing. It’s a straight series. I believe hallmark made some movies based on the books too.
Another commenter has suggested the Tommy and Tuppence series; there’s also the Lord Peter Whimsey series by Dorothy L. Sayers.
For a more American feel, there’s the Thin Man novels by Dashiell Hammett.
Have you read any of Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter novels? He is my first and most enduring book boyfriend and so dreamy that is widely accepted that the ‘Harriet Vain’ character he falls for is essentially just a proxy for Sayers herself. No idea if it’s true or not, but I’ve also heard he is based on a guy she fell for at Oxford who died in WWI.
In any case, if you just want the books with Harriet, they start with ‘Strong Poison’, then ‘Have His Carcase’, ‘Gaudy Night’ and finally ‘Busman’s Honeymoon’.