I am very excited to have M. Louisa Locke here today doing a guest post about romance in her mystery series and discuss her new book, Bloody Lessons.
What’s love got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion?
Okay, the title for this post dates me. Who quotes Tina Turner anymore? But that song is what went through my mind as I thought about the role of romance in my Victorian San Francisco mysteries. I write historical mysteries, in the cozy vein, and romance is a definitely a part of my stories. But love has to compete with both the historical setting and the mystery plot and I know that, for some readers, romance (or love) might seem out of place.
But for me, the romance is as important as the history or the mystery, and it isn’t second hand or second best.
Regency romances by Geogette Heyer are what inspired me to be a writer, and my hope is that readers get the same enjoyment from following the romantic arc of my two main protagonists, Annie Fuller and Nate Dawson, as I get from following the romance in a Heyer novel. When the series opens with Maids of Misfortune, Annie is a widow who has had a very unhappy first marriage (her husband lost her fortune and then took his own life), and after five miserable years living at the beck and call of in-laws who blamed her for their son’s death, she has finally gained some economic independence. As a result, she is very wary of any relationship with a man. Nate Dawson is a fairly conventional young man and a lawyer who is frustrated by the minor role he has as the junior member of his uncle’s law firm. He finds Annie’s independent streak frustrating but strangely attractive. Needless to say, the romance between these two people does not progress smoothly.
Unlike a traditional romance, which usually depends on the happily-ever-after occurring by the end of the book, a mystery novel must resolve the mystery, not the romance. As Conan Doyle discovered with Sherlock and Watson, mysteries work well when you can have two people detecting. They can bounce ideas off of each other, split the work in interviewing witnesses, and it increases the sense of tension when one of them gets in danger. For me, all of this works even better when the two sleuths are of the opposite sex and romantically attracted to each other.
One of the first mystery authors to blend mystery and romance this way was Dorothy Sayers with her Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane series. When I discovered her work forty years ago, I learned that I liked being able to savor the development of a romance over several books and, ever since then, I have found that I enjoy mysteries with a romantic element more than I do straight mysteries. I get to try to solve the puzzle at the core of the mystery, while enjoying the romantic tension between the couples along the way.
The fourth book in the Wimsey-Vane books, Busman’s Honeymoon, carried the couple past the happily-ever-after moment and other mystery series with a romantic element often do that same – continuing to develop a couple’s relationship once love had been declared or a proposal accepted. Deborah Crombie’s contemporary mystery series with detectives Kincaide and James is an excellent example of this. As with life, it is often what happens after a couple gets together that is the real challenge and it is one I look forward to exploring with Annie Fuller and Nate Dawson.
Finally, there is the historical aspect of my mysteries. It has always been the emotional rather than the physical side of romance that intrigues me, which is one of the reasons my mysteries are in the cozy style. Since my series is set in late 19th century San Francisco, its historical setting actually helps rather than detracts from the romantic arc. The social norms that constrain Annie and Nate from acting on their physical desires just add to the romantic tension within the stories. For example, Annie is so busy trying to maintain her independence that she keeps getting in trouble and needing to be rescued — the last thing she wants. Nate, on the other hand, is so busy doing the honorable thing that he is in danger of losing everything. In a contemporary novel, the behavior of both Annie and Nate might be seen as hopelessly old-fashioned and unrealistic. But in a Victorian historical mystery, they actually appear incredibly modern!
At the same time, the fact that these two persons are engaged in solving crimes means that it is easy to spice up the romance with danger. Romantic suspense is fun to do when women have long skirts and corsets to contend with while fighting off the bad guys and men are trying to act like gentlemen while having revolvers at their hips.
In short, I happen to believe that romance is the perfect complement to an historical mystery, and I plan to never stop blending the three. In Bloody Lessons, my newest book in the series, I even get to lay the ground-work for a new romantic couple, just as Annie and Nate’s relationship hits a turning point. Because, what love has to do with it is everything!
About the Author:
M. Louisa Locke is a retired professor of U.S. and Women’s History, who has embarked on a second career as an historical fiction writer. The published books in her series of historical mysteries set in Victorian San Francisco, Maids of Misfortune, Uneasy Spirits, and Bloody Lessons, feature Annie Fuller, a boardinghouse owner and reluctant clairvoyant, and Nate Dawson, a San Francisco lawyer, who together investigate murders and other crimes, while her short stories, Dandy Detects and The Miss Moffets Mend a Marriage, give secondary characters from this series a chance to get involved in their own minor mysteries. Locke is an active member in the Alliance of Independent Authors, and a Director of the Historical Fiction Authors Cooperative.
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In Bloody Lessons, it’s the winter of 1880, and the teachers of San Francisco are under attack: their salaries slashed and their competency and morals questioned in a series of poison pen letters.
Annie Fuller, the reluctant clairvoyant, has been called into investigate by Nate Dawson, her lawyer beau, and the case becomes personal when they discover that Laura, Nate’s sister, may be one of the teachers targeted for attack.
In this installment in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, readers will find the same blend of a cozy mystery with romantic suspense, played out against the historical backdrop of late 19th century San Francisco, that they found in Maids of Misfortune and Uneasy Spirits.
If you are new to this series, you will still enjoy spending time with the lively residents of Annie Fuller’s boarding house and visiting San Francisco when Golden Gate Park was filled with horse-drawn carriages, saloon-keepers controlled politics, and kisses were stolen under gaslight.
My Review (4 Stars): Bloody Lessons is the third book in the Victorian San Francisco mystery series and I really liked the story in this one. I loved the first book, Maids of Misfortune and it was a treat to see how Annie and Nate’s relationship have developed over the books. In this book, Nate’s sister, Laura, is living in Annie’s boarding house and working as a teacher in a nearby school. She is attacked in the very beginning of the book which leads to mysterious events that make her wonder if she being followed by a person from her past. I loved the historical aspect of these books and I think that Annie is a great character that I always like learning more about. Bloody Lessons was a delightful mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed and am looking forward to reading more in the series.
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