Mystery Love

When I think about murder mysteries, love is not the first thing that comes to my mind. But on this most romantic of days, I’m wondering why not. Love can be a compelling motive for murder—at least in fiction. Protecting a loved one or being spurned by a lover has been reason enough for many a villain to kill. But over my mystery-reading life, at least 30 years, the protagonist’s love life has been getting more and more attention.

I think that attention is warranted. Love is an essential part of life and therefore, part of the character’s story. My main character, Frances is an amateur sleuth. Solving crime is not the job of an amateur sleuth. They have regular lives that are disrupted by a crime. Like all the rest of us, in those regular lives they are either looking for love, running away from love, falling in love, comfortably in a relationship with their loved ones, or breaking up from a bad one.  

As a writer, I can really dig into my characters through their relationships, be they romantic or otherwise, but in those romantic relationships I learn so much about their vulnerabilities. What are they drawn to? What are they afraid of? What’s that one false step a character can take that would simply destroy a relationship? And would anything ever compel them to take that step?

I’ve loved writing the romance between my sleuth, Frances and her neighbor, the ever-gallant George Hazelton. I had expected their romance to be a much slower burn, but I don’t always have control of these characters. I find that when I’m struggling with a scene, it’s usually because a character is resisting something I’m trying to make them do (or stop doing). I thought George should be more aloof. He disagreed. I finally let him have his way and it turns out he was right.

So, readers, what’s your opinion? Do you like your sleuths to have a love interest or some romance in their lives?