As part of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s 60th anniversary celebrations, I thought I’d invite some suspense and romantic suspense writers onto the blog over the next few weeks to talk about how they incorporate the two genres.

First up is Lynda Stacey …

 

Romantic suspense comes in many forms, how would you describe the sort you write?

I’d say that all of my novels are very character driven. I write in deep third person, which gives the reader all the happiness, but also all the fear of the heroine. I always try to get empathy for my heroine, before escalating the suspense.

Is it as straightforward as calling it romance?

Not at all. Romance is exactly that, it’s the meeting of two people, the chemistry between them and the joining of their lives. Suspense comes in many different forms, the only two things you can be sure of in a suspense book is that the heroine isn’t going to get a smooth ride during the story and that once she does get love, she really deserves it.

What is it about romantic suspense that draws you to write it or include it in your books?

Because I honestly don’t believe that everyone’s life is full of roses, mine certainly wasn’t. Yes, of course people meet and fall in love, but in this day and age, there are always family members, ex-partners and other ‘nasty’ people who want to spoil things. I am however quite sure that most people’s lives don’t include serial killers or murder. But in my novels, my poor heroines are given quite a battle, they normally get quite a lot thrown at them, but being kick-ass type women they do grow within the book, gain confidence and ultimately, … they always win the battle in both life and love.!!

What sort of balance between the romance element and the suspense element do you have?

I try to ensure that both parts of the book would stand alone, that without the romance the crime would be there, and it would work. But equally, that there is always enough chemistry between my two main characters that the romance part of the story could still have happened, even if the suspense/crime hadn’t.

Do you come up against any regular misconceptions about the genre and how do you dispel these?

A lot of people seem to think that if you write any genre that has the word romance in it, then you must write books similar to Fifty Shades of Grey. That they obviously must be graphic or that they’re only for women to read.

None of the above is true. My books are nothing like Fifty Shades of Grey, they’re not graphic although they do contain one or two sexual scenes within each book (which I’d like to think are tastefully done) Also, I know quite a few men who’ve read my books. I openly encourage men to give them a go. !!

Blurb

Should some secrets stay buried?
For as long as Cassie Hunt can remember her Aunt Aggie has spoken about the forgotten world that exists just below their feet, in the tunnels and catacombs of the Sand House. The story is what inspired Cassie to become an archaeologist.
But Aggie has a secret that she’s buried as deep as the tunnels and when excavation work begins on the site, Cassie is the only one who can help her keep it. With the assistance of her old university friend, Noah Flanagan, she puts into action a plan to honour Aggie’s wishes.
It seems the deeper Noah and Cassie dig, the more shocking the secrets uncovered – and danger is never far away, both above and below the ground …