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A Perfect Match
I started out in romance, so even though this is a mystery series, you can bet I’ll have a romance of some sort in there J Coming up with a romance that works is the key. And making sure the romance doesn’t become center stage is also a fine balance. In order to accomplish that, I make sure that every scene has something to do with the mystery in some way. It can still be a romantic scene, but they will either get interrupted with a phone call or discover a clue or work something out in their heads that revolves around the mystery in some way. As long as you do that, then I think a romance only adds to a cozy mystery.
Everyone always says cozy mysteries are all about the characters. I love creating characters, so for me, every genre is all about the characters. They important thing to do is create a great chemistry between your characters in order to make the reader root for them and actually want to see them together. I really tried to do that with my two main characters Sunshine Meadows and Detective Mitch Stone.
Sunny is so much fun to write. I just love her bubbly attitude and quirky ways. She comes from a world-renowned cardiologist for a father and a no-nonsense lawyer for a mother. But she’s nothing like them, and in fact, rebels against everything they stand for. She shops at thrift stores and gets her hair cut for free at cosmetology schools. She doesn’t wear make-up, drives an old beat-up VW bug with flowers painted on the sides, and even her career as a fortune teller is unconventional. She loves tea and coco, looking at the world through warm and fuzzy glasses. She always sees the positive side of life even when things get tough.
Whereas Mitch is a hard-nosed and cynical non-believer. He takes his job way too seriously and doesn’t know how to have fun. He’s a loner. A wounded alpha male who has no idea how much he really needs a woman like Sunny in his life. He needs to loosen up, learn to move beyond his pessimism and open his heart to love again. We don’t know much about his past, but Sunny knows the payoff for being patient and helping him peel back the layers will be worth it in the end.
I am having a blast watching them spar with each other, and even more fun witnessing the tender moments between them as they grow closer. One thing I hate is reading a series where the main love interests never grow or change. Just because they take the next step in their relationship, doesn’t mean the fun is over. They can still have setbacks and new challenges they must overcome, with plenty of chemistry along the way. So stay tuned and watch the sparks fly as Detective Grumpy Pants and Tink move forward. And tell me, what do you love most about romance in mysteries? What do you like to see or what don’t you want to see in your romance? Inquiring minds want to know J
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Psychic Sunshine Meadows makes a dark discovery in the woods…
After clearing her name as the prime suspect in a murder, Sunny Meadows hopes she can finally enjoy some serenity in the idyllic town of Divinity in upstate New York. She’d also like a second chance with Detective Mitch Stone. But when Mitch’s gorgeous ex-girlfriend Isabel Gonzales shows up, Sunny’s not sure she can compete. Then Isabel mysteriously disappears. When the police turn to Sunny for help, her visions lead to the discovery of Isabel’s corpse in the woods. Before she died, Isabel scrawled a message in the dirt implicating Mitch in her murder. Now Sunny must help the man she’s falling in love with as she sets out to find the real killer. But this time Sunny’s clairvoyant abilities might not save her—as what she doesn’t see can hurt her…
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