Welcome back for the third week of our romance extravaganza! Last week we took a look at the wide world of contemporary romance and a little comedy romance. This week, grab your 9mm because we are sprinting into the fast-paced, and often dangerous world of romantic suspense.

Like contemporary, romantic suspense can have sub-sub-genres that move into different time periods, but the common element is that they all center around a mystery. Some are more sweet and cozy, while others have a lot of grit and gory details. Every one of these is the beginning of a series. Here are a few of my favorites:

One for the Money Series

I know I already mentioned this, but it classifies as both comedy and romantic suspense, so I'm listing it twice. Really, it is worth checking out. Click here for what I said about it before.

Body Movers Series

Anyone else work in retail and find themselves wanting to commit murder? You'll like this. A woman is forced to abandon her old privliged life to support her brother when her parents disappear. After losing her retail job, she has to make ends meet helping a hunky hero take bodies from crime scenes to the morgue. Did I mention her first love is the main suspect in her first case? I found this book so relatable — worth picking up.

Honeymoon

James Patterson is a master of pacing, and this story is no exception. I picked it up while taking his Masterclass, which I have commented before on here. In this story, we follow an FBI agent as he tracks a black widow. Only when he gets close to her does he start to fall under the same spell. For all the men reading this, this story is told more from the man’s point of view. I recommend it highly.

Her Royal Spyness Series

This series I would call on the more sweet side, which is not to say that there isn't an element of grit or danger. Really if you love the 1930s, Clue, or British royal history, this is the series for you. I'm surprised more people don't talk about this one.

A royal heir is forced to move to London during the Depression, but without a husband or an inheritance, she must get creative to keep up with appearances as she is asked to become a spy for her cousin's wife, the Queen of England, while a certain handsome Irishman seems determined to follow her.

Naked in Death Series

Set in NYC around 2040, the “In Death” series follows Lt. Eve Dallas ask she fights off serial killers and falls in love with the world's richest man.

I love this series. I mean I love it. Did I mention I love it? I've read all of them, which is saying something as there are almost sixty books. I know the characters like family and can rattle off the backstories of the secondary and tertiary characters because I connect with all of them so so so well.

Not convinced to give this a try? Let me tell you that I first listened to Naked in Death on CD in my car driving to my high school. One morning I was rear-ended (bumped) by another student in his dad's truck, and even though my parents (Mom) freaked out, I was super chill because I was listening to this story. I remember being more annoyed I had to press pause because some kid didn't know how to use their breaks.

As a rule, I didn't get the Book on CD after that because I didn't want to have to wait until I was driving to finish the book. That's when I started reading the “In Death” series during that same physics class where I read Janet Evanovich. I can still remember reading a scene where we first meet a critical character who enjoys jazz music while some idiot next to me was talking about events with his girlfriend that probably never happened. Again, I still got an A and liked the teacher. In my defense, the class was my first non-advanced or regular class since fifth grade and after AP Chem well, let’s just say I enjoyed the relaxed pace. Probably should’ve taken AP Bio instead, but then again that would’ve cut into my reading time.

Got anything I missed? I'm sure you do. Drop me a comment below! I need to expand my look into this sub-genre. I've been pre-occupied with next week's sub-genre for a long, long time.

Get ready folks because next week is paranormal romance. Y'all better get ready to clutch those pearls because I know a LOT about this category, and you might be surprised to find something you like.

It's not all weird, just a little to the left of ordinary.

See you soon...

Kathryn