Customer Reviews

Murder Most Romantic: Passionate Tales of Life and Death

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Murder Most Romantic is Cumberland Houses's latest edition of its "Murder Most..." series., including Murder Most Medieval, Murder Most Delectable, etc. The idea behind each anthology is to combine previously published works under one volume to create the "ultimate" murder mystery collection for avid fans. Martin Greenberg, a/k/a Mr. Anthology, is President of TEKNO Books in Green Bay. His partner in this series, Dennis Little, is an authority on romance writing.

Combining romance and mystery is a little like serving chili and potato soup together; each genre serves up a hearty meal for fans. But the mix proves to be unexpectedly enjoyable for the reader, as the romances involved do not always focus on the strict regimen of "getting the dream man in the end." Indeed, Laura Resnick's "Homicidal Honeymoon" opens with a woman who has temporary lost her memory and identity waking up with a corpse in her bed:

"She developed a theory. `Someone hit me over the head and killed him...' But who? And why? And what should she do now? Trying to ignore her aching head, she wrapped a threadbare towel around herself, turned, and went out onto the balcony. Her room, she discovered, was on the second floor of a grubby pale building in a rundown semi-urban street."

There are a few stories about theater, including P.N. Elrod's "The Scottish Ploy" and Neesa Hart's "The Show Must Go On." For computer heads there is a virtual reality computer story entitled "Twelve Days," by Laura Hayden ... by Diane A.S. Stuckart. A wonderful ghost story entitled "Keeper of the Well" by Deb Stover brings tears with its sweetness. "Hostage to Love" by Mary Watson appeals to today's headlines.

All in all, Cumberland House has done a nice job of compiling a variety of mysteries where love plays a central role. These stories are well written, entertaining, and keeps the reader so interested that one story naturally flows into the other. This reviewer sat up late finishing the book so as not to miss a scary love morsel...

Who knew? Romance writers are so accustomed to being put down, or categorized in an easily-overlooked (but usually very readable) niche, that it's amazing to find out how many of them are so talented and multi-published in other genres. My heartiest congratulations to all the authors in this terrific book, which I somehow missed the first time around.

There are a dozen stories here, which could be either mostly mystery with a touch of romance, or else romantic stories with a touch of mystery. Regardless, they're all simply top-notch! (The blurb for the hard-cover edition says it has sixteen stories, but the paperback definitely has twelve.)

Authors included are: Laura Resnick, P. N. Elrod, Diane A. S. Stuckart, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Yvonne Jocks, Mary Watson, Susan Sizemore, Jody Lynn Nye, Deb Stover, D. R. Meredith, Neesa Hart and Laura Hayden. There's not a clunker in the bunch.

Most of the stories are set in the U.S. (or very nearby) ranging from big-city to the large empty spaces of the Texas pan-handle. One is rather ambiguous in location as well as time. One is a time-travel, and one uses cyber-space as a major character. Love and romance do figure largely in these stories, but with varying degrees of either or both. I found it very difficult to put down, and would encourage any forward-thinking publisher to do a new collection of similar stories. Even one a year wouldn't be too many, to my way of thinking. Brava to all concerned!