A Mix of Romance and Murder

Our theme for February, Partnerships, brought to mind book and TV series where the main characters are a couple who solves crimes in the manner of Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man series.

Though the Hammett books were more in the true mystery genre tone, most people will remember the movies, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, which tended toward the lighter side. Smart, funny, and urbane, the movies brought more people to the books and vice versa.

So what mystery books in today’s bookstore/library shelves carry on the tradition of either a married couple or a male/female partnership in a personal relationship? TV series?

The most popular series that comes to mind is J.D. Robb’s futuristic Death series. Though not married when the first book debuted in 1995, New York police lieutenant Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband Rourke—no first name—balance their relationship with her job as a cop. These novels are far darker than The Thin Man books and movies, and the fact that the latest addition is number 45 confirms their popularity.

Catherine Coulter is another female author writing a male/female team in her Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock FBI Thriller series, with a mere 22 entries. Again, these two are not married when the series begins, and the relationship builds as the series progresses. In real life, I doubt the FBI would allow a married couple to work together on the same case, though they can both work for the FBI. But alas, this is fiction, and a writer can do pretty much what she wants, claiming artistic license.

Faye Kellerman, another female author writes the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series. He’s a cop, she’s an Orthodox Jew who helps him solve crimes. I haven’t read any of this series, but it’s an interesting premise. It also reminds me of the Harry Kemelman series about a rabbi in Marblehead, Massachusetts, who solves crimes using the Talmud. Since I grew up in the next town, I read that series and loved it. I noticed that they’ve been released as ebooks after all these decades.

But I digress.

Another series of novels made into TV shows with husband and wife team comes to mind―Mr. and Mrs. North, taken from the 26 books by Frances and Richard Lockridge and starring Richard Denning and Barbara Britton in the second reiteration. I doubt many people remember this TV show from the 50s, but I do. In reruns, of course.

In the late 70s, early 80s, Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers starred in Hart to Hart, a husband and wife team who find themselves in the role of amateur detectives. It was a huge success and though not based on a book series, it was written by Sidney Sheldon, one of the master fiction writers of his time.

I would be remiss not to mention my series, the Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series, with a black cop and a psychic entertainer who join forces and mix a bit of woo-woo with some tried and true police procedures. Initially, they dislike each other, but that doesn’t last long because I find that formula cliché. So far, there are four books in a series I never expected to be a series.

Reverting to those mentioned above, the bottom line, in more ways than one, is that series sell. If you start one, you’d better like your characters enough to let them grow and evolve, because they may be around for a long time.

Jot your favorites in the comments section. (Any written by men?)

Polly Iyer is the author of nine novels: standalones Hooked, InSight, Murder Déjà Vu, Threads, and Indiscretion, and four books in the Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series, Mind Games, Goddess of the Moon, Backlash and The Scent of Murder. A Massachusetts native, she makes her home in the beautiful Piedmont region of South Carolina. You can visit her website for more on Polly and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.