Suspence Romance

To answer your question, one would have to know how the love is saved.

And for a good example of this sub-genre, I recommend Lisa Unger's Beautiful Lies.

Admittedly, that book is heavier on the suspense than it is the romance, but to me it reads like a hard-boiled Harlequin -- and Unger pulls it off very well. And I know for a fact she's sold a lot of books.

Generally, romantic suspense has a lot of emphasis on the romance. I would have to say it's nearly 50-50 with the suspense element.

Quite a few mystery/suspense novels I've read have some romance in them but not enough to tip the scales to true romance.

You might check Lisa Gardner's site (google her name). She's written a variety of suspense-type books, from category to single-title.

I've heard her speak about the differences among category romance lines with a suspense subplot, single-title romantic suspense, and single-title suspense with a romance subplot (which is probably how her current books are described), but can't recall any of the details, some of which may have changed in the years since I heard her speak.

Anyway, she might have some info on that topic at her site.

JD

I LOVE Lisa Gardner's books! She's a fantastic writer...some have a romantic undertone and some don't but the ones that do are done very well.