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Hi Pat,Tough question - ultimately I've decided to let the publishers work that one out. Therefore I now have a mystery that has been turned down by a lesbian publisher for being too straight, whereas the same book was turned down by a mainstream publisher for being too "gay". My vote goes for writing the very best book you can and focus your synopsis on what makes it a great book.Elena
And I really don't see, in her work or Linda Howard's, that one or the other genre takes precendence. Their books are a good melding of the suspense and romance. Maybe that's the difference, they're considered suspense instead of mystery.
What do you regard as the difference between "suspense" and "mystery?"
Anyway, as I see it, suspense is indeed generally a subset of mystery, but in suspense the emphasis is on "who will survive?" and in mystery, the emphasis is on "who did it?" or "why did they do it?' or "how did they do it?" And in the romance market nowadays, they're not particularly interested in romantic mysteries -- they want romantic suspense. Gut emotion over intellectual puzzle.