# How do you feel about sex in mysteries?



## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

This question was posed on my Sisters in Crime loop. The answers were all over the place. I write romantic suspense, so there's always intimate moments. How do you feel?


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

As opposed to sex in any other genre?

Either way, it doesn't bother me.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

Yes. Mystery readers, especially readers of cozies, want sex behind closed doors. Maybe that's a characteristic of that particular genre. And unless a thriller has to do with sexual murder, there's little of it in that genre either. I'm just curious how many readers would refrain from buying a book if they thought there was a sexual scene in it.


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

I don't like protracted sex scenes. Frankly, they just bore me. It's like reading a detailed description of someone rebuilding a car engine. I know how it goes, so just get on with the story, please. 

So, sex scenes in mysteries, sex scenes in westerns, sex scenes in science fiction...sure, let me know what's going on, but if I'm reading with one hand, it's because I have a cup of coffee in the other one.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

As always, it depends on the sex.  

I'm not usually one to read sexy (or any other kind) of romance just to read it. . .though I have been known to be in the mood. 

I absolutely don't object to real people doing real things in the course of an adventure.  Though I don't see much realism in being stuck in a dangerous position with the bad guys closing in and characters deciding now's the time for a good down-and-dirty. 

If the point of the mystery is the mystery,  the sex scenes, if any, should be not long and drawn out.  If they are, I skip 'em to get back to the story.  Of course the characters can certainly have a relationship of some kind and a little tension is fine.  But hints are all that's necessary.  I'll get it.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

I agree that if you want major sex, read erotic romance.  I've found some mystery/suspense/thriller readers shy away from books that have even one romantic scene. The story should always come first, but if the H/h have a relationship, and it's natural in the course of events, it never bothered me. Sandra Brown does nicely writing those scenes. So does Linda Howard, etc.


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## SylviaLucas (Sep 14, 2011)

If it's gratuitous, I don't understand it, but if it's part of the story, it's great. (As long as there's no use of romance novel phrases like "throbbing member" or "luscious mound.")


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## Guest (Jan 20, 2012)

I like sex in books. Most books I read have sex in them. Interesting enough, though, I'm not big on erotica, though I'm all for erotic moments in all genres


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I absolutely don't object to real people doing real things in the course of an adventure. Though I don't see much realism in being stuck in a dangerous position with the bad guys closing in and characters deciding now's the time for a good down-and-dirty.


This drives me up the wall. Ooo we're in a very dangerous position, there's a corpse in the room, my god look at my partner I could rip his clothes off this instant. People there is a corpse in the room! Put the libido in the closet!


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## SylviaLucas (Sep 14, 2011)

Krista D. Ball said:


> This drives me up the wall. Ooo we're in a very dangerous position, there's a corpse in the room, my god look at my partner I could rip his clothes off this instant. People there is a corpse in the room! Put the libido in the closet!


 Unless...well...you're into that kind of thing.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

SylviaLucas said:


> Unless...well...you're into that kind of thing.


In that case, you ain't reading no cozy mystery


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## RSHunter88 (Jan 17, 2012)

Sex in mysteries or other genres doesn't bother me as long as the scenes don't feel tacked on just so the writer can check that off the list of genre requirements. Plus it's gotta make sense in terms of the story. Like other people said, doin' it while the bad guy's just outside where you're hiding doesn't seem like the most opportune time.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

When I'm reading a mystery, I want the mystery plot to rule in the book. I enjoy a romance or other subplot element in the book so the character has a well-rounded life, but I don't want anything to overshadow the mystery. If a sex scene is written because it contributes to character development or the plot in some way I don't mind (well, as long as it isn't overly graphic). But, I don't like it when a sex scene is included for the sake of having one or the author feels it makes the book more real since people have sex because a lot of times it makes the story secondary to creating some sort of 'realness'. There are a lot of real things people do that I don't want to 'see' the character doing.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Jan Strnad said:


> I don't like protracted sex scenes. Frankly, they just bore me. It's like reading a detailed description of someone rebuilding a car engine. I know how it goes, so just get on with the story, please.


Pretty much this for me too. I dont really like to be distracted from the plot and I tend to read mostly crime mysteries/thrillers. post-apocalyptic fiction, sci-fi, etc. Things with lots of science, forensics, details, storylines, etc. Sometimes if it's really original (how much more can it be? lol) or well-written, but generally I just want to get on with the book.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

I agree. I'm rewriting a book I wrote 7 or 8 years ago, and I'm taking a lot of "it" out. The book does quite well without it, and the reader knows what's happening. It is a slippery slope, however. Writing is a lot easier than rewriting.


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## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

I think it often depends on the mystery. A cozy wouldn't work with sex scenes, but other types of mystery might. I don't mind them in mysteries, but I do agree it has to have a point for the most part. Otherwise, the author is straying into very different areas.


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## PAWilson (Jan 9, 2012)

If it fits in with the story, it doesn't bother me. It does annoy me when the sex scenes are not part of the story, but seem to be jammed in to get a little sex in the story. Occasionally I've read a book where the sex scene is just in the wrong place and would be better in an earlier or later scene. 

That said, a good book will make me forgive a little unnecessary sex because, I can always skip past them.


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## grahampowell (Feb 10, 2011)

It's all fun and games until someone winds up dead.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

Frankly, it often annoys me. I just read another Jack Reacher book last night by Lee Child (Echo Burning, I think), and was thrilled that he didn't have sex, the female protagonist was gay. I don't know exactly why, but I have no interest in reading about his sex life, although I'm perfectly fine with reading the sexual thoughts he has about women, those seem realistic to me. What's not realistic is having sex with a different woman in every book, a la James Bond. 

I love how cozies handle sex, with a wink and a smile and then it's the Next Chapter and that's all you need to know. 

I do enjoy romantic suspense, Jayne Ann Krentz and Sandra Brown novels come to mind, but only sparingly.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

Reacher had a girlfriend for a while, but of course that didn't last. Who would want a guy who rarely changes his underwear?

I don't read cozies as a rule. Not because there's no sex, but I don't like amateur sleuths or heroines with crafts. I find them boring. Different strokes for different folks.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I have found that some writers write sex scenes so well that they are able to A) make them integral to the plots and B) make the reader enjoy them.  However, some writers write sex scenes that seem so obligatory or just so un-sensual (I may have made up that word) that it's a chore to slog through them.  

The book I'm reading now has the second sort of sex scene.  The writer, a man, goes through all the obligatory description, I assume to show that his character is sexually attractive to women, but there's no heat in it.  It may be fulfilling for the character, but it's not fulfilling for the reader.

I have no problem with sex in a mystery as long as I feel that in that sexual relationship is some clue to a person's character or to the mystery itself.

Julia


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

Julia, rarely have I found a man who could write a good sex scene. John Sandford wrote one in one of the prey books that was good. A slam-bam, thank you, ma'am, scene, but good. I can't recall any other writer. I'd love to know if you can come up with one. Just to see how he does it, understand?


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

I think it's refreshing when a mystery doesn't have gratuitous sex scenes. Too many modern books rely on sex as a draw to their story instead of just writing a great story.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Polly Iyer said:


> Julia, rarely have I found a man who could write a good sex scene. John Sandford wrote one in one of the prey books that was good. A slam-bam, thank you, ma'am, scene, but good. I can't recall any other writer. I'd love to know if you can come up with one. Just to see how he does it, understand?


You need to read some romance written by men. They do a great job.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

Any suggestions, Krista?


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## tamaraheiner (Apr 23, 2011)

Ah, sex is such a tricky subject, at times very polemic.

It can add so much to a story. It can really heighten a relationship.

I think it is often overused, though not nearly so much in books as in movies. I don't like the sex I read about to be cheap or empty. I want it to have some emotional charge behind it. I want it to mean something. But that's just me, and I think you'll please somebody no matter what you write.


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## Eric C (Aug 3, 2009)

If my wife is willing, I've got no problem putting the mystery novel down for twenty minutes...


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

I read mysteries for...the mystery. Everything else is irrelevant. I like for the sex to be a mystery. If they go into a bedroom, come out hours later tired but happy, I can have fantasies of what went on that are much more satisfying than the authors fantasies.

Of course, for those who have had so little sex and so little variety perhaps they need the help.

I like reading books from the era when sex scenes did not require discussing size, rigidity, or dampness.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

patrickt said:


> I like reading books from the era when sex scenes did not require discussing size, rigidity, or dampness.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

I love all the answers here. Hard-core sex is another genre, and the common feeling is not so much in a mystery. I like keeping sex a mystery, but I also like those intimate moments if there's a relationship between the H/h.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Martin Scorcese once remarked that he avoids sex scenes in his movies because they slow the movie down. And that's certainly true in most mystery novels too ... they generally have nothing to do with the story.


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## LilianaHart (Jun 20, 2011)

It doesn't bother me. I'm a fan of cozy mysteries (mysteries in general), and I always like it when they bring the romance aspect into it. Sex doesn't take anything away from the story for me as long as it's done well. Like in any genre.


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## Paul Reid (Nov 18, 2010)

I think that the prospect of sex between two characters can help to build tension. And tension works well in mysteries. So, yes!


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## Jeff Shelby (Oct 2, 2011)

For me, romance is far sexier in mysteries than actual sex.  As Paul notes above, the build up and tension can add a lot to the story and the characters.


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## acellis (Oct 10, 2011)

Hey, isn't there sex in real life? So, why not!


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## Math (Oct 13, 2011)

depending on who you talk to - sex could _be_ the mystery


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## jimbronyaur (Feb 9, 2011)

I treat sex the same in any genre - what's the purpose of it in the story?

For example, there's a sex scene in Pet Sematary in the book that isn't in the movie... on Christmas Eve.  It's short, casual, and what it does it show the family being at the home while hell waits outside.  It's not graphic and it works for the story.

I look at sex as part of anything in life but how does it play into the book.  Sometimes sex is needed, etc. but then there comes a discussion of how the sex should be described.  Short and sweet such as "she led him to the bedroom and didn't return for two hours" or would it help to go into detail.  It would depend on the author, the content of the book, etc.

I'd assume that male adventure/mystery books would contain more graphic sex as it would relate to the male fantasy of it all.

-jb


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## Guest (Jan 24, 2012)

jimbronyaur said:


> I treat sex the same in any genre - what's the purpose of it in the story?


Same here. If it has a purpose, I have no problem with it. But if sex is only to keep up the attention, in this case the problem is with the book and not with the sex scene. Events, elements must have a purpose. Sex scenes included, be it in a mystery, fantasy or science fiction book.

i.e.: Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks (Sci-fi). It had a sex scene somewhere at the middle and it wasn't bothering at all as it had a purpose and not just to keep up the attention. The opposite is Harry Harrison's Deathworld, where the author is just giving a hint about sex and that's all. There, this was the perfect solution.

Sometimes sex is needed, sometimes it's better if you leave them as untold stories (Personally I prefer the sex as glamorous, but untold stories in noir stories where the author is giving the hint then trust the rest for the reader's imagination. But if it has a purpose, I have no problem with it.).


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

acellis said:


> Hey, isn't there sex in real life? So, why not!


Dysentery is present in real life, too, but a lengthy description of the protagonist's bowel movements wouldn't interest me. Yeast infections are a part of real life...for some. I don't really want to read about those, either.

I have also had enough experience with violence that I don't need the details. I was reading a book and the villian nailed women to a wooden cross while they were alive and conscious. He describe everthing in detail for pages. I tossed the book. Beats tossing my cookies. My opinion is the author had a masochistic streak that he had to indulge. I suppose there were readers who shared his interests. Not me.

A man called his wife and two children to the front door. He was sitting in the yard and he'd doused himself in gasoline. He shouted, "I want you to see what you've done." Then, he lit himself. How much description do you really want or need?


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

Eric C said:


> If my wife is willing, I've got no problem putting the mystery novel down for twenty minutes...


Unfortunately, I reached the point that if my wife were willing--a rare enough event--I would ask he to wait until I finished the chapter.


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## Polly Iyer (Dec 6, 2011)

To PatrickT. I think you can take anything too far. I wouldn't like to hear about a character's bowel movements either, but that's not very romantic, is it? I'm talking about a m/f relationship in the book. I do believe women write sex scenes more and better than men.


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## Scribejohn (Jul 2, 2011)

Sex in mysteries? 

So how does that work? Our hero makes love to someone, then spends the rest of the book trying to work out who it was?


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## Aenea (Dec 24, 2011)

I have no need or desire to read about other people having sex. I always figured that authors included sex scenes because they probably weren't getting any and it fulfilled some need of theirs. Of course, I guess that's probably why some people like to read it, too. Imply it, or say that it happened is all I need to hear. I really don't want to "watch" other people having sex.


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## By The Book (Feb 4, 2012)

Scribejohn said:


> Sex in mysteries?
> 
> So how does that work? Our hero makes love to someone, then spends the rest of the book trying to work out who it was?


LOL -- now there's an interesting spin...

In character-driven mysteries, I don't have a problem with sex. If it helps me get in their head better, helps to understand where they're coming from, why they make the decisions they make, etc. then go for it. I'm a sucker for a PI or a detective with a soft, tender side.


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## Sean Patrick Fox (Dec 3, 2011)

I prefer it in bed.

I'm okay with sex in mysteries, mostly for two reasons. One, I'm not a prude. Two, mysteries often feature a protagonist with a prominent love interest (often with a new one in each book in a series, if it is a series), and sex is something that often happens between adult humans. The issue is not if it's in the book, but if it's well written. The skillful handling of a sex scene is a subject that has been discussed _ad nauseam _ here on KB, and ultimately there's no one good answer.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Aenea said:


> I have no need or desire to read about other people having sex. I always figured that authors included sex scenes because they probably weren't getting any and it fulfilled some need of theirs. Of course, I guess that's probably why some people like to read it, too. Imply it, or say that it happened is all I need to hear. I really don't want to "watch" other people having sex.


Hmm. Does that work for other stuff too? Scenes of suspense, violence, horror, diatribes, eating extravagant meals, in-depth descriptions of extreme sports, wild shopping sprees?

I think (fiction) books are all about being absorbed into the story/experience. I think many people here...not all of course....felt that sex scenes work for the characters and for readers if done well. And pull them out of the story if unnecessary or done poorly.

And if anything in a book is boring or offensive...like descriptions of extravagant meals to a dieter....then they are easily skipped over.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

For me, sex scenes are fine as long as they fit the need and tone of the story.  Throwing one in gratuitously is not good, but if it seems to work and it fits...why not?


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Aenea said:


> I was just giving my opinion on the topic.


I know. I was exploring the fact that you thought it had to do with people not getting sex themselves and fulfilling it in print. I was trying to draw other parallels....because that didnt seem like something that could be broadly assumed to me.


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## Aenea (Dec 24, 2011)

Lursa (was 9MMare) said:


> I know. I was exploring the fact that you thought it had to do with people not getting sex themselves and fulfilling it in print. I was trying to draw other parallels....because that didnt seem like something that could be broadly assumed to me.


Well, that was just one of those "dumb things to say" that I'm famous for.


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