[ SECRET POST #3924 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3924 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #562.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

05. https://i.imgur.com/jvF9RBN.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I don't want to be too snarky here but like... isn't that just mystery novels?

[malurette]

Probably, but how many good ones fitting the bill are there actually?

[(Anonymous)]

The James Patterson Women's Murder Club series started out that way. They were pretty good for a while.

[(Anonymous)]

I read quite a few mystery novels and... sadly no. OP seems to be referring specifically to the group adventure aspect of the Nancy Drew books. Most modern mysteries are either rather dark and graphic, gloomy/angsty/gothic, or features a romance as part of the plot. The crazy adventure stuff tends to feature mostly male protagonists, where any female characters are the girlfriend, wife or love interest.

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, most of them do include romance, so I get where they're coming from.

There's always a will they/won't they thing between the detective/FBI agent/whatever partners, or there are spouses/significant others at home who are eventually threatened/kidnapped by a serial killer, or one of the detectives is divorced/has just gotten out of a bad relationship and meets someone new they like in the course of investigating a case and the person is ~mysterious~ and they don't know if they can trust them or if they're involved with whatever crime they're investigating, or there's a relationship with one of the detectives and the boss and of course that's not allowed so it's gotta be a big secret, or one of the detective's significant other/spouse was recently murdered by someone they were investigating, or killed in some way that the detective feels like it's their fault, and so even though the SO is no longer around, they might as well be because story pretty much revolves around them because the detective is out for revenge and there are constant annoying "romantic" flashbacks of the detective and SO together and that basically defines the detective's character. And those are just the relatively common situations I can think of off the top of my head.

A mystery/detective story with no romance is super rare. Actually, I'm not sure I can even think of a single one, and I read a ton of mysteries.

[(Anonymous)]

'No romances between or involving the leads' is true of like 90% of Agatha Christie's books.

Granted, it's difficult to not include any romance between suspects and side characters when that's the sort of thing that tends to cast suspicion on people because they provide motivations for crimes

[(Anonymous)]

Anon, I laughed. You've summed up the plots of 90% of TV mysteries that I've watched.

[(Anonymous)]

Seeing as you didn't specify modern, what about Agatha Christie? The Tommy and Tuppence books have a female co-lead in Tuppence, and many of the Jane Marple books have a great(?)aunt and a niece solving crime together.

[gool_duck]

The Phryne Fisher books by Kerry Greenwood?

[(Anonymous)]

I was coming here to suggest this as well.

[(Anonymous)]

+2

[(Anonymous)]

That would be Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries (tv-series and books by Kerry Greenwood). You're welcome.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, but fair warning there *is* a romantic arc in the TV shows. I went in hoping it would be a platonic male-female friendship, which it is in the books, but there's definitely a romantic aspect. Both the show and the romantic arc buck convention* in a LOT of ways though, so I recommend it anyway. And the books are definitely platonic.

*The pairing is one of those where it doesn't really matter if they are together romantically, the mutual respect and admiration and affection is still there. The male lead carries more of the emotional lead than the female. Both characters are given lives and motivations outside of the romantic attraction, so they feel like two people coming together and slowly influencing the other instead of "Main character and the love interest they convince to change". It's... it's honestly one of hte best done TV romances I can remember, and I cannot WAIT for the film. Which is being partially funded by a Kickstarter, and the response has been amazing so far.

[rosehiptea]

No suggestions off the top of my head, just want to agree that Ned was so, so boring.

I could go for Nancy Drew femslash easily though.

[(Anonymous)]

Nancy/George was my first femslash ship, before I even knew that there was such a thing as lesbians.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't promise no romance, but you might be interested in the following:

- Bletchley Circle (TV) - set in the 50s, 4 secret lady code breakers turned detectives.

- Rosemary and Thyme (TV and books) - 2 lafy gardeners in their 60s spend their free time solving murders.

Scott & Bailey (TV) - 2 female police detectives and best friends work together to solve crimes, while dealing with office politics/ sexism and supporting each other through hard times. There is definitely romance in this one, but it doesn't overshadow the main story of their friendship. Can't recommend it enough.

[tree_and_leaf]

Scott and Bailey is great! (The show runner is Sally Wainwright, who also did Happy Valley, which is also good and has a great female protagonist and themes of female friendship and mentoring in the second series - but it's SIGNIFICANTLY darker and doesn't quite tick the boxes OP seems to be looking for).

[tabaqui]

Man, i loved Nancy Drew so much! I had a subscription and got two pale-purple, hardback Nancy Drew books every other month, i think. Best present ever.

I wish there were more books like that out there, too, Anon, and sadly - there isn't much in the comments to give me hope.

[(Anonymous)]

Same. I loved ND as a kid.

[(Anonymous)]

"Meddling Kids."

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=279

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if this would fit the bill exactly--I never actually read Nancy Drew myself, as I only really got into mystery/detective novels as an adult (though maybe I should go back and read ND, idk), but my mom was really into the "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" books by Alexander McCall Smith for awhile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No._1_Ladies%27_Detective_Agency

I haven't read them, but my understanding is that they're fairly light-hearted mystery novels about a group of women in Botswana solving mysteries as private detectives. Now that I think about it, maybe *I* should read them, now that I'm no longer averse to motherly literature suggestions (I was a teen when she was reading them).

[(Anonymous)]

They are lovely! There is a romance in them though, just with very slow build (several books in) and very non-american-conventional. Recommended!

[(Anonymous)]

You might like the Amelia Peabody series?