Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Any of the Amelia Peabody ‘mysteries’, written by Elizabeth Peters, are great. I put mysteries in quotes because they’re heavy on relationships, even in the books which don’t contain major love story lines. (Though the male and female progatanists are madly in love throughout.)

There are, um, fifteen, twenty titles in the series, so I won’t list them here, but they’re all good.

Oh, and Ramses Emerson? Rawr. I’d do him in a minute. (Well. After he hits the age of about twenty, in the stories.)

(Pssst, TDH was set in the Arabian desert.  I think.  At least I’m fairly sure it wasn’t Tahiti. ;))

But allow me to suggest SHADOW(Don’tmentiontheRenaissance)HEART, complete with Italy, deviant sex, political subplot and many other faux pas to tease the palate of the jaded romance reader.

(Pssst, TDH was set in the Arabian desert.  I think.  At least I’m fairly sure it wasn’t Tahiti. ;))

For the record, here’s my original post:

“Kinsale, The Dream Hunter; also her first book, The Hidden Heart is set partly in Tahiti and the Amazon.”

I don’t know why I didn’t feel the need to give the locale for THD, but I must have thought it was better known.  I really did read both books—honest!

OMG, Angelique!  I read those when I was 15!

Yay! I’m so glad you all compiled this great list! The conservative settings of romance novels have bothered me for a long time; I feel as if I’ve read the same old small town or big city story over and over again. We need more spicy settings!

To add: Elizabeth Peters is an Egyptologist, so she gets the stuff RIGHT in her Egyptian settings.

Plus if you know Egyptology she throws in some really good ‘inside’ jokes.

I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Lord of the Night by Susan Wiggs. Set in 16th century Venice, it breaks a lot of genre rules but it’s really good. Sizzling love story and a very tight mystery as well. A great read.

As You Desire by Connie Brockway (Egypt)

Elizabeth Peters set most of her books in a variety of locales.  Although it seems that she has abandoned non-Amelia Peabody writing, I love her anyway.  I am a particular fan of her Vicky Bliss series, a bit over the top, but tongue in cheek, and they take place in Germany, Italy, and Egypt, and I think Norway.  Too lazy to double check.  Fun antihero.

Sorry - I misread the original comment! I apologize and have corrected it.

I just wasn’t clear enough, Sarah.  I understand how you read it the way you did; I just didn’t want Kinsale to think I was even more of an idiot than necessary.  And actually, I need to re-read TDH, because I don’t remember if there was a specific national location mentioned or not and now I’m curious.

The locale of the first part of The Dream Hunter is easy enough to pin down if you know where Hester Stanhope finally settled down to live her last days . (That is, unless I’m remembering crucial parts of the story wrong, which is entirely possible--it’s been 11 years since I’ve read that book in its entirety.)

So that would be Lebanon, then.  I kept thinking Turkey (not bothering to look up where Stanhope died—thanks, Candy!), but I’m not sure why (how far do they travel in the desert—through Syria or just Lebanon or south to Palestine or Jordan?).  Definitely time for a re-read.

Folks, how come nobody has mentioned Judith Ivory’s BEAST, set half on a transatlantic ocean liner and half in luscious Provence?  Surely one of the best romances ever written.

And Laura K, you beat me to it.  I was just about to remind people of Shadow Heart.  Please I can’t wait another seven years for a new book from you.

Sherry

I can’t believe nobody mentioned Mary Stewart! OK, the heroes and heroines are English, but they’re often set in Greece (The Moonspinners, This Rough Magic, My Brother Michael), France (Madam Will You Talk, Thunder on the Right, Nine Coaches Waiting—wait, French hero, even better), Austria (Airs Above the Ground), Lebanon (The Gabriel Hounds, although I’m not crazy about it), and suchlike. Also, they are generally awesome. Until Touch Not the Cat, which was the last semi-decent one before they became sucky.

While we’re in the Middle East I have a soft spot for Agatha Christie’s They Came to Baghdad, which while more sort of a thriller is an awful lot of fun (and also archaeological).