Glenys O'Connell says: Enough of Hallowe'en Horror - Let's Have Some Romance!

While I love a well crafted horror story, aka, Stephen King, I can't write the stuff. But I do a good line in murders – that's why I have Romance Can be Murder as my tag line. For example, the heroine of Judgement By Fire is a reclusive wildlife artist, Lauren, who is being stalked by an increasingly threatening unknown lover. She has two powerful men in her life – but how can she trust either of them when one could be her stalker?

In Resort to Murder, police detective Ellie Fitzpatrick risked her life to confront and arrest a serial killer. But Ellie has also got on the wrong side of a gang of thugs who discredit her so she's suspended from duty, her stellar career crashing and burning. When a biography of her serial killer, The Sunshine Slasher, claims the convicted man is innocent and more murders occur, she has to decide if there's a copycat killer or if she has been instrumental in a colossal miscarriage of justice by arresting an innocent man. Her return to duty brings her into conflict with Liam Reilly, the lover she believed had abandoned her when she was disgraced. When it's obvious she's the next on the killer's target list, can she rely on Reilly to help her stay alive – or will he turn his back on her again?

So, enough of the horror of romance! Because this is, after all, a blog about romance and love, I want to tell you a couple of true stories that came my way recently.

The first is about a lonely young church minister. His parish was in a rural Ontario village and as there was no manse, his lodgings were in the village tavern. Recognizing the young man's loneliness, the sage tavern owner told him: "A man isn't meant to live alone!"

Transferred to a new parish, he picked up a copy of the newspaper to fill in some empty time on a Saturday afternoon. There, on the entertainment page, was the picture of a beautiful young vaudeville actress – yes, this happened over 50 years ago! – and the young minister was smitten. He immediately wrote to her, but received no reply. It seems the young lady was used to getting lots of letters from smitten young men.

But undaunted, he wrote again, and again. He told her of his life, and how her picture had lifted his gloom. And eventually he told her he loved her.

Finally, intrigued, she took pity on him and replied.

After an exchange of letters, they met – and the rest is history. The minister and his wife just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

The next story is about a young boy who had a crush on a little girl in the same grade at public school. Despite the teasing of his classmates, he finally worked up the courage to ask if he could walk her home. But he had blackboard cleaning duty that day, and so she told him: "No, because my Mom says I must go straight home." She saw how disappointed he was, and added: "But I'll walk real slow."

She did as promised, and he hurried through his chores and managed to catch up with her, walking slow.

Romance blossomed,  and they married after graduation.

Fast forward through 64 years of marriage and the little girl, now an old woman, is on her deathbed. The little boy, now a very old man, leans forward and kisses her, tears in his eyes. With her last strength, she reaches forward and puts her arms around his neck to draw him near.

"I'm going straight home to God," she says with a wink. "But I'll walk slow."

Despite her somewhat murderous taste in literature, Glenys O'Connell is a sucker for a sweet romantic story. You can read excerpts of her work at http://www.glenysoconnell.com/ or email her at RomanceCanBeMurder@hotmail.ca