Mysteries with No Profanity …

I also enjoy Lilian Jackson Braun’s CAT WHO … series, as well as Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone books and Ann B. Ross’ MISS JULIA series – they all provide enjoyment and great reading without the unnecessary profanity and explicit sex. Thanks, Danna, for a great website!
Petie

Hi Danna,

There’s no profanity in any of my books and some of the stories have a Christian theme. My series consist of The Writer’s Club, Mystery is our Shadow, Christmas at Cliffhanger Inn and Something Borrowed, Something Blue. My book of short holiday stories is titled A Holiday Sampler. There’s romance and mystery but no sexual content.
Thank you.
Mrs. Christine E. Collier

Heartsong has a new mystery line. They are almost all cozies.

I happened upon the Dorothy Martin Mystery series by Jeanne M. Dams at my local library, and I enjoyed reading all of them. Dorothy is an older American widow transplanted to a quaint English village with a knack for nosiness and stumbling into murder cases. The stories are enjoyable, the characters are likeable, the plot is very clean, there’s no profanity that I recall, and Dorothy has a solid moral basis to her character. There’s a blossoming romance through the early books, but the mystery remains the main theme. The first book in the series, “The Body in the Transept”, won an Agatha Award.

As an aside, I would note that “Killing Cassady” had a noteable number of within-marriage sexual inuendoes scattered throughout. Certainly nothing explicit–more like the inuendoes on the old Cosby show between Bill Cosby and his wife. Completely appropriate for a married couple, and not in poor taste. Thankfully for me (since I’m single), that was the only book that has so many.

This is in response to a question asked by Ginny. The author she is seeking is Cynthia Riggs. The character is Victoria Trumbull. And the book titles are: Indian Pipes, The Paperwhite Narcissis, and Shooting Star. There may be more, but those are the only ones I’ve read so far.
The Heartsong mysteries were part of a “club.” You received four books about once a month. Unfortunately, after about two years, the program ceased. I LOVED the books – well, most of them, anyway. When about the cancellation, they said it was because they didn’t have the response they’d anticipated; meaning not enough members to make it worthwhile. Too bad. Am hoping some of the authors continue to find outlets for their work.
Just discovered your website and love it! Thanks.

What a joy to find this website!!! I enjoy reading mystery and suspense books and when I do, everything else seems to get put on hold. However, I really hate getting into a book and finding profanity and sex. That’s when the book gets closed and isn’t opened again. Thank you for putting this website together. Now I can find books to really enjoy.

Mindy Starns Clark is a wonderful author who writes mysteries with Christian characters. The books are not overtly religious, but they do not contain any cursing or pre-marital sex. Her books include the Million Dollar Mysteries and the Smart Chick Mysteries, along with several very good stand alones.

Oh my goodness…I can’t believe this website, had no idea I would find it by searching under “authors who do not use profanity.” This website should certainly keep me hopping to my library. Thank you sooooo much!

Mystery series sans profanity
I was going through some authors on this very site and came upon Ron and Janet Benrey. They are from a “Love Inspired series” and one bookstore shelved these type books in the Christian fiction section the last I knew.
The cover pictures are the type of art work that you would expect on the pages of a childs picture book-very charming. I plan on looking to buy them. Hope this helps.

Has anybody mentioned Terri Blackstock? She’s got several great series.

Barbour has a whole set of mysteries…the first releasing this month. Look up “Hometown Mysteries” and you’ll see a full year of books in the lineup….

A friend just told me about your website. I love it.
I have read the Tales from Grace Chapel and highly recommend the series. The characters are three sisters who open a bed and breakfast in the house the grew up in. They really grow on you.
I found a series by Robin Paige (Bill and Sue Albert) titled The Robin Paige Edwardian Mysteries. The fun thing about this series is that well known people from that era pop up in the books. In the several that I’ve read so far, I’ve encountered only one instance of profanity. And that was only on one page of the book.

I don’t think she’s been mentioned here yet, but may I suggest Patricia Wentworth? A contemporary of Agatha Christie, her Miss Silver books are set in rural, cozy settings, and many of her stand-alones are set against the tumult of WWII.

PS – I only recently stumbled onto this site after taking an internet/blogging break, and I’m thrilled and making lists of books to read…

I think Valerie Wolzein’s stuff is cuss-free, too.

I’m not fond of coarseness, vulgarity, misogyny, general negativity and cynicism, but, especially, cussless writing is simply better writing, in my opinion. Many writers rely on it to establish character or mood, but it only does so at a superficial level, and then very preditably.

A story along this line — Mark Frost and David Lynch were forced to rewrite a scene in Twin Peaks that included the “B” word (Oh, for the days when it was not heard every two seconds…) Instead of, “Don’t take any bleep from that bleep,” the line they came up with was, “Don’t take any oink oink from that pretty pig!” It wound up becoming one of the fans’ favorite lines from the series, and set that character up to actually be much smarter than his tough-guy persona implied. So much better than the kneejerk cussing would have been…

This is exactly the kind of information I have been needing! While looking at thrift shops, yard sales, etc for books appropriate for our foreign mission library in the remote bush of Malawi Africa, I see books whose covers look good but I have no idea of the contents. Thanks for the help

I haven’t read any in quite awhile, but I shouldn’t imagine the Mrs Jefferies series by Emily Brightwell has much in the way of language. At the most, it might have an occasional ‘Bloody ‘ell’ as exclamation/expression of surprise, but read it in a Victorian lower-class ‘help’ accent and it translates to an American ‘what the heck!’ or Australian ‘Crikey!’

I’d like to add Joanne Fluke to your list of authors who do not use any profanity or have any sex in their books. Her Hannah Swenson series is squeaky clean.

Typically times when other authors might insert a curse word, Joanne fills in with something like, “Hannah then said something that would have been inappropriate if her niece had been in the room.”

Danna, thanks for putting this website together. I found it several years ago right after my mother-in-law introduced me to Joanne Fluke’s series. I enjoyed the Hannah Swenson books so much I wanted more and found several series that I have enjoyed since then here on your site. I constantly come back here when I am looking for something new to read.

Thanks for all you do!

The Miss Julia series by Ann B Ross is another clean series. There are a couple of curse words in one or two of the books, but nothing strong. Miss Julia is a CHARACTER !!, and so funny! I love her.

Danna, thank you for all your work in this website.