Cimorene

I'm finding the Brother Cadfael mysteries of Ellis Peters very enjoyable and fun, but it does seem like not every murder really needs a romance of side characters in the background? I'm well aware that it's pretty much tradition, in a strong if not inevitable sense, but I just... think it's pretty silly and shouldn't be.

Even if there were some ironclad rule requiring a happy couple at the end of each, do they really all have to be teenagers? I mean, yeah, statistically teenagers are of course more invested in pairing up because of hormones; but widows and widowers and subsequent marriages are not uncommon in the world or the books; those characters and stories just don't get to take center stage. It's never unreadably exasperating in the way I sometimes find teenaged romance, because the POV character is old and his perspective is fond and sympathetic but tempered.

This isn't my only minor quibble, but it's the most irritating one.