Month: April 2024
Will two bullets allow the murderer and the French master spy to continue their work against the British government?
Meet Phinney ~ at this link
Meet Conrad ~ by following this link.
Vic the lockpick ~ is introduced here.
And have another Glimpse of the Danger ~ read it here.
Purchase it Here or at one of the online distributors at this link.
It’s Anniversary Day for The Hazard for Spies.
Disguised to Spy.
A young constable tracks treacherous traitors. A spinster hopes to find a killer. Will murder destroy their chance for love?
Conrad Hoppock left his village and the girl he secretly loved for a chance at a better livelihood. He joined the London constabulary and began working with the Bow Street Runners. Now he hunts the master spy stealing information for Bonapartist France. His search sends him undercover in a lawyer’s office.
When Phinney Darracott’s sister and brother-in-law died, their children whispered “murder”. She dismissed that claim as unreasonable terrors caused by the tragic loss. Yet after repeated burglaries and an arson that destroyed their home, Phinney believed the whispers. Now she wants justice for their murders.
The clues lead her to London. There, she disguises herself as a cleaning maid for the very law office where Conrad is disguised as a clerk. Phinney’s young niece Elise and the street urchin Vic secretly pursue a different tangle of clues to the murders.
In the night hours, when all is still, Phinney prowls for the evidence. Then she encounters Conrad.
And the lawyer at the center of the tangle of clues is shot dead while they watch from their hiding place.
Can Conrad discover the identity of the French mastermind? Will Phinney’s single-minded pursuit lead her into the murderer’s snare? Will the children be caught and sold into London’s underworld?
Will they discover the connection between past and present murders?
Or will two bullets allow the murderer and the French master spy to continue their work against the British government?
The Hazard for Spies is Book 11 in M.A. Lee’s Hearts in Hazard series of Regency mysteries and suspense. The novels are loosely connected, and each story is complete in one book.
Vic the lockpick and Phinney (disguised as Mrs. Coates) were minor characters in The Hazard of Secrets. Chief Constable Hector Evans, who returns here after his inclusion in The Hazard of Secrets, had his introduction in The Dangers to Hearts and received his own story in The Key to Secrets. The fight against French spies on British soil began with the first Hearts in Hazard
Find it here, ebook or paperback, from online distributors everywhere
OR Amazon.
View the Trailer here:
~ ~ ~
Paperback and Ebook available at Kobo, Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, and other online distributors.
Visit Amazon, with this link.
YouTube.
Years ago, Agatha Helmes’ lover abandoned her. When her baby died at birth, she thought all her hopes for the future had ended.
She poured herself into her family’s farm, but in the last year, mismanagement by three different stewards has the farm losing more money than she can pour into it.
Jess Carter occasionally crewed for a known smuggler to bring a little extra into his home. He fell for a maid working at the Hawthorn Inn. Then the smuggling ring was arrested. The woman he thought he loved married another man. With a bruised heart for company, he packed up all his possessions and left his home.
Not knowing where to go, Jess consulted the smugglers’ fence Richard Helmes who directed him to Helmes Farm to assist the current steward. His cousin Agatha Helmes, he says, will hire anyone he sends to her.
When Jess arrives, the current steward is assaulting Agatha. He routs the old steward and finds himself in a job he doesn’t understand, taking advice and orders from a woman.
Agatha knows only one thing about her new steward: he doesn’t lie. Jess admits what he knows and doesn’t know about farming. He admits that he is avoiding arrest for smuggling. That is more than she can say about her former stewards and her former fiancé.
Trust between Agatha and Jess grows from a seed to a mighty oak. Attraction entwines them with compatibility and grows the first tendrils of love.
Then the steward’s cottage is set on fire, and Jess barely escapes.
The burned house reveals an old murder as the bones of Agatha’s former lover are discovered—with a bullet hole in the skull.
And the deed to Helmes Farm and other documents go missing.
With Agatha’s cousin trying to steal her farm, can Jess reveal her cousin hired him to watch out for his interests?
Will the constable investigating the new arson and the old murder think Agatha guilty of murdering her lover when he wouldn’t marry her?
And will their new love survive the questions and confusion?
The Dangers to Hearts is a sweet romantic suspense of approximately 50,000 words. While the novel is the sixth in the Hazards to Hearts series, it is complete and contains no cliffhangers. The character of Jess Carter was introduced in the first Hearts in Hazard book, A Game of Secrets. Reading that novel will enrich your experience, but it is not necessary.
View the trailer.
Purchase at online book distributors like Kobo and Barnes & Noble, Apple and Google, and many others.
Or head over to Amazon for the Kindle ebook or paperback version.
A short story mystery featuring Isabella Newcombe Tarrant from the Into Death series.
Blackmail threatens a young bride when her secret diary is stolen. Her marriage of convenience is threatened if the contents are revealed to her new husband and his autocratic mother.
Can Isabella recover the diary before the bride loses all hope?
Sailing With Mystery ~
Travel presents opportunities to meet new friends and see new places. Isabella also encounters puzzling crimes and dangerous intrigue as she sails from England to India.
The next short story is “Purple Poison”.
Link for Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1YG2J6Q
Link to Wide Distribution ~ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/3yWAAl
In discussing with the covers with Kim, the design project manager at Deranged Doctor Design, we decided to avoid the problem with so few accurate images from 1921. Instead, we chose to emphasize the protagonist Isabella’s art with five watercolor images. Finding similar images became the next design challenge. We hope that the ones we have picked not only represent Isabella’s venture into watercolors but also the atmosphere and settings for the story.
The “Amber Dreams” cover represents the rocky coasts that Isabella would have seen along the French and Spanish coastlines.
The primary cover harks to Isabella standing to one side of the image. The ocean and the railing of the ship evoke where she is while the tumultuous sky echoes the mysteries she encounters while aboard the passenger ship.
Enjoy!
The Into Death series:
Digging into Death ~ Love and murder on an archaeological dig. Has the love of her life beguiled Isabella straight into death?
Christmas with Death ~ An English country manor offers Christmas merriment, miracles, and murder. Will Isabella be the next victim?
Portrait with Death ~ When murder paints with blood, will Isabella and her new friend Flick discover that the murderer? Or will the murderer stop them?
View M.A. Lee’s page on this site (click the link above) for more information about the Into Death series and to find links to the three novels and a bundle of the first three novels.