Author: writer35_bg

Hearts in Hazard: Which Book Should I Read?

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The Hearts in Hazard series
12 books set in the English Regency Era
Mystery & Suspense with a Dash of Romance

October 2015

That’s the Release Date for the first three books in the Hearts in Hazard series.

The Game of Secrets

The Game of Spies

The Game of Hearts

August 2020

the final Hearts in Hazard book released: The Hazard with Hearts.

Now ~

Time for the annual Celebration of Hearts in Hazard.

Which book is right for you?

I’ve never actually written down all this information. I’ve written snippets, but never the whole thing. So here it is ~
  • how the books are interconnected without being sequels.
  • which books have common characters.
  • which books follow a similar plot or a similar trope.

With Hearts in Hazard~

Each novel is complete and stands alone, but the series has interconnected characters among the books. Not ALL the books and not ALL the characters.

New couples confront the primary conflict for each book.

What are the 12 books in the Hearts in Hazard series?

Visit M.A. Lee’s page on this website for links for more information, to view a trailer, and to buy!

 

1. A Game of Secrets

Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

2. A Game of Spies

3. A Game of Hearts

~ bundled as A Trio of Games.

 

4. The Danger of Secrets

5. The Danger for Spies

6. The Danger to Hearts

~ bundled as A Trio of Dangers.

 

7. The Key to Secrets

8. The Key for Spies

9. The Key with Hearts

~ bundled as A Trio of Keys.

 

10. The Hazard of Secrets

11. The Hazard for Spies

12. The Hazard with Hearts

~ bundled as A Trio of Hazards.

 

How are the Novels Interlinked?

1/2 ~ A Game of Secrets 1 leads to A Game of Spies 2. These two are the most like sequels: Kate & Tony and Josette & Giles will become good friends. The friendship of Tony and Giles started when they served in the military together and were both wounded.

2/3/11 ~ A Game of Hearts 3, featuring Rafe & Maggie and Connie & Roger, mentions one of the treacherous English traitors from A Game of Spies 2. That treacherous traitor will recur in The Hazard for Spies 11.

  • Also, the time frame for A Game of Hearts covers a month before A Game of Secrets to after A Game of Spies, and GSpies’ characters are mentioned in GHearts.

2/4/5 ~ Building on the characters in A Game of Spies 2 are The Danger of Secrets 4 (Gordon & Maddy) and The Danger for Spies 5 (Tony & Melanie).

  • The Danger of Secrets 4 was a joy to write. I laughed often at the repartee between Gordon & Maddy.
  • The Danger for Spies 5 has as its primary couple Eugenie & Charles.

1/6 ~ The Danger to Hearts 6 brings back Jess Carter from A Game of Secrets 1. Jess becomes protector of Agatha.

6/7/10/11  ~ The Key to Secrets 7 features Constable Hector Evans (in love with Bee). Hector first appeared as a secondary in The Danger to Hearts 6.

  • Hector re-appears as a side character (chief constable!) in The Hazard of Secrets 10 and The Hazard for Spies 11.

1/2/3/5/10/11 ~ The Hazard for Spies 11 concludes the “Capture French Spies” conflict of Game/Secrets 1, Game/Spies 2, Game/Hearts 3, and Danger/Spies 5.

  • The Hazard for Spies 11 features Conrad and Phinney. She was barely mentioned in The Hazard of Secrets 10.

10/11 ~ The Hazard of Secrets 10 and The Hazard for Spies 11 have a secondary plot with the children Vic, Elise, and Hank. The three are not the main focus.

  • Corrie & Jem carry the main plot in The Hazard of Secrets.

6/9 ~ A character mentioned in The Danger with Hearts 6 becomes one of the primary leads in Key with Hearts 9. Greville Myers has married Liza Corbett to access her wealth. This convenient marriage inconveniently causes murder.

8 ~ The Key for Spies 8, one of the least-connected of the 12, is a stand-alone novel set in Spain. No interconnected characters. We do have spies, but I wished to break the constant focus on England. I justified my wish by saying, “Well, it has spies.” Let’s pretend our Simon Pargeter is friends with Hector Evans.

  • Simon & Miriella carry the plot, but Jesus & Elixane are strong secondaries.

9 / 12 ~ The Hazard with Hearts 12 is another stand-alone, with no interconnected characters. With The Key with Hearts 9, The Hazard with Hearts 12  is most like the vintage gothics of Victoria Holt and Dorothy Eden, from the 1960s.

  • It’s another marriage of convenience, this time with Vivienne & Max.

What Else will Help me Pick a Great Read?

 

Do You Like Couples falling in Love? (Not Lust.)

All the books are for you.

Want a Strong Heroine? Or a Strong Hero who is not an Alpha Dog?

All the books are for you.

Do you like Murder Mysteries? A Puzzle to Solve?

A Game of Hearts

The Danger of Secrets

The Danger to Hearts

The Key to Secrets

The Key with Hearts

The Hazard of Secrets (begins as suspense then morphs into a murder mystery)

 The Hazard with Hearts (both murder and suspense)

Do you like Suspense more than Murder?

A Game of Secrets

A Game of Spies

The Danger for Spies

The Key for Spies

The Hazard of Secrets (which morphs into a murder mystery)

The Hazard for Spies

The Hazard with Hearts (because murders happen long before the novel begins)

Like Former or Current Soldiers? Or a Story in Wartime, on the battlefront?

A Game of Secrets

Simon Pargeter
Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

The Danger for Spies

The Key for Spies

Like Early Law Enforcement?

A Game of Secrets

A Game with Hearts

The Danger to Hearts

The Key to Secrets

The Hazard for Spies

Want a Story with Spies?

A Game of Secrets

A Game of Spies

The Danger for Spies

The Key for Spies

The Hazard for Spies

 Want a Smuggler Story?

A Game of Secrets

The Danger to Hearts

Want a Story with Nobles? (Earls and Marquesses and Barons are one of the primary characters: hero or heroine)

A Game of Spies

A Game with Hearts

The Danger of Secrets

The Key for Spies

The Key with Hearts

The Hazard with Hearts

Want a Story without Nobles? (Not the hero or the heroine)

A Game of Secrets

The Danger for Spies

The Danger to Hearts

The Key to Secrets

The Hazard of Secrets

The Hazard for Spies

Want a Marriage of Convenience Story?

A Game of Hearts

The Key with Hearts

The Hazard with Hearts

Want a High-Low Story? Someone of High Social Standing marries Someone Lower in Rank than them.

Something for Everyone
Nobles. No nobles. Law enforcement. Law breaker. Something for Everyone

A Game for Spies

A Game of Hearts

The Danger of Secrets

The Danger to Hearts

The Key to Secrets

The Key with Hearts

The Hazard with Hearts

Want a Story with a Runaway ?

A Game of Secrets

Want a Story with Children?

The Hazard of Secrets begins the story with Vic, Elise, and Hank, and it concludes in The Hazard for Spies.

Want a Story with a Young Couple?

A Game of Hearts

The Hazard for Spies

Want a Story with a Couple Approaching Middle-age?

A Game of Hearts

The Danger of Secrets

The Danger for Spies

The Danger to Hearts

The Key to Secrets 

The Key for Spies

The Key with Hearts

The Hazard of Secrets

Want a Story set in a Foreign Land?

The Key for Spies

Want something like a Vintage Gothic?

The Key with Hearts

The Hazard with Hearts

. ~ . ~ . ~ .

This is all of the ways

to classify the 12 books in the Hearts in Hazard series.

If you can think of another, do write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Read them all, a book a month. (Wasn’t that a book club?)

 

Happy New Year! Have a Freebie or 2 or 3!

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start 2024 with a freebie ~ or 2 ~ or 3.

Download your pick of our freebie — or take all 3.  We hope you enjoy every one.

Historical Mystery from M.A. Lee

Jack Portman had never forgotten Filly Malvaise. Then she walked into his local pub and into the clutches of a loan shark. Can he rescue her before she falls victim to evil?

The Lion’s Den is connected by a single thread to the Into Death series, which features the artist Isabella Newcombe. Jack and Filly first appeared in the mystery Christmas with Death.

Read this novelette and join M.A.’s newsletter with Book Funnel: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/wc84divkre 

 

Historical Fantasy from Edie Roones and M.A. Lee

“The Poisoner and the Faerie Huntsman” ~ Never reveal weakness to a Faerie.

Escaping a false accusation of poisoning, Melly and her hound seek refuge in Sherwood Forest ~ yet the Nottingham guard who accused her is on her trail.

That night, she encounters the black hounds of the Wild Hunt. Then the Huntsman arrives.

Has she fallen into greater trouble?

Read this short story with this link from Book Funnel, no requirements.

https://buy.bookfunnel.com/lz2d9qdz6d

This is one of M’s favorite Wild Sherwood stories [Edie has a different story that she loves, but she’s in love with the image of the guy =) . ]

 

Fantasy from Remi Black, a novella, first in the Spells of Earth trilogy.

bk 1 in the Spells of Earth trilogy of fantasy novellas

Elemental Earth is a life-potential power. Can it be wielded to kill?

Wizardry burnt out and memory gone, Desora re-built her life in an isolated corner of the Northern Reaches. She only wields the life-growing power of elemental Earth.

She has nothing of Fire, Air, or Water. No fiery bolts, no whirlwinds, no drowning spheres: nothing for defense or attack.

Shape-shifting wolfen threaten her, able to transform out of Moon-turn.

And strangely gory deaths in the High Meadow mean a mysterious monster prowls, looking for life to consume.

With death menacing, Desora has no protection except her wards.

Wolfen and the eldritch monster kill the defenseless. Can Desora discover new ways to wield Earth before she becomes prey?

A link for a pdf of the novella from Book Funnel: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/5fb72eu417 

M.A. Lee’s Summer Newsletter

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Snail Speed in Summer

Hi all! It’s Summertime. Is your living easy?

My summer living is better than this past spring when I had a lingering sickness for a solid month which continued as the doldrums until mid-May.

Needless to say, my writing schedule exploded and rained the fragments upon me.

publications to announce for Summer

Even with all of the problems, the ideas never stopped, just the time and energy for the writing of those ideas. Here’s what has developed —

Sailing with Mystery ~ a short story collection that follows artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant on her ocean voyage from England. She sails on a passenger ship to join her husband Madoc in India.

Four of the five stories are currently available in e-book.

“Amber Dreams” ~ Blackmail threatens a young bride. Can Isabella recover a stolen diary before the bride loses all hope?

“Purple Poison” ~ Poison pen letters filled with vicious invective attack the passengers on the ship Nomadic. Will Isabella discover the culprit before tragedy occurs?

“Black Heart” ~ A trickster targets the passengers aboard ship. When one prank causes injury, can Isabella locate the trickster before the next mishap turns deadly?

“Silver Web” ~ Accusations fly when passengers discover a jewel thief at work. When the thief dies, proof of theft in his hand, will Isabella locate his accomplice and the missing jewelry before they reach the next port?

Here are links to the first story.

Worldwide Distribution:   https://books2read.com/u/3yWAAl

Amazon:

 

The fifth and final story for Summer is “Red Mask”.

Isabella receives a disturbing letter—only for it to be stolen before she deciphers it. The letter claims that a spy is aboard, but is that the only person hiding their true identity on the passenger ship?

. ~. ~ . ~ .

Sailing with Mystery, the collection, will publish very soon after the final short story. The ebook will be up very quickly, with the paperback and the audiobook in the following weeks.

 

After Summer Fun, Autumn Mystery

These short stories injected themselves, wholly unexpectedly, into my writing schedule. I thought I waved goodbye to Isabella when I published Portrait with Death. Imagine my surprise when she demanded this ocean voyage while my writing brain was telling me to write something else.

That something else is the next novella in the series Miss Beale Writes: a Touch of Mystery, a Touch of Gothic, a Touch of Romance.

The Bride in Ghostly White is a Victorian gothic, and I can’t wait to see this mystery develop.

The Bride will pair with The Dark Lord, which came out in Winter 2022.

Following in the Miss Beale Writes series are medieval / renaissance and cavalier / Georgian novella.

All of these stories will definitely keep me busy.

And that’s a good thing!

 

Visit the Writers’ Ink website ~ www.writersinkbooks.com or https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/ for updates about the publication of “Red Mask” and Sailing with Mystery.

Survive the Heat!

M.A. Lee

Summer with The Write Focus

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Summer with The Write Focus

How’s Summer with you?

At The Write Focus, we are wincing whenever we step outdoors. After a wettish June with moderate temperatures, July brought the sudden onslaught of high temperatures and dry days. That means fine mornings in the shade until the sun and steam of summer drives us inside.

The best way to beat the summer’s heat is with distractions. The best distractions give us an incentive to achieve more and more. How do we achieve more and more? We set and pursue our writing goals: Write More, Learn More.

Write More this Summer

The Write Focus featured the June Writing Challenge. Host M.A. Lee set a goal of 1,000 words per day, starting on the 1st and continuing to the 30th.

In addition to the weekly check-in for the Challenge, each of June’s Wednesday episodes offered information about writing.

1st, the Stages of Writing, original idea to proof-plus & publish.

2nd, the age-old writer question of Plotter / Pantster / Puzzler and the 7 Steps of a Perfect Scene.

3rd, Writers and their Ideas

4th, Vaccine against the Writing Doldrums and commentary on an excerpt from Phyllis A. Whitney’s Guide to Fiction Writing.

The final Writing Challenge Check-in occurred at the first of the July 5 episode.

You can replay this challenge anytime, to receive ideas for your own craft and productivity.

Learn More this Summer

All through July and August is a series on Branding: the Way Writers Reach Readers. We talk brand creation for a book, a series, and a writer’s business.

Successful examples from previous bestselling series and authors focus on Ellis Peters’ Cadfael series, Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee Navajo mysteries, and Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series.

We capture browsing readers with 3 Glances and 6 Keys, all to develop the best cover, titles and taglines, and market copy (blurbs) for our books.

The series closes out with developing a short video script. The advertising world tells us that buyers need 7 sights of a product before they commit. Short videos are an active and interesting method to snag the readers’ attention for a couple of those “sights”.

Coming at Summer’s End

September starts a series on story structure: Plot ~ the foundation for every story.

Start with character, the writing gurus say [which we did, last January 🙂 and Discovering Characters concluded in May]. The gurus are right about writing. Now we the best plot structure for our characters. To improve story craft and flow / pacing, we must focus on Discovering Plot.

Autumn’s Coming

Our next newsletter update will be in October.

Don’t sweat the Summer heat and humidity too much!

As always, thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Listen on your favorite podcast site: from Apple to YouTube, Spotify and Podbean (my favs), Google Play, Amazon Music / Audible, Samsung and Player FM, Podcaster, the rivals iHeart and Tune-in, and too many to list.

Here are links to the easiest:

My favorite podcast is Podbean. https://eden5695.podbean.com/

YouTube direct link to the Mixed Miscellany playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na5LXb-83iM&list=PLXi3M_aM-d7ISCaEcoK4JV5wSUkGCmx_Z

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-focus/id1546738740%20

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4fMwknmfJhkJxQvaaLQ3Gm?si=ffeb71ed17c3409d

Amazon/Audible https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/062ecc60-d61c-432a-ad99-8234c1044ef1

ListenNotes https://lnns.co/y_Jg5rpaMNo

Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2VkZW41Njk1L2ZlZWQueG1s