Regency Mystery with an Eerie Touch of the Gothic and a Dash of Romance
The Hazard with Hearts concludes the Hearts in Hazard series.
Two wives haunt the castle. Will she be the third to die?
Vivienne Northrup agreed to a marriage of convenience to reap the benefits of becoming the Countess of Sheldrake. While she explores the ruins of Sheldrake Castle, a falling stone dislodged from a tower nearly kills her.
Only then does Vivienne discover that the earl’s previous two wives died tragically. The first had jumped to her death from that very tower.
Or had the woman been pushed?
Had someone tried to Kill Vivienne with the stone?
In the gothic tradition of Victoria Holt and Dorothy Eden, The Hazard with Hearts offers a determined heroine who confronts doubts, superstition, and the dark passions of a killer who wants every countess of Sheldrake dead and buried.
The Hazard with Hearts is book 12 in the Hearts in Hazard series of mysteries and suspense, with just a dash of sweet romance. The stories are loosely connected with each story complete in one book.
2 Free Glimpses and 2 Audio Files
For an audio narrated by the Author M.A. Lee: Click the link to listen on PodBean.
If you prefer to read the first chapter, please click this document file:
hazardous mysteries blended with historical romance.
Amateur sleuths solve Hazardous Mysteries in A Trio of Dangers,
a collection of three novels set in Regency England.
A serial killer stalks the idyllic countryside.
A vindictive French spy-catcher seeks the double agent who escaped him a decade ago.
A past murder comes to light after a dangerous arson.
The Dangers of Secrets
A baffling murder interrupts a charming romance in The Danger of Secrets.
Maddy Whittaker encounters secrets of family, secrets of the heart, and secrets of blood and pain, all served up for Valentine’s Day. Her flirtation with Gordon, Lord Musgrove, is a pleasant distraction.
Too bad for Maddy and Gordon that secrets can kill.
The Dangers for Spies
A cunning killer hunts the spies who escaped him.
Eugenie DesChamps wants nothing more than her paintings, her friendships in a bucolic English village, and her flirtation with Charles Audley. She wants to forget her past life as a double agent working for England.
The past is never forgotten. Tor the French spy who tried to kill her discovers her when he tracks down the English cryptographer Charles Audley.
Blood will be spilled before the past is purged.
The Dangers to Hearts
Arson uncovers a baffling murder from the past.
Agatha’s lover abandoned her a decade ago. Jess Carter barely escaped arrest for smuggling. Neither expects romance.
Then hatred burns into a fire in the night. The arson reveals an old murder. The vanished fiancé didn’t leave—he was murdered.
Who is the arsonist? Who is the murderer? Are they the same person? Or two separate people poisoned by hatred?
Will Agatha and Jess be destroyed before they can find love together?
The words just poured onto the page, a flood of ideas that I barely could keep up with.
I had struggled with the previous novel, The Key for Spies. I hit a writing block with that one, swirled around not knowing what to do … then figured out a character was demanding a greater role in the story than I had anticipated. That novel turned out to be the longest of all 12 books in the Hearts in Hazard series.
I started The Key with Hearts with a bit of trepidation.
All writers starting completely new projects have a bit of trepidation: Do I remember how to write? Do I remember how to create likeable characters and an intriguing story? Is this story going to flow?
When we are writing after experiencing a block, the trepidation increases.
The Key with Hearts, though, had waited long enough. The words came so easily that a different worry attacked me. Is this novel as good as I think it is? Am I fooling myself?
My first readers enjoyed it, thank Heavens, crushing all those self doubts.
The Key with Hearts ~ Regency England. Suspense. Murder. Two hearts at odds.
Married for money, not for love.
A convenient marriage inconveniently causes murder.
Six months ago, Beth Corbett married Greville Myers. Her money saved his estate. His nobility raised her station. The couple have achieved an uneasy relationship, tepid and uncomfortable.
Then Beth is nearly killed in a failed attempt at murder.
Who wants her dead?
*The woman who had expected to marry Greville?
*The mother-in-law who hates her?
*Someone unknown?
*Or her husband, so he can keep her money and marry the woman he loves?
Who can Beth trust?
When the murderer strikes again and injures someone by mistake, how can Beth discover the truth? Or will she be the next victim?
Friday, 3 September 1813 ~ Myers Buckland manor and estate in Wiltshire, England
The little dog nosed along the edge of the bricked planters. His white tail wagged, excitement quivering through his whole body. He sniffed at every speck, whether dirt or leaf or twig. Brightly colored ribbons, tied tightly together to create a long leash, trailed over his back and the terrace’s paving stones.
His sniffing increased. He growled. His short nose swept across the slate-colored pavers. He retreated several steps as he tracked the scent, then followed it back to the grass. The clipped grass tickled his nose. He strained against the ribbon leash as he dug at the stones, as if the pavers were the edge of a cairn hiding a vicious rodent. Then his head popped up. Ears pricked forward. Dark eyes stared at the high hedge with its thick branches of boxwoods.
He glanced behind him at the woman holding one end of his tether. They had ended their walk by traversing the maze. Throughout their tour of the garden, she seemed distracted, barely attending to his tugs on the leash. Now her gaze focused on the drive that swept from the parkland. The gravel turned into a gentle curve as it approached the manor’s forecourt. The little terrier sniffed the air. Then he lunged forward.
The leash held him back. He strained against it then lunged again, but his paws didn’t find grass beneath him. His claws scrabbled on the pavers. He barked.
First, we have a novella from Edie Roones: Historical Fantasy, part of the Wild Sherwood series.
The Hooded Outlaw brings us Robin Hood and his meeting with Maid Marianne.
One trap for Robin Hood, another for Lady Marianne
When Robin Hood escapes a trap set by the Sheriff of Nottingham, he never expects to meet the love of his life, Lady Marianne of d’Airsey.
The d’Airsey family received a manor and estate from King Richard himself. Yet the king is now imprisoned in Germany. His corrupt brother Prince John has placed his cronies in positions of power in England. One of those cronies is Baron Haughton, former holder of that estate.
Sheriff Maldeville and Lord Polleone plot with Baron Haughton to steal back his lands. The Faerie Aubrette and Gilbert Whitehand join Robin and Marianne to thwart them.
Yet how can outlaws and a disguised Faerie prevent Prince John from restoring the deeds to Baron Haughton?
A baffling murder interrupts a charming romance in The Danger of Secrets.
Maddy Whittaker pursues a flirtation with Gordon, Lord Musgrove, as a pleasant distraction from daily concerns. Then she encounters secrets of family, secrets of the heart, and secrets of blood and pain, all served up for Valentine’s Day at a country manor in Regency England.
Too bad for Maddy and Gordon that secrets can kill.
More than charm will be needed for Maddy to overcome past secrets and present dangers to marry her perfect match in The Dangers of Secrets, a Regency mystery, Book 4 in the Hearts in Hazard series.
Choose one of these links to reach online bookstores:
Elizabeth Fortescue comes to Feldstone Grange seeking the position of housekeeper. She expects the Baron Harcourt to claim she’s too
cover by Deranged Doctor Design
young and pretty for the position, even though she’s qualified and has excellent references.
Yet the baron is desperate to hire someone, having lost five housekeepers over the past six months. He doesn’t know what drove them away.
On her first night at the Grange, Elizabeth encounters two ghosts. One is the well-known Silent Lady; none of the servants know anything about the other ghost.
Over the next week, her connection with Lord Harcourt becomes more than servant to employer. She likes her position and her employer. He also appears to like her, wanting to meet with her daily.
One ghost, though, persists in its haunting of her, enticing her to follow it.
Is it a real ghost? Is a fellow servant attempting to terrify her? Or does someone have a wicked reason to haunt the new housekeeper?
Elizabeth doesn’t know the answer—but she has more incentive to stay than leave.
Will she remain at the Grange? Or will the second ghost’s increasing hauntings drive her away?
Or lead her into death?
The Dark Lord is the first in a series of paranormal novellas from M.A. Lee, who writes historical mysteries and suspense with a dash of romance. This novella is first in the Miss Beale Writes series. They are best described as vintage gothics.
Like M.A. Lee’s Hearts in Hazard 12-book series, set in Regency England, the six novellas will be loosely interconnected, but each is a stand-alone story.
Choose one of these links to reach online bookstores:
A convenient marriage inconveniently causes murder.
Six months ago, Liza Corbett married Greville Myers. Her money saved his estate. His nobility raised her station. The couple have achieved an uneasy relationship, tepid and uncomfortable.
Then Liza is nearly killed in a failed attempt at murder.
Who wants her dead?
*The woman who had expected to marry Greville?
*The mother-in-law who hates her?
*Someone unknown?
*Or her husband, so he can keep her money and marry the woman he loves?
Who can Liza trust?
When the murderer strikes again and injures someone by mistake, how can Liza discover the truth? Or will she be the next victim?
The Key with Hearts is set in Regency England. At 59,000 words, the novel is Book 9 in the Hearts in Hazard series of romantic mystery and suspense by M. A. Lee.
Visit M.A. Lee’s author page on this website for a complete list of the Hearts in Hazard books.
………………………………………………………..
No ghostwriters, work-for-hire writers, artificial intelligence or other collaborators are used in the writing of Any book from Writers Ink Books. 😉
The Key for Spies ~ book 8 in the Hearts in Hazard series of historical mysteries/suspense.
Spies and traitors. Lies and treachery. Unexpected love where bullets fly.
One traitor destroys loyalty. What will two traitors destroy?
The British spy Simon Pargeter scouts the terrain for Wellington’s army in French-controlled Spain. Miriella de Teba ye Olivita, the famed Doñabella, wants to give him aid, but she must first find the traitor lurking in her band of guerillas.
Can Simon escape the French patrol hot on his trail? With Major Pierre LeCuyer actively seeking Doñabella’s identity, can Miri hold her guerrillas together long enough to get the information Simon needs? Can she locate the traitor before she is unmasked?
Or will the traitors reap the reward while Simon and Miri swing from a gallows?
Meet the protagonist Simon and one of the antagonists for The Key for Spies, a January release by M.A. Lee in her historical mystery / suspense series Hearts in Hazard.
1st April 1813, Thursday
Thieves night.
That’s what his older brother called it, back when they’d run together. They’d taken to the dark streets, smashed locks to steal pastries or sausages, pried open windows to climb into dark rooms, and stolen locked boxes with stashes of coins. He never knew who Mattias worked for. Belly stuffed with iced rolls or spiced sausage, he had trailed behind his brother. Until the gendarmes caught Mat with a hand stuck in the alms box.
Hidden behind a dark column, he’d frozen when the gendarmes appeared. Then black wings flapped before his face. He ran until his sides hurt and his too-tight shoes split along the worn sides. He’d abandoned his brother, a betrayal that had never left him.
The next day he ran on to Marseilles. There, he re-invented himself as Pierre LeCuyer.
sausages, pried open windows to climb into dark rooms, and stolen locked boxes with stashes of coins. He never knew who Mattias worked for. Belly stuffed with iced rolls or spiced sausage, he had trailed behind his brother. Until the gendarmes caught Mat with a hand stuck in the alms box.