Category: M.A. Lee

mysteries and romantic suspense

Love Reading? That’s appropriate for February!

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Happy Birthday to these February Books!

 

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?

Wild Sherwood ~ Perilous Choices, Mysterious Faeries

Find your copy here, at Amazon and Books2Read. 

3 from M.A. Lee

cover design by Deranged Doctor Design

The Dangers of Secrets

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:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9137D9

https://books2read.com/u/boENK9

View the trailer https://youtu.be/1zZ_ZisDLLU

 

The Dark Lord

Everyone knows there’s no such thing as ghosts.

Tell that to the two ghosts haunting Elizabeth.

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:

B&N, Kobo, and more:   https://books2read.com/u/38yprZ

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WJQHL2S

View a trailer with the companion novel for the duology Perils in Lace and Hard Iron.

 

The Key with Hearts

The Key with Hearts ~

Regency England.  Suspense.  Murder.  Two hearts at odds.

Married for money, not for love.

Here’s the link to the Amazon sale page. All other online distributors, go to this link.  Available in ebook and paperback!

View the trailer here: https://youtu.be/JyDlvYQf8ow 

 

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 to Secrets

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The Key to Secrets

The Crime

When Constable Hector Evans returns to Chalmsley Court, he doesn’t expect the violent crime to be the murder of one of Lord Chalmsley’s guests.

His lordship wants a quick resolution, before gossip about the crime’s salacious nature and trap-like killing becomes widespread.

With no murder weapon, no identifiable clues, and no eyewitnesses, Hector has little to build a case.  He has plenty of suspects, even when he realizes the murderer must be a woman.

The suspects

Even though other guests could have killed the man, Hector finds himself focusing on the Chalmsley family. 
  • Was it compulsive Cordelia? 
  • Obsessive Portia? 
  • Mad Aunt Beth, who gives him riddling clues as snippets of ballads?
  • Hector would blame George, who grew up tormenting his sisters and torturing small animals, but George left two years ago for a rest-cure in Vienna.  He can’t have returned, can he?
  • Or is it his lost love Bee?
Bee Seddars, the girl who broke his heart, is a distraction he doesn’t need, especially as she and her cousins are among those celebrating recent engagements.  Bee is as lovely as he once thought her and seemingly the most rational member of the Chalmsley family, but he wonders if a few brief months so many summers ago could possibly give him an understanding of who she is.

The Problems

Hector can’t get Bee to open up about the Chalmsley family secrets.  Unlocking those, he believes, is key to solving the murder.  Yet she mistrusts him—while he thought she was the one who broke the trust between them, since she refused to write him after he was sent away to join the Bow Street Runners.

In his first twelve hours on the case, the murder scene is torched and the victim’s journal is burned.  
In his second twelve hours, a second fiancé is murdered with the missing weapon.  And Hector’s suspect lists remains an ell long and a grief wide.

With madness looking like the strongest motive and only circumstantial evidence to build his case, will Hector find the murderess before she strikes again? 

Or will he discover his lost love Bee Seddars is causing bloody death?

He needs The Key to Secrets at Chalmsley Court.

View the trailer here:

 

A cozy mystery of 66,000 words, The Key to Secrets is the seventh entry in the Hearts to Hazard series of Regency mysteries.  Each book is a standalone novel, complete unto itself, with loose interconnections of characters.

Constable Hector Evans was first introduced in The Danger to Hearts, the sixth Hearts in Hazards.

The place to buy

Key for Spies :: free glimpse

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The Key for Spies is an odd addition to the Hearts in Hazard series.

1st: It’s not set in England.

It is a Regency story, just in Spain. Our hero is a British liaison officer ~ a very British way of saying “spy”. Our heroine is a Spanish noblewoman … and a leader of guerillas, fighting against the French occupation of Spain.

2nd: It’s a novel of the Peninsular War.

Rather than a classic mystery, it’s a war story. We have the suspense of flying bullets and characters who are facing real jeopardy with the stakes not only themselves but the people around them.

  • We have a spy seeking the route that Wellington’s army will take to southern France.
  • We have traitors among the guerillas, willing to commit murder to protect their positions.
  • We have a heroine who can shoot a pistol with the best of her guerrillas.
  • We have her second-in-command who is lethal with his knife.

3rd: The Dash of Romance that is a part of the series is secondary to the war story.

Miriella and Simon do fall in love, but that love is threatened by the French leader of the garrison.

4th: The novel expanded on me and became an epic-length addition to the 12-book series.

I thought the story would be around 65,000 words. I struck a block around the 40,000 mark until I realized that Jesus Contreras needed his own plot arc (including his own love) in the novel. After I added in his scenes, I hit 65,000 words but hadn’t reached the 3/4 mark of the novel.

I continued writing … and everything was flying, flowing smoothly, but at 90,000 words the ending still had to be written.

At over 110,000 words, I finally neared the last bit of the novel. The Key for Spies is a tome!

 

View the Trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/Ehc7VxUxCp4
Purchase an ebook Worldwide: https://books2read.com/u/3RKYpj
Or purchase an ebook or a paperback from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MTSQTY7

 

Here’s a Free Glimpse into the Novel.

Chapter 1 ~ 1813 April 20

Simon Pargeter crouched in the shade of a young pine as he waited to meet the partisans.

 

He had already waited a day longer than anticipated.  Major Hugo Stively had assured Simon that he would be met, and he’d given the name of the leader of the partisans in this area near Vittoria.

“Esperanza.  Some kind of noble.” Stively had said.  “Name means hope in Spanish.  They need hope, poor sods, with the French army tightening its grip.”

Even though they were only in mid-April, the heat of late afternoon shimmered on the bare rocks.  A coronella basked on a razor-edged slab of granite.  A fawn-colored crested bird with black and white markings hooted at Simon.  When it realized he was not going to move, it flew under a scrubby bush and scratched about.

Continue reading “Key for Spies :: free glimpse” →

Celebrations in January

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Start January off Right!

Three Books to Enjoy!

From M.A. Lee, we have two Regency mysteries with a dash of suspense.

From Remi Black, we have the second novella in the Fae Mark’d World series, Spells of Air.

 

Mysteries Fused with Romance

First up, we have two of the three Key titles in the Hearts in Hazard series. All three have strong male protagonists. With The Key for Spies, Lee also achieved 1.5 million published fiction words. With all the titles that she’s published since 2019, she’s over 2 million published words.

The third book in the subseries is The Key with Hearts. We’ll celebrate that novel in February.

On January 15, The Key for Spies.

Spies and traitors.  Lies and treachery.  Unexpected love where bullets fly.

One traitor destroys loyalty.  What will two traitors destroy?

Here are three links.

  • View the trailer for The Key for Spies: https://youtu.be/Ehc7VxUxCp4 

The ebook and paperback can be published at online distributors everywhere or ask for it at the library:

On January 20

The Key to Secrets, book 7 in the Hearts in Hazard series, published in 2018 and featuring one of Lee’s recurring characters, Constable Hector Evans.

Dark Hearts and Sharp Knives.

Hector Evans has plenty of suspects for a bloody death—including the woman he once loved.

View the trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/1Sj7NfvxzXg

The ebook and paperback can be found at online distributors or ask for it your library.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0795F86YW

B&N / Kobo and more: https://books2read.com/u/mZj0Ke

Fantasy Fused with Romance

On January 25 is Remi Black’s To Charm the Wind, second in the trilogy Spells of Air.

When Haven isn’t a Sanctuary—

When the untried wizard Orielle enters the Wilding on her journey to Iscleft Haven, she expects threats from bears and mountain lions, vipers and hornets.

She certainly doesn’t expect the creatures of legend: wraiths and gobbers, shape-shifting wyre, and the Dark Fae called the Kyrgy.

Grim, an outcast from Iscleft Haven, is the keen steel that stands with her against these dangers.

Yet when they reach the Haven, the elder arrests Grim. The Haveners aren’t interested in a renewed alliance with the Wizard Enclave.

Is her mission for the Enclave in vain?

Will she ever escape the Wilding?

 

Enjoy January and look forward to February.

The thaw is coming!

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 

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

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.

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?)