The Wednesday W.Ink offers a glimpse of Digging into Death, a post-WW I mystery set on the island of Crete.
Chapter 1 :: Saturday, October 4, 1919
If ever a maiden needed a hero, Isabella did.
Crete was the famed birthplace of Zeus, the god who granted supplicants’ prayers. Standing on the steps of the Heraklion Hotel, Isabella hoped her hero appeared before a blood sacrifice was necessary.
She plunked down her suitcase on the hotel steps and fanned her wide-brimmed straw hat. In ancient Crete the rulers had offered shelter and protection to strangers. Yet in the closed faces of the passers-by, intent on their errands, she did not see any hospitality offered to a foreign woman alone. She needed a recognizable and friendly face. She didn’t see one.
Men talking, engines sputtering, horns blaring, dogs barking, donkeys braying: after the hotel’s quiet, the cacophony assaulted her ears. Men poured past the steps with scarcely a glance at her. Most wore the dark Cretan jacket and loose breeches, although a few suits testified to modern Europe’s inroads on island culture. A few women in unrelieved black walked along the dusty road, but they ignored the lone foreigner on the hotel steps.
Isabella saw no one familiar and definitely no one who looked like the reincarnation of a protective god and certainly no one who could rescue a stranded governess.
Celebrate on the Second of September with The Hazard of Secrets
We celebrate not just the original publication of The Hazard of Secrets but also the fact that we completed a book that just kept expanding and expanding. The word count was intended to be around 70,000. M.A. Lee blew past 70,000 then 80,000 then 95,000 and kept going. The final book topped out at nearly 109,000 words when I published it on September 2, 2019.
Jem and Clarey face press gangs and murderers.
Two hearts with dangerous pasts ~ Can they keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?
Clarey Parton crosses the Atlantic to steal an inheritance. She hopes that no one discovers the rightful heir lies in a cold grave.
Jem Baxter returns to the England he fled three years before. He assumes the name James Axminster to conceal his past, one littered with misdeeds.
When a press gang sees two people traveling alone, they seize the opportunity for quick cash: they plan to sell Clarey to a brothel and impress Jem on a merchant ship. Fate brings these two lonely souls together. Chance helps them escape.
Yet escape traps them in another secret—one with murder as a bloody solution.
The Hazard of Secrets offers twists and turns as tight as knots. Can Clarey and Jem keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?
Fetch it here: https://books2read.com/u/4DWRJr
Celebrate Three Novels On the 10th of September
With A Trio of Hazards
Three novels bundled together, to help Survive in plague year 2020.
Book 1 in the Bundle, The Hazard of Secrets,details above.
View the trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/I1hb4d9wCOg
Coming Soon
Book 2 in the Bundle, The Hazard for Spies
Can Conrad discover the identity of the French spy mastermind? Will Phinney’s single-minded pursuit lead her into the murderer’s snare? Will three children be caught and sold into London’s underworld?
Can Conrad and Phinney 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?
This book did exactly what it was supposed to do: story, length, everything. It concludes the spy narrative in the Hearts in Hazard trilogy, which also includes
A Game of Secrets ~ Lee’s first published book.
2. A Game of Spies ~ her second published book.
3. A Game of Hearts ~ 3rd in publication order.
4. The Danger for Spies
and 5. The Key for Spies
The three children introduced in The Hazard of Secrets above are secondary characters in this novel.
Hector Evans, first introduced in The Danger to Hearts and receiving his own story in The Key to Secrets, also makes an appearance in The Hazard of Secrets and The Hazard for Spies.
The Hazard for Spies originally published April 30 of 2020. For this ebook alone, try this link to purchase: https://books2read.com/u/4j2JEl
The Hazard with Heartscompletes the bundle, with the original Novel published August 24, 2020.
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? The way the stone nearly killed Vivienne?
I loved this book. At first I struggled with the heroine … until I changed her name. Then she came alive! To purchase this ebook alone, try this link: https://books2read.com/u/boEVg1
When I finished this novel and knew I was finished with the entire Hearts in Hazard series, I was saddened. The characters became part of my family, and moving on from the series was like moving far away from family. I know that I will want to return.
The bundle makes it look like we have more books available … and we do!
Individual novels are available in ebook and paperback. The bundles are only available on Amazon and in ebook format–although the bundles are a bargain!
We celebrate two More books for September: nonfiction guidebooks for writers.
In the summer of the Plague Year, 2020, M.A. Lee was highly prolific. These two guidebooks along with The Hazard with Heartsare the evidence. We can’t really count the bundle above. Bundling books together is actually very simple, requiring little creativity. Writing the books, whether fiction or nonfiction, that requires LOTS of creativity.
On September 22, We celebrate Discovering Characters.
Our job as writers is to find every detail of our characters then use snippets so our readers will see our characters as they drive through our books. We hint at the foundations while opening doors to their plans and purposes.
Discovering Characters is designed to help writers find the exteriors and interiors, public and private. We’ll dig around the foundations and climb to the roof. We’ll explore the open rooms and the storage closets. And we’ll peek into rooms inhabited by such characters as diverse as Elizabeth and Darcy, the Iron Man, Aragorn and Frodo, Travis McGee, Medea, Macbeth, and Nanny McPhee.
Five areas comprise this guidebook. Just as characters—and houses—are individual, this info is individual. You won’t need every bit. Dip in and out, skim around. When you reach locked rooms, come back and explore to discover the keys to your characters.
Starting Points ~ offering templates and character interviews
Classifications ~ common and uncommon ways of discovering characters
Relationships ~ couples, teams, allies, enemies, mentors, etc.
Special Touches ~ progressions, transgressions, and transitions for character arcs
Significant Lists ~ archetypal characters and much more
Discovering Characters, with 44,000-plus words, is the second book in the Discovering set, part of the Think like a Pro Writer series for writers new to the game as well as those wanting to up their game.
Fetch it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y7LYK19
Finally this month, on the very last day, we Celebrate Discovering Your Author Brand.
Discovering Your Author Brand understands that the browsing readers will only give a few nanoseconds to our books.
So, we explain the three main glances that hook the readers before they swim down the river. We also look at the keys to unlock those glances. With the right keys, the brand is revealed, and the door to the reader opens.
To help with the keys and glances, we have worksheets (charts!) to help you discover the brand for book, series, and your author persona—because the first leads to the last.
In addition to analyzing successful brands by writing greats from the last of the 20th century, we have information on how to develop a video book trailer. You can watch our own trailer for our book on Branding at this link: https://youtu.be/uthI5gEWic8
Fetch this guidebook at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YL8GBM1
Coming later this Fall
We have the paperback version of Discovering Your Writing, which combines our books on Plot, Characters, Branding, and Sentence Craft, a real deal!
Two hearts with dangerous pasts are twisted up into complex schemes in this 10th book of the Hearts in Hazard series ~ The Hazard of Secrets.
The Hazard of Secrets
Can these two hearts keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?
Clarey Parton crosses the Atlantic to steal an inheritance. She hopes that no one discovers the rightful heir lies in a cold grave.
Jem Baxter returns to the England he fled three years before. He assumes the name James Axminster to conceal his past, one littered with misdeeds.
When a press gang sees two people traveling alone, they seize the opportunity for quick cash: they plan to sell Clarey to a brothel and impress Jem on a merchant ship. Fate brings these two lonely souls together. Chance helps them escape.
Yet escape traps them in another secret—one with murder as a bloody solution.
The Hazard of Secrets offers twists and turns as tight as knots.
Can Clarey and Jem keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?
Here’s the second chapter of the newest release by M. A. Lee, The Hazard of Secrets, historical mystery set in 1814 Liverpool, England, with just a dash of romance. Find it at this link.
Writers will tell you that sometimes characters take control of a story, and writers are just along for the write. That’s the case with Vic, a boy on the streets of 1814 Liverpool in M.A. Lee’s newest historical mystery. I liked Vic so much I might even ask him to write another story with me. Find Vic’s introduction at this link.
And watch the trailer:
This is the book that became ever-expanding, blowing past the original length of 55,000 words, climbing on to 78,000 words, and then achieving 109,000 words.
I kept thinking about dividing it out, but events at the beginning cause events in the middle and connect to events at the end.
And I hate to read cliff-hangers which require two separate books. Better to have the cliff-hangers at the end of chapters!
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.
cover by Deranged Doctor Design
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:
books. We hint at the foundations while opening doors to their plans and purposes.
