“Black Heart” ~ an Into Death Short Story

Posted on June 15, 2026March 18, 2026 by writer35_bg

“Black Heart”

~ the 3rd Short story with Isabella Newcombe Tarrant!

Pranks and tricks cause inconvenience, misery, and embarrassment.

After one prank goes too far and injury occurs, will Isabella locate the trickster before the next mishap turns deadly?

“Black Heart” is the third short story in the collection Sailing with Mystery. The collection continues the mystery adventures of the artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant, featured in the Into Death series. Her introduction is in the novel Digging into Death.

~ What’s Up with “Black Heart”? ~

Writing “Black Heart”

This story–with pranks revealing evil hearts–kept stumping me for a while. I launched into the writing without a clear idea of the types of pranks. The only clear idea was that I hate pranksters.

You see, I taught teen-agers for a long, long time. I loved their energy. I also loved their welcoming and compassionate hearts. Their idea of fun gave me lots of fun as a spectator of it …. unless that idea of fun was more about laughing at other people, setting them up for ridicule, and mocking them when the results of their “fun” developed. Mild pranks were never the problem. Hurtful pranks, embarrassing pranks, pranks intending to hurt people or their property merely for a laugh: those pranks are ones that I despise.

During the writing of the Sailing with Mystery collection, in the week before I started this story, I spent an hour mapping out an itinerary for the collection. Isabella boards the ship Nomadic in Southhampton, England. The ship stops along the French and Spanish coasts. The first story occurs on the approach to Gibraltar; the second, into the Mediterranean. This third is set in Port Said, Egypt … except it isn’t.

I decided to visit the pyramids, and that gave me the first prank and the launching point of the story.

Everything developed from the launch point along with additional pranks and the black heart required for a prankster.

A couple of twists developed. A research-based conversation changed a planned event to one that had more reality.

Then the ending was upon me. With the last words, I leaned back in my chair. “Whoo! That was fun!”

I hope you enjoy it as well.

How to Purchase

Sailing with Mystery ~ Mystery and Peril are dangerous shipmates for an ocean voyage.

Here’s a link to purchase the short story.

From Amazon or from other online, worldwide distributors like Kobo and Barnes & Noble and others.

If you would rather wait for the entire short story collection, Sailing with Mystery, then use these links to online distributors.

Zon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJL28Z5W Ebook and Paperback, use the Same Link

Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3R5QJR Ebook and Paperback use the Same Link

View the Trailer here: https://youtu.be/csAe72b5X2I

“Purple Poison”, a Short Story

Posted on May 15, 2026August 14, 2026 by writer35_bg

“Purple Poison”

the 2nd Short Story with the artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant

A flurry of poison pen letters unsettle the passengers on the ship Nomadic. Even Isabella is not immune from the vicious invective.

Will the culprit be discovered before dangerous secrets are revealed?

“Purple Poison” is part of the collection Sailing with Mystery.

The collection continues the mystery adventures of Isabella Tarrant, featured in the Into Death series. Her introduction is in the novel Digging into Death.

Link to Worldwide Distribution.

Link to Amazon here.

. ~ . ~ . ~ .

Sailing With Mystery ~ A Short Story Collection

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 “Black Heart”.

In discussing 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 covers represent the coastlines that Isabella would have seen during her ocean voyage. “Amber Dreams” focuses on the French and Spanish coasts. “Purple Poison” would be anything she saw from Gibraltar to Rhodes.

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!

Fuse Faeries with the Legends of Robin Hood

Posted on April 25, 2026February 9, 2026 by writer35_bg

What do you get when Faeries are Fused with the Legends of Robin Hood?

Into Wild Sherwood

an Anthology of 5 Short Stories

For lovers of #fantasy and #medievaltimes & the legends of #Robinhood

View the Trailer https://youtu.be/O9qWTwRZgoI

I love this music!

Dangerous Faeries Lurk in the Forest

Pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham and his guards, five people take refuge in the wilds of Sherwood Forest ~ only to encounter the Faeries of British legend.

~ ~ ~

“Tod the Fox and the Faeries in the Ring”

Never enter a Faerie Ring. The Faeries like to play.

How can Tod escape them?

~ ~ ~

“The Poisoner and the Faerie Huntsman”

Never reveal weakness to a Faerie.

Melly and her hound encounter strange black hounds. Then the Huntsman of the Wild Hunt arrives. Has she fallen into greater trouble?

~ ~ ~

“Three Yule Feasts for Faeries”

Will the cook become the final dish?

A Faerie sentinel tempts Ellen to cook three dinners. For each, she’ll receive three purses, copper and silver and gold. But what does the Faerie mean by final feast?

~ ~ ~

“Friar Tuck and the Faerie at the Pool”

Beauty is terrifyingly dangerous.

Friar Tuck encounters a Faerie at a forest pool. Can he convince her that he is a man of peace?

~ ~ ~

“Alan-a-Dale and the Harp of Elandrielle”

Who can trust a Faerie?

At his lowest point, a Faerie finds Alan and offers her aid. Should he accept her bargain?

~ ~ ~

If you love the historical legends surrounding Robin Hood and you’re intrigued by perilous Faeries, then explore the world of Wild Sherwood, from Edie Roones and M.A. Lee.

Paperback and Ebook available at Kobo, Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble, and other online distributors.

LINKS

Worldwide outlets, ebook only https://books2read.com/u/bOzoDE

Amazon, ebook and paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YX79TMH

Enjoy The Hazard for Spies

Posted on April 20, 2026August 14, 2026 by writer35_bg

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:

The Dangers to Hearts: Hearts in Hazard 6

Posted on April 15, 2026August 14, 2026 by writer35_bg

The Dangers to Hearts

Do broken hearts destroy all dreams?

Or will murder destroy the dreams?

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.