Spies in 1813 Spain, eluding French soldiers with the help of Spanish guerrillas–only to be captured.
Here’s a trailer for your enjoyment:
And the Amazon link:
Category: M.A. Lee
mysteries and romantic suspense
Here’s a free glimpse at the book M.A. Lee is currently working on, The Key for Spies. This is the rough draft of the first chapter.
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.
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.
We also have the audio Podcast from The Write Focus.
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:
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MTSQTY7
- Barnes and Noble / Kobo / and others https://books2read.com/u/3RKYpj
A Trio of Keys with Intriguing Men
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, published in 2021 and now 2 years old!
To Charm the Wind has entered the terrible 2’s!
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?
- Buy the ebook at online distributors:
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TY6HLWY
- Online at other retailers: https://books2read.com/u/bzeJ7E
- Buy the paperback bundle containing To Wield the Wind, To Charm the Wind, and To Curse the Air, entitled Spells of Air, only at Amazon: Spells of Air: Fae Mark’d World 1 to 3: Black, Remi: 9781737422648: Amazon.com: Books
- Watch the bundle trailer here: https://youtu.be/PqjouEJtbjY
For Writers, the January series of The Write Focus.
January starts with a free opening scene.
- Last year was Remi Black’s short story, “Godriana’s Font”. You can get the entire story free with this Book Funnel link: click.
- The year before was M.A. Lee’s “The Lion’s Den”, also available as a freebie through Book Funnel: here.
- This year, things are little hectic. (Okay, a LOT hectic.) If we manage the recording, it will be the opening scene from “The Poisoner and the Faerie Huntsman”. You can access the story as a freebie through Book Funnel: also here.
The starting series for 2023, our fourth season, is Discovering Characters. Enjoy!
Visit The Write Focus website for more information and links to every episode.
Here’s the link to the blog site: https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/
Enjoy January and look forward to February.
The thaw is coming!
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?)
Have a Merry Christmas with a Free Mystery!
Listen for Free to the 1st short story in the Sailing with Mystery anthology.
Here’s a Christmas gift for you! Listen for free to the audio files of the first short story in the Sailing with Mystery anthology.
The first short story is “Amber Dreams” :: Blackmail threatens a young bride when her secret diary is stolen. Her marriage of convenience is threatened if the contents are revealed to her new husband and his autocratic mother.
Can Isabella recover the diary before the bride loses all hope?
Use this link to find the first episode after 5:30 a.m. on December 26, 2023. The other episodes post five minutes later and later and later and later. All five episodes are available for free on various podcast services, including Apple, Google, YouTube, Samsung Podcasts, iHeart, Tune-In, and many many more.
The collection is available in ebook and paperback at the following links.
Zon, ebook and paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJL28Z5W
Worldwide Paperback https://books2read.com/u/3R5QJR
Worldwide Ebook https://books2read.com/u/3R5QJR
View the trailer https://youtu.be/csAe72b5X2I
The audiobook became available from various distributors on October 30, 2023.
Happy Mystery Listening from The Write Focus.
