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?
- 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.)
Want a Strong Heroine? Or a Strong Hero who is not an Alpha Dog?
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.
Read them all, a book a month. (Wasn’t that a book club?)
