Tag: mystery

Mystery and Murder ~ Portrait with Death

Posted on by writer35_bg

It’s Mystery and Murder in 1921.

Into Death series with Isabella Newcombe

Portrait with Death continues with Isabella while introducing two new characters to the series.

Flick Sherborne, intrepid photographer. Flick is brand-new to this series, and she quite surprised me when she appeared.

DI Michael Wainwright of Scotland Yard. DI Wainwright first appeared in Christmas with Death. He has a stronger role now.

A Murderer paints with Blood.

Why would anyone kill a school master? Motives abound, and suspects increase. Fellow teaching masters. A former soldier haunted by the nightmares of the war. Three ladies were rivals for Webberly’s attentions. Their husbands may have clubbed him and cracked open his head. A photographer. Three fishermen. A medic. The pub owner and his wife. The local constable.

Who committed the murder? Can Isabella find the answer?

A tangle of motives and hidden evidence complicate the murder in Portrait with Death, an amateur sleuth mystery set in a 1920 sleepy English village.

Portrait with Death is the third novel in the series Into Death, with artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant.

What is Portrait with Death?

https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/portrait-with-death-3rd-in-into-death.html

Read the first chapter here.

https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/portrait-with-death-read-1st-chapter.html

Another bit with Isabella

https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/portrait-with-death-heres-more-with.html

A bit more with Flick

https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/portrait-with-death-heres-more-to.html

Meet Detective Inspector Michael Wainwright, sent by Scotland Yard to solve the murder … although someone else is on his mind.

https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/meet-detective-inspector-portrait-with.html

Intrigued? View the trailer here!

Click this link. https://youtu.be/6cfEOGy-fXQ

 

Portrait with Death Celebrates its Publication Anniversary this Month.

Mystery and Murder. 1921. Enjoy your last-of-summer reading.

Amazon, ebook and paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0973GVKSQ

Online distributors Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/b6vrjZ 

Enjoy *A Trio of Dangers*

Posted on by writer35_bg

Welcome to A Trio of Dangers

hazardous mysteries blended with historical romance.

 

Amateur sleuths solve Hazardous Mysteries in A Trio of Dangers,

a collection of three novels set in Regency England.

 

 

A serial killer stalks the idyllic countryside.

A vindictive French spy-catcher seeks the double agent who escaped him a decade ago.

A past murder comes to light after a dangerous arson.

 

The Dangers of Secrets

A baffling murder interrupts a charming romance in The Danger of Secrets.

Maddy Whittaker encounters secrets of family, secrets of the heart, and secrets of blood and pain, all served up for Valentine’s Day. Her flirtation with Gordon, Lord Musgrove, is a pleasant distraction.

Too bad for Maddy and Gordon that secrets can kill.

 

The Dangers for Spies

A cunning killer hunts the spies who escaped him.

Eugenie DesChamps wants nothing more than her paintings, her friendships in a bucolic English village, and her flirtation with Charles Audley. She wants to forget her past life as a double agent working for England.

The past is never forgotten. Tor the French spy who tried to kill her discovers her when he tracks down the English cryptographer Charles Audley.

Blood will be spilled before the past is purged.

 

The Dangers to Hearts

Arson uncovers a baffling murder from the past.

Agatha’s lover abandoned her a decade ago. Jess Carter barely escaped arrest for smuggling. Neither expects romance.

Then hatred burns into a fire in the night. The arson reveals an old murder. The vanished fiancé didn’t leave—he was murdered.

Who is the arsonist? Who is the murderer? Are they the same person? Or two separate people poisoned by hatred?

Will Agatha and Jess be destroyed before they can find love together?

 

Enjoy A Trio of Dangers.

Available ebook and paperback.

Worldwide Distributors like Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, both ebook and paperback https://books2read.com/u/mVDxP5

From Amazon: for the ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CTP5G7R

And for the paperback from the Zon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZW91ZLZ

 

 

Enjoy *A Trio of Games*

Posted on by writer35_bg

Heart-Pounding Puzzles ~ A Trio of Games

Smugglers in A Game of Secrets,

Tricky Twists in A Game of Spies,

and

murder Most Foul in A Game of Hearts

Regency mysteries and suspense with a dash of romance.

 

My first three books ever published, way back in 2015,

collected into A Trio of Games.

A Trio of Games offers my first three mysteries.

  • Long before I dreamed of publishing, the novel A Game of Secrets rescued me from a dark time of life.
  • Then came the novel A Game of Spies at another dark time.
  • In 2013, when I realized self-publication was not only possible but a reality, I began writing my third novel A Game of Hearts.

Indie publishing was a dream coming true, and these three novels began my writing career.

These weren’t the first novels I penned, but they were the first to enter the publishing world and to be offered to readers, in October of 2015. Even in that month, the whole Hearts in Hazard series was just a dream. I had only a vague idea of the series.

Each novel would be a stand-alone, dealing with a different conflict and a different setting. The characters and situations would reflect history accurately. Each would have suspense or mystery, with sweet romance sprinkled all through.

Rather than focusing on two characters only, I wanted each novel to focus on separate couples. Some characters might recur, but no main characters would again be primaries. Characters may enter early as secondary actors. The primary characters would be honorable and humble, good people struggling together through bad circumstances.

This Trio of Games

The individual books are available in ebook and paperback formats while the collections are ebook only. All of the novels are available in wide distribution: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Amazon, and many other distributors. Find them at your favorite online bookstore. You can search for the individual titles or the series title under my pen name of M.A. Lee.

You can find the collection A Trio of Games at Amazon, ebook available at this link and the paperback here, and both ebook and paperback at worldwide distribution, with this link.

The other collected novels are A Trio of Dangers, A Trio of Keys, and A Trio of Hazards.

Hopefully, this will start a busy Summer of reading that will stretch into Autumn!

Sink into the best reading: 3 heart-pounding puzzles in A Trio of Games.

“Amber Dreams” / a Short Story Mystery / Happy Birthday!

Posted on by writer35_bg

1st Short Story in the Sailing with Mystery anthology

featuring Isabella Newcombe Tarrant from the Into Death series.

Aboard the Passenger Ship Nomadic

A short story mystery featuring Isabella Newcombe Tarrant from the Into Death series.

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?

Find the individual short story at these links:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1YG2J6Q

Books2Read  https://books2read.com/u/3yWAAl

The “Amber Dreams” cover represents the rocky coasts that Isabella would have seen along the French and Spanish coastlines during her ocean voyage.

Visit this website for the first section and more links. https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/amber-dreams-opening-and-links.html

Sailing With Mystery ~ the short Story Collection

Travel presents opportunities to meet new friends and see new places. And confront DANGER!

Follow Isabella through the Mediterranean Sea and into the Indian Ocean as she sails from England to India … and encounters puzzling crimes and mysterious intrigue.

All five short stories are available in the collection.

Link for Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1YG2J6Q

Link to Wide Distribution ~ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/3yWAAl

A Word on the Covers: My designers manipulate stock photos to create vibrant colors. Few images are available that present 1921 accurately. Rather than be limited in cover choices, we avoided that problem and chose to emphasize Isabella’s art. Five similar watercolor images became the covers for the short stories, each one symbolically depicting the story’s conflict or theme or setting. Finding those similar images became the next design challenge.

The cover for the collection Sailing with Mystery echoes the covers for the original three-book series Into Death. The ocean and the railing of the ship depict her location while the tumultuous sky echoes the mysteries she encounters while aboard the passenger ship.

Enjoy!

The Into Death series:

Digging into Death ~ Love and murder on an archaeological dig. Has the love of her life beguiled Isabella straight into death?

Christmas with Death ~ An English country manor offers Christmas merriment, miracles, and murder. Will Isabella be the next victim?

Portrait with Death ~ When murder paints with blood, will Isabella and her new friend Flick discover that the murderer? Or will the murderer stop them?

Collected into Into Death

LINKS:

https://books2read.com/u/baDN1L

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MRBNCH7

Available ebook and paperback

Celebrate the April Book Birthdays!

Posted on by writer35_bg

Spring is bursting forth, birds are twittering around,

… and allergies have started.

Time for April Book Birthdays!

discover with one click!

By Dejan Krsmanovic - Birthday Cake Details, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134047258
Who doesn’t want chocolate cake? Image free from Wikimedia Commons, see alt text for attribution

 

 On April 1st ~ Writing Craft!

Discovering Your Writing

The epic journey for all writers is discovering the many areas of our writing craft.

Characters.

Plot.

Branding.

Sentence Craft.

A ready-reference to build your writing career. Designed for writers at any skill level.

One-click link for the book description, trailer, and purchase.

 

April 5 ~ Fantasy!

Spells of Aircover by Deranged Doctor Design

On a mission for the Wizard Enclave, Orielle ventures into the Wilding, a strange frontier filled with magical creatures. There she discovers sprites and wraiths, gobbers and wyre, and the mysterious Dark Fae called the Kyrgy.

All view her as prey.

What can you expect from this trilogy? Elemental magic. Dangerous Dark Fae allies. Treacherous shape-shifted. A twisted sorceress.

This book bundles the three novellas, To Wield the Wind, To Charm the Wind, and To Curse the Wyre. 

Amazon has the ebook and paperback options. Worldwide is ebook only.

LINKS:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Spells-Air-Fae-Markd-World/dp/1737422646/
Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/mlq96v

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

April 9 ~ Traditional Regency Mystery

The Dangers to Hearts

What can possibly go wrong in an idyll? Arson uncovers a baffling murder from the past. 

When Agatha’s lover abandoned her years ago, she poured herself into her family’s property, Helmes Farm. Mismanaged by three stewards, the estate suffers financial trouble. Agatha needs someone honest to help.

Jess Carter evaded arrest for smuggling. The smuggler’s fence offers him a job at Helmes Farm. When Agatha hires Jess as her new steward, his loyalties are divided.

Then hatred burns into a fire in the night. The arson reveals an old murder. The vanished fiancé didn’t leave—he was murdered.

Who is the arsonist? Who is the murderer? Are the arsonist and the murderer the same person? Or have two people been poisoned by hatred?

Troubles past and present swirl around destructive hatred in this twisty romantic mystery.

LINKS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y59XB7N

https://books2read.com/u/31qlQ7

View the trailer. https://youtu.be/kFhnthIuYks

April 30 ~ Another Traditional Regency Mystery

The Hazard for Spies

Disguised to Spy

Conrad Hoppock works with the Bow Street Runners to locate a French master spy. His search sends him undercover in a firm of solicitors.

Phinney Darracott wants justice for the murders of her sister and brother-in-law. Clues lead her to a firm of London solicitors. Disguised as a cleaning maid, Phinney prowls for the evidence. There she encounters Conrad.

Then the lawyer at the center of the tangle of clues is shot dead while they watch from hiding.

Will Phinney and Conrad discover the connection between past and present murders ~ or will they face two bullets?

LINKS

https://books2read.com/u/4j2JEl

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087WJ8TJD

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

 

All cover images by Deranged Doctor Designs!