Lately I’ve been spending a great deal of time wandering the cliffs and fog-covered shores of Dunbrae.

Not literally, of course. Though after enough hours writing and thinking about a place, it begins to feel strangely real in the mind.

Welcome to Dunbrae is my first full attempt at a murder mystery. Naturally, I’ve already turned it into a series called Sea Smoke, set in a small coastal Nova Scotian village around 1900.

The story follows Richard Gauthier, a French-Canadian detective from Montreal, who arrives in Dunbrae hoping for peace, solitude, and time to repair an old cliffside house overlooking the sea.

Naturally, things do not go according to plan.

One thing I’ve found fascinating while developing the story is how isolated places shape the people living within them. Dunbrae is beautiful, but it is also remote. News travels slowly. The villagers immediately notice outsiders. People know one another’s histories, family connections, and failures, often stretching back generations.

Into that world walks Richard, a stranger from Montreal with his own quiet burdens and reasons for wanting distance from other people.

The townspeople are wary of him at first, and honestly, I can’t entirely blame them. Small communities often protect themselves by being cautious around newcomers, especially when tragedy strikes. Suspicion becomes part of survival.

That atmosphere became very important to me while building Dunbrae. I wanted the setting itself to feel alive — the fog rolling over the cliffs, the crashing Atlantic below the rocks, fishing boats returning at dusk, weathered homes standing against harsh winters, and the unspoken understanding that life in such places can be both beautiful and unforgiving.

Richard himself begins the story emotionally disconnected from many of the surrounding people. He is observant, intelligent, and capable, but he is also carrying a great deal internally. Part of the challenge in writing him has been balancing realism with suspense. Real people do not instantly trust strangers, confess secrets, or solve mysteries overnight. Fear, pride, grief, and suspicion all complicate human behavior.

I think that slower emotional realism is part of what draws me to stories like this.

Sea Smoke still carries many of the things I love writing most: atmosphere, danger, quiet tension, flawed people, and relationships slowly developing beneath the surface of larger events.

And somewhere out there in Dunbrae, poor Richard Gauthier is probably discovering that solitude is much harder to find than he originally imagined.

***

Echoes of Dust, the fourth and final book in my Dreams and Secrets series, is off to the editor. Which always feels both exciting and slightly terrifying.

The story returns to Golden City and follows Graham Cavendish, an English priest who came to Colorado believing his superiors sent him there either to fail miserably or to be killed. Instead, he discovers the frontier has a way of forcing people to confront who they truly are beneath titles, expectations, and fear.

As Graham struggles to find his place in the harsh and often dangerous West, he observes men like Vance Brinshaw and Darius Royal, men who seem to fear nothing and willingly place their own lives on the line for others. He also comes to know Cotton Russell, a one-legged former cavalry sergeant who quietly and unknowingly shows him what true courage really is.

Between danger, old wounds, complicated loyalties, and a growing connection with a woman who deeply distrusts clergy, Graham finds himself standing at the crossroads between obligation and the possibility of an entirely different future he never expected.

***

I’ve also been revisiting Dirtied Waters, getting it ready to publish. This book (or otherwise called file 3) which may be one of the most complicated books I’ve written in the Jeopardy Directive series so far. (more complicated ones to come)

At the center of the story is Gravis Denaley, the director of GSM, the intergalactic espionage agency responsible for dealing with threats most governments cannot handle on their own. Gravis is brilliant, powerful, highly respected, and usually several steps ahead of everyone around him. Unfortunately for him, none of that intelligence seems to help when Victra Loomis enters the room.

Victra is the daughter of Barnabas Loomis and one of GSM’s finest operatives. She is also one of the very few people capable of completely disrupting Gravis’ ability to think rationally.

The story begins when advanced weapons surface throughout the black markets of Astua. What first appears to be smuggling slowly reveals something much larger and far more dangerous, involving stolen technology, political instability, and the growing threat of war spreading across multiple star systems.

Part of what fascinated me while writing the book was balancing large-scale espionage and interstellar politics with very personal emotional conflict. Gravis is accustomed to controlling situations, but emotions are far less predictable than military strategy or intelligence operations. Watching someone so capable become increasingly frustrated, reckless, and emotionally conflicted ended up creating some of my favorite moments in the series.

The novel also allowed me to spend more time with characters like Leland and Leo, who remain one of my favorite covert teams inside GSM. There is something wonderfully dangerous about putting highly intelligent operatives into situations where absolutely everything can collapse at any moment.

Beneath the espionage, space travel, political danger, and advanced technology, however, Dirtied Waters is still very much about people struggling with loyalty, trust, fear, sacrifice, and the complicated mess human (or humanoid) emotions create no matter how advanced civilization becomes.

Apparently, even intergalactic spy directors are not immune to making disastrous decisions when love gets involved.

***

I'm on a slow roll with YouTube videos. I’ve been creating short videos using scenes and excerpts from my books, combining narration, atmosphere, and artwork inspired by the stories themselves. So far I have two from the Dreams and Secrets series and one from The Jeopardy Directive, but there are many, many more to come.

You can see what I have so far on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorHelenHuntley​

***

Before I finish this letter, I wanted to share a small creative experiment I’ve been working on lately.

Over the years, many readers have told me that one thing they enjoy most about my books is the atmosphere — the old western towns, fog-covered coastlines, star systems, haunted manors, distant planets, and the characters inhabiting those worlds.

Recently, I wondered what it might be like to bring some of those settings and moments to life in a different way.

So, partly out of curiosity and partly because it sounded fun, I put together a small printable coloring sampler inspired by scenes and characters from my novels.

The collection includes a mixture of westerns, historical romance, gothic fantasy, historical suspense, and space opera settings. Some are atmospheric landscapes or scenes pulled from places like Golden City, Philadelphia, and beyond.

Not everyone enjoys coloring, of course, but I know many readers find it relaxing, and I thought some of you might enjoy stepping into these worlds in a slightly different way.

You can download the free sampler here: https://authorhelenhuntley.com/wp-content/uploads/Coloring-Sampler-1.pdf​

If readers enjoy it, I may create more collections in the future. So don’t be shy about letting me know what you think.

And honestly, I have to admit… it was unexpectedly enjoyable seeing these fictional worlds transformed into illustrated pages.

Until next time stay safe

Helen