ECHOES ON THE WIND
by Helaine Mario
June 23 – August 1, 2025 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
THE MAGGIE O’SHEA SUSPENSE SERIES
TWO STRONG WOMEN, GENERATIONS APART, CONNECTED BY MUSIC…
In 1943 war-torn France, a young woman on the Night Train to Paris has a chance meeting with two very different men who will change her life, setting in motion a Dual Timeline story that will resonate like ripples on water for generations to come. Many years later, classical pianist Maggie O’Shea is drawn to Brittany by a long-lost letter from her French grandmother and the stirring music of Chopin, whispering like echoes across the years. But as Maggie discovers the secrets of her past, her life spirals out of control, threatening her upcoming wedding and those she loves.
Set against the backdrop of World War II France, Maggie learns her grandmother’s story, chord by chord, through Chopin’s emotional Preludes. And, in one shocking moment, Maggie’s love story will take a heart-breaking turn that will change her life and echo into her future.
Past and present converge in this haunting tale of loss and sacrifice, friendship and family, courage and survival – and the transcendent power of hope, music and love.
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Praise for Echoes on the Wind:
“History, mystery and music. I love this series.” ~ Ellen Kirschman, Author of the award-winning Dot Meyerhoff mysteries
“I am loving it. Your lovely words are my path back to reading. Thank you.” ~ Book Reviewer, The Reading Frenzy
“Echoes on the Wind stands alone as a beautiful story… Beyond this is layered a second story of enduring love, of commitment. This story is set in another time and place. A story of family. The two stories are linked by family through time… healing, forgiveness and resolution are finally able to happen. Through all of this, the thread that held it together is the music, the art, and the poetry of the heart that poured forth.” ~ Karen Laird, Reviewer, Shade Tree Book Reviews
“Echoes on the Wind presents two love stories – one in the present day and one during World War II. It’s easy to root for Maggie and Michael as the main couple (and Clair and Charles in the past). This book is exemplary in its choice of topic or theme of the story. It is unique but still has strong appeal for most readers in its intended genre.” ~ Writers’ Digest Reviewer
“In this book, readers embark on a poignant journey through the past and the present. Maggie’s story is a careful examination of how one’s ancestral past can influence their present. Most of all, it is a story of female fortitude. Both Maggie and Clair find a strength within themselves that neither of them knew they possessed. Additionally, the incorporation of classical music in the novel is refreshing. This focus is a reminder of the unifying and healing power of the arts, music, and literature. The poetic writing makes this book even more gripping, as readers are completely swept up in Maggie and Clair’s experiences.” ~ RECOMMENDED by the US Review
“Once again, Maggie O’Shea, is the central character, but this entry in the series features a dual timeline that will captivate the reader. Both the contemporary, present-day storyline and the historical thread set in World War II France are so authentically depicted that readers will struggle to determine which setting they enjoy more. Watching how these two plots weave and intermingle continues to surprise, with echoes being the perfect symbolic image. Light the fireplace, put Chopin’s Preludes on the stereo, and settle in for a gripping read you won’t soon forget.” ~ Kristopher Zgorski, BOLOBooks.COM
Book Details:
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Published by: Suncoast Publishing Publication Date: June 18, 2024 Number of Pages: 364 ISBN: 9781735184975 (ISBN10: 1735184977) Series: A Maggie O’Shea Romantic Suspense, Book 4
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads
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The Maggie O’Shea Romantic Suspense Series:
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Enjoy this peek Inside:
OVERTURE
“Like so many things that matter, it began with an accident.” David Ignatius, 12/28/98
NOVEMBER, 1943. THE NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS
Light and dark.
The bleak November landscape rushed past the train’s window. Black tree branches against the dark night sky, then a sudden flash of light. Then blackness again.
The blackout had claimed the streetlamps and cottage windows. Clair Rousseau stared out the rain-streaked glass, waiting for the next glimpse of light. A lone lantern. Car headlights tilted down, a sliver of gold beyond a cracked curtain. Sheet lightning over distant hills, a glimmer of light on water. But all she saw was the blurred, pale oval of her reflection staring back at her. Dark hair scraped back, framing huge eyes beneath winged brows, sharp cheekbones, the too-wide mouth. No hint of the emotions flowing through her, except for the deep purple shadows beneath her eyes. The dim, four-person compartment was cold, and she pulled her coat more tightly around her body. The seat beside her was still empty, thank God. Across from her, two German officers. One asleep, snoring loudly, his hands slack between thick gray-green uniformed knees. The other awake, a
Gauloises cigarette clamped between thin lips, a jagged line of white scars marring his left cheek. The narrow fox-like face stared at her through thick round glasses and wreathes of curling blue smoke. His jacket was heavy with insignia, oak leaves, medals. Military Intelligence, she thought with a sudden chill. A high rank, SD or Abwehr. What was he thinking? The watchful, unblinking eyes made her afraid. Like a snake’s eyes, waiting to strike. She looked away, forcing herself not to reach for her satchel, touch her identity papers for reassurance. The carriage’s glassed door slid back and forth with an unnerving rattle as the train rocked around a bend. From the hallway came the sharp scent of burning coal, wafting back from the old steam engine several cars ahead. A cloud of steam billowed past the window like sudden fog. She could feel the vibration beneath her, hear the rumble of the train’s wheels speeding along the tracks. The lonely call of a train whistle, echoing in the night. A quick flare of light, illuminating the rain like silver threads streaming down the window.
Light and dark. Light and dark. Movement at the edge of her vision. A tall figure appeared in the hallway, beyond the door. Her chest tightened. Would she ever feel safe again? A sharp crack of thunder, a sudden bright flash lighting her face.
“Mademoiselle Clair?” Startled, her head came up. The stranger had stopped, was staring into the compartment. Across from her, the watchful German stiffened and slid pale eyes toward the voice.
Be careful. There was something familiar about the gaunt face, the faint, questioning smile just visible above a thick woolen scarf. She stood quickly, stepping between the German and the carriage door to block the officer’s view. “
Oui,” she said softly, peering into the dim hallway. The man nodded and moved closer. Something about those gentle eyes, the arch of silver brows. Memory surged.
Father Jean-Luc. She flashed him a warning glance for silence and stepped into the train’s narrow corridor, closing the door firmly behind her. “
Mon Père, is it really you?” “
Oui, ma petite, c’est moi.” The priest pulled the scarf down to offer a glimpse of his white Roman collar, then lost his smile as he gazed over her shoulder and saw the Germans. “But we cannot talk here. Come with me.” He slipped a hand beneath her elbow and guided her to the end of the dark passageway, where an open exit door led across shifting metal plates to the train’s next car. She felt the sudden bite of night wind on her face, cold and wet with mist. Here the clatter of the train wheels was loud enough to hide their conversation. They sheltered just inside the doorway, in the shadows, away from the rain. Outside, the countryside of France rushed by, then disappeared in a billow of black smoke. In the dim corridor, the planes of the priest’s face were lit by a tiny, flickering overhead bulb.
Light and dark. Light and dark. The priest looked down at her, shook his head. “Little Clair Rousseau,” he murmured. “Now such a beautiful young woman. It’s been – what? – four years since we met? You were just thirteen, I think. Playing the piano in your parents’ apartment. Bach, yes? It was so beautiful, so stirring. I hope you are still playing?” She shook her head. “You need hope to create music,
Père.” She looked back toward her carriage compartment. The hallway was empty. “But I remember that day. The war was coming. You asked us to help you remove the stained-glass windows from Sainte-Chapelle. To save them from the bombing.” “You were fearless, Clair. I remember watching you, swaying at the top of that impossibly high ladder. The morning light was coming through the stained glass, spilling over you like shimmering jewels. I’ll never forget it. I told myself, Clair means light, she is perfectly named.” He leaned down. “And I can still see your sister, Elle – too young to help us,
bien sûr – dancing around the altar.” Her expression softened. “Elle loved to dance. It was the last happy day I can remember.” She lifted her eyes to his, took a breath. “Paris was another lifetime,
Père.” “You cannot lose hope,” he told her. “The glass pieces are in a safe place. Beauty and goodness cannot be destroyed. You will see the stained-glass windows back in Sainte-Chapelle when the war is over. I know it.” She shook her head. “I wish I had your faith.” “God has his plans. There is a reason we’ve met by chance on the night train to Paris.” Concern flashed in his eyes. “But you’ve been in Brittany? Dangerous times for a young woman to be traveling alone, Clair.” She looked out at the black trees rushing past the doorway, and felt the blackness deep in her heart. “I am alone now,
Père.” “
Mon Dieu. What happened?” “My father knew that war was inevitable. Not long after we saved the glass my parents moved us from Paris to the coast near Saint-Malo to be safe. Such irony. They had no idea how dangerous Brittany would become. And then…” She could not stop the sudden rush of tears that filled her eyes. “The Gestapo shot my father last year, in a retaliation roundup for an act of sabotage by the Resistance. He was with the Liberty Network, they had bombed a train track. He stepped forward, admitted it, hoping to save the others. But still they took thirty innocent people from our village, murdered them in the square.” “Oh no, Clair.” The priest made a quick sign of the cross. “I am so sorry. And your mother, your sister?” “I don’t know,
Père. I was studying in Paris, I begged them to come stay with me. But
Maman refused. When I returned last month to see them, the house was empty. They were just… gone. The neighbors said the Germans took them, in the night. The mayor was told they were being relocated to Poland.” The priest paled. “
Désolé. I will pray for their souls.” Anger erupted, spilled out. “Prayers did not help my family! I have no time for prayer now. Or sorrow. Even avenging my father will have to wait. I need all my energy now to find my mother and my sister.” He bent toward her. “I am afraid you are still too fearless for your own good. Tell me what you’re doing, little one.” She turned once more to scan the dark hallway, then leaned closer. “I excelled in languages in my
lycée studies these last years,” she whispered. “I am fluent in several languages, including German and English. I hope to find a new job, in the Hotel Majestic in Paris, where the German High Command is quartered. Then I will join the Resistance, find a way to get news of
Maman and Elle. I must
find them!” He gazed down at her for a long moment, then put a hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps I know of another way,” he murmured. The sound of a door opening. Wavering shadows spilled into the train’s corridor. Then the red glow of a cigarette, a spiral of smoke. She froze as the German officer turned toward them. “Find me at Èglise Saint-Gervais, in the Marais,” the priest whispered quickly. “I am with the Resistance there. You could work with me, we need someone like you to –” A sudden terrifying screech of metal wheels. Clair felt herself thrown to the floor as the train braked, slammed to a shuddering stop. Stunned, Clair reached out, felt the still body of the priest beside her. “
Mon Père…” Shouts in German in the darkness, the clatter of heavy boots. When she raised her head she saw flashing blue lights against the night sky.
Light and dark. Light and dark.
PART 1
“An echo of the past…” Victor Hugo
CHAPTER 1
THE PRESENT PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, MARTHA’S VINEYARD
Light and dark. The stage was shadowed, lit only by a handful of overhead lights. One of the lights began to flicker, a bright flash illuminating Maggie O’Shea’s face for a brief moment, then casting her into darkness. Maggie sat at the Bechstein grand piano, marveling at the power, the responsive touch, the unique tone of the beautiful instrument. Prokofiev deserves no less, she thought. The score propped above the keyboard was marked by penciled notations, heavy lines, arrows and slashes. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was the ultimate challenge for a pianist, but Maggie had chosen it because it was so emotional, so personal. So incredibly beautiful.
It has the most to say, she thought. And, oh, she had so much she wanted to say. Always, since she’d been a young child whose bare feet did not yet reach the pedals, she had spoken through her music. Told the piano her secrets long before she told anyone else. Her earliest memory was of being curled beneath the grand piano, listening to her mother play, surrounded – cradled – by music. Then later, sitting on the piano bench by her mother’s side. The smoothness of the keys beneath tiny fingers, the sound that seemed to magically flow from her shoulders to her fingertips. Seeing the colors, making the piano sing. Making the rest of the world disappear. But this piece – face it,
every piece lately – was giving her trouble. Something, some emotion, was just out of reach. Her mentor, the legendary pianist Gigi Donati, would say she was taking the easy way out by mastering technique but not the emotion. She could hear Gigi’s smoky, exasperated voice in the shadows.
No, no, no! You are not growing, Maggie, your music is lifeless. Imagine you are kissing your lover goodbye for the last time. What do you feel? Now, again! Maggie sighed. She had been playing the first movement for an hour, with nary a lover in sight. Without
Espressivo, as Gigi would demand. She would say,
You don’t know the music yet. Take the time. Grow with the music. Illuminate its secrets. Make it yours. The light high above the stage flickered again, slipping her out of the light into darkness.
Light and dark, thought Maggie. The story of my music. The story of my life. She closed her eyes, took a deep, shaky breath, and began to play the next phrase of music.
Look into the heart of the music, whispered Gigi from behind her.
Find its light. Find its soul. A few more chords, and suddenly Maggie’s fingers stiffened, locked, slipped off the keys. Shaking her head, she gathered the sheet music and dropped it to the bench. I just can’t, Gigi. I know what’s wrong, why I can’t play. I just don’t know how to fix it. But deep down, she did know. What she needed was to
feel. But once again, part of her was frozen. You will not give up, she told herself. You have so much joy waiting for you. Raising her left hand to stretch tensed tendons, the engagement ring on her finger flashed emerald in the theater lights.
The flash of emerald green in a shadowed cabin. The memory washed over her and once again she was back in the moment. She saw Michael’s face, as craggy and strong as the mountains he loved, his granite eyes locked on hers.
What are you doing, Michael? It’s called offering you a ring, Maggie. The color of your eyes, the color of the mountains. It’s been hidden in my sock drawer for months. I know it’s a ring. I mean… What are you doing? Jumping off a cliff, it seems. Don’t make me get down on one knee, darlin’. I’ll never get back up. Silver eyes blazing like a torch. Marry me, Maggie. I… You… Oh, Love. I’ll take that as a yes, ma’am. She smiled. Colonel Michael Jefferson Beckett. A man who had fallen in love with her when he didn’t want to, a man she hadn’t wanted to love back. And yet. It just
was. Like music. And right this minute he was back in those beloved mountains of his, at his cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge. Working on a secret project, he’d told her, with Dov, the Russian teenager in his care. She pictured the battered, rugged face she knew so well. The quirk of his mouth, the spiky silver brows, eyes like river stones locked on her. His stillness, as if he was carved from the mountains he loved. The way he listened…
Michael, standing behind her, wrapping her naked body in a woven blanket. Michael, beneath her in the shadowed bedroom, whispering her name against her lips while her hair fell like dark rain around his face. She breathed out in a long sigh. It had been an emotional several months but now, finally, she was letting go of the past. Moving on. Ready to marry again. To spend the rest of her life with the Colonel, Dov and their rescue Golden, Shiloh. She had never expected this gift, this second chance at love. She shook her head, barely recognizing the woman she’d become. For so long she’d thought of herself as a city-girl. But the small cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains was becoming her center. Her home. She heard music differently in the quiet of the mountains. Listened better. Suddenly wanting to hear Michael’s voice, she dialed his cell. Message. “Hey you, it’s me,” she whispered. “Call me tonight, I’ll wait up. I have so much to tell you.”
If only… If only she didn’t have to tell Michael the secret she’d been keeping from him these past few weeks. That once again, a vicious murderer was threatening all she held dear. Dane, with his scarred, wolf-like face and mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes. The one nightmare she could not put behind her. Because now Dane was back in her life. + + + Over 4,500 miles to the East, the man who called himself Dane could not sleep. Still hours before dawn, shadows lay sharp across the tiles of the villa’s bedroom, angling from the terrace doors. Dane sat in a cushioned chair, crutches propped beside him, staring out the glass at the black Aegean far below – waiting for the sun’s light to spill over the horizon and fill the dark water with gold. A sudden shift of the moon, and he caught his breath at his reflection in the window. All the mirrors in the villa had been shattered years ago, by his own hand. As shattered as his life. Now, caught off guard, he stared at the disfigured face of the stranger wavering in the glass. Without warning his mind flung him back several years. He had been standing in the Kennedy Center’s Grand Foyer, his French knife secure under his tuxedo jacket, when he had caught a glimpse of himself in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Tall and god-like, he’d had muscles that rippled beneath the silk, a strong carved face, flowing hair the color of wheat, streaked by the Provençal sun. A diamond in his left ear, mirrored aviator glasses that hid tiger-colored eyes. His stride had been long, fast and as powerful as the Jaguar he drove. And then he had crossed paths with Magdalena O’Shea. First, the badly burned hand, thanks to an encounter with Magdalena’s Colonel at a Provençal abbey. He held up his right hand, now encased in a tight black glove. Then the botched plastic surgery in Italy after being forced into hiding. The scarred, distorted face, the loss of an eye. And then, months later… He looked down at his withered legs. The fall. The sickening feeling of spinning into the void. The excruciating pain that followed. The months of unbearable physical therapy. All because of one woman. Magdalena O’Shea. He glanced at his Rolex. Early evening in the states. Firas should have arrived in Martha’s Vineyard by now. He smiled. Until the time came, Firas would be his legs. The image in the glass wavered, dissolved, and Dane turned away. “For death remembered should be like a mirror,” he whispered. “Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.” *** Excerpt from
Echoes on the Wind by Helaine Mario. Copyright 2020 by Helaine Mario. Reproduced with permission from Helaine Mario. All rights reserved.
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AUTHOR GUEST POST
MY SECRET TO WRITING A GOOD SERIES…
There is always a Story Behind the Story. Today, my Story Behind the Story is MY SECRET TO WRITING A GOOD SERIES…
I came to the community of writers late in my life – signing my first book contract at age 68. So I honestly thought that publishing THE LOST CONCERTO, a classical music romantic suspense novel, would be my first – and last – book. I never expected to write another.
But everyone, including myself, wanted to know what happened next to my Boston pianist Maggie O’Shea. Introduced in THE LOST CONCERTO, Maggie is grieving the tragic death of her husband and devastated by the loss of her music. Caught up in a search for her missing godson and a haunting concerto, Maggie journeys to Paris, where she meets a take-no-prisoners Colonel, finds the courage to move on, and discovers what has been lost within herself.
But how did she move on? There are no better words a writer can hear than ‘I did not want this story to end.’ With those eight small words, I realized that Maggie had more story to be told – and so my second book, DARK RHAPSODY, was born. But the birth was a difficult one. I was terrified that I had poured every emotion I had into THE LOST CONCERTO, that I never would be able to write a story as good – or better – and, worst of all, that I would disappoint my readers. Frozen, I turned to my publisher, Patricia Gussin. Her advice for a series? “Readers want to get to know and care about a good character. The challenge is to give readers the character they’ve come to love but add new conflict, flaws and layers, making your character more complex in each book.” Best advice ever.
And so, determined to explore Maggie’s past, I began book #2, DARK RHAPSODY. I knew I could give my readers the familiar main characters they had come to love – Maggie, Colonel Beckett and his rescue Golden. But I had no idea how to propel them forward into brand new depths and stories.
Where had story come from in my first book? Every good series has atmospheric, evocative settings and complex, twisting plots. But I realized that Maggie and the Colonel truly had come alive when I added three new characters who made their story so much richer – a missing godchild; a chilling Shakespearian actor; and a three-legged rescue Golden Retriever who gave my Colonel much-needed humanity, new layers and humor. For me, the best way to create richer, more compelling stories for my main characters was right in front of me – add new characters.
Adding compelling characters to DARK RHAPSODY, my second book, offered the perfect way to explore Maggie’s past – Gigi, an aging, legendary pianist; Finn, a vanished Maestro; a haunted cellist named Hannah; and the faith-challenged Bishop Robbie Brennan. Whether they had a small role or a larger one, all were pivotal by adding conflict, shining a light on other characters, and sending Maggie in new directions. These supporting characters each had a story to tell, a history, baggage, flaws, secrets – and inspired new challenges, relationships, and even unexpected romance. These four new characters gave me all the plot ideas I needed to delve into Maggie’s past – her mother’s mysterious death, her father’s disappearance, a looted Matisse, flashbacks to Vienna during WWII – all propelled by the music of Rachmaninoff. In any good story, Something Must Happen. New characters make things happen.
One more note about character. They don’t all have to be likable. But the reader must be able to find them relatable, understand what drives them and why they make the choices they make, good or bad.
Which brings me to my third book in the series, SHADOW MUSIC. A life-changing message draws Maggie to Cornwall in a harrowing search for a missing Van Gogh and the truth about her husband’s death. Robbie Brennan returns, as this fallen priest’s story was far from finished. I suddenly realized that new readers, discovering my books mid-series, were missing the rich history of my earlier books. It was a real challenge to share important information from the prior stories without spoiling all the twists and suspense.
Hopefully, in SHADOW MUSIC, new readers would be drawn into Maggie’s new challenges – a rule-breaking nun with a child and a decades-old secret, a betrayed woman seeking revenge, and a sinister Russian character from an earlier manuscript. And finally, I created one of my favorite characters ever – Dov, a Russian foster-care teen with a terrifying and heart-wrenching past. Dov not only shines a light on troubled children, he takes the Colonel and his Golden in new, surprising and stirring directions as well.
Unexpectedly, these characters also allowed me to explore larger themes of aging, grief, faith, courage, family and forgiveness. Moving on with grace, the consequences of choices that ripple over decades and have the power to hurt as well as heal – and, always, trying to do the right thing. I want my readers to ask themselves, “What would I have done?”
Sue Grafton, Cara Black, Michael Connelly, Louise Penny, Daniel Silva… So many writers have taught me what makes a series resonate with readers. Even after a dozen or more books in a series, there is no “Narrowing Corridor” of good stories for these authors. Their characters remain compelling, passionate, richly layered and deeply memorable – because they resonate with readers.
I have learned that introducing new characters into the mix will expand those corridors, open unexpected doors, and give me a wealth of new stories. By now, of course, you know my personal Secret to Writing a Good Series – Character, Character, Character. They will give you all the emotion, plot, secrets, relationships, romance, conflict and suspense you could ask for.
As for my Maggie O’Shea… well, after completing a trilogy, I thought once again that I was finished. But an unexpected surprise at the end of SHADOW MUSIC (yes, a surprise to me as well!) drew Maggie back to France in book #4, ECHOES ON THE WIND, a dual-time-storyline with unforgettable consequences – and several new characters to touch your heart.
And now it seems that Maggie is not quite done with me yet. ☺
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About Author Helaine Mario:
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Best-selling author Helaine Mario grew up in NYC and is a graduate of Boston University. Now living in Arlington, VA, this mother of two, grandmother of five, and passionate advocate for women’s and children’s issues came to writing later in life. Her first novel, The Lost Concerto, won the Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Medal. Echoes on the Wind is her fifth novel and the fourth in her Maggie O’Shea Classical Music Suspense Series. Royalties from her books go to children’s music and reading programs. Helaine recently lost her husband, Ron, after 57 years together. Her new book echoes with loss, grief, and, ultimately, the healing power of love.
Catch Up With Helaine Mario:
HelaineMario.com Amazon Author Profile Goodreads BookBub – @helainemario Instagram – @helainemario.author Facebook – @helaine.mario
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THE LOST CONCERTO 
DARK RHAPSODY 
SHADOW MUSIC 
