The Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Light-Hearted and Cozy Mysteries. The M&M Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring “mystery and mayhem,” amateur sleuthing, light suspense, travel mystery, classic mystery, British cozy, hobby sleuths, senior sleuths, or historical mystery, perhaps with a touch of romance or humor. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them. (For suspense, thriller, detective, crime fiction see our Clue Awards.)

These titles have moved forward from the 2025 M&M Long List to the 2025 M&M Book Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 M&M Semi-Finalists. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference. 

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2025 Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards novel competition for Cozy Mysteries!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!

• Beth Riner – Odd Job Annie
• Bill Cusano – The Old Cranberry Ladies Garden Club the Ghost and the Key
• C.B. Wilson – Puppied To Death
• Charlotte Stuart – In$urance Blues: A John Smith Mystery Book 3
• Carolyn Summer Quinn – The Mystery From Way Back When
• Christine Knapp – Murder at First Light
• Connie Berry – A Collection of Lies
• Connie Berry – A Grave Deception
• D. J. Adamson – Without a Doubt
• Diane Weiner – The Deadly Reveal
• Elizabeth Crowens – Round Up the Unusual Suspects
• Ellis Elliott – A Witch Awakens a Fire Circle Mystery
• George Petersen – The Summer of Haight
• Jane Bitomsky – An Inquest of Eels
• John W. Feist – Ship of Perils
• Jolie Tunnell – Shadows in Chinatown
• Joy Ann Ribar – Shake-Speared in the Park
• Julie Lomax – A Pawn’s Game
• Kate Damon – Jury Duty Is Murder
• Kathleen Donnelly – Killer Secrets
• Kathleen Kaska – Murder at the Faust
• Kathryn Gauci- Murder in the Garden of Enchantment: The Constantinople Diaries. A Madame Theodosia Mystery
• Kathryn Lane – Murder in Monte Carlo
• KD Straus – To Be True
• L. J. Aldon – Riddle of the Jeweled Cipher
• Laurel Martin – Her Last Few Days
• Laurel Martin – The Lowlands a Missing Couple a Family Desperate To Find Them
• Leta Serafim – The Nameless Dead
• Louisa West – Baby Got Ghost
• Lyn Squire – Fatally Inferior
• M. K. Dean – A Nose for Death
• M. S. Spencer – Railroad Ties the Marmion Grove Murders
• Maggie Parks – Knocked Off in Nederland
• Marshall Highet and Bird Jones – The Washashore
• Mary Seifert – Airplanes, Atlanta & an Assassin
• Mary Seifert – Juleps, Jockeys & Justice
• MJ Mac – Betrayed on the Promenade
• ML Barrs – Parallel Secrets
• Patrick E. Craig – 3 X 3
• Sandy Zelka – Blood Red Poppy
• Shannon Bennett Riester – The Lottery Aspect
• Sharon Lynn – The Romantic
• TJ Stecker – Redacted
• Wanda Brunstetter and Martha Bolton – The Rise and Fall of Miss Fannie’s Biscuits

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

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We will also be promoting this list in our Newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

Congratulations once more to the 2024 M&M Grand Prize Winner

If Two Are Dead

By Jeanne Matthews

Click here to see the full list of 2024 M&M Book Award Winners for Cozy Mysteries.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 M&M Book Awards for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our annual conference and discover why!