The Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Suspense and Thriller Mysteries. The Clue Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring suspense, thrilling adventure, detective work, private eye, police procedural, and crime-solving, we will put them to the test to discover the best! (For lighter-hearted Mystery and Classic Cozy Mysteries please check out our Mystery & Mayhem Awards, and for High Stakes Suspense Novels please check out our Global Thriller Awards).

These titles have moved forward from the 2025 CLUE Long List to the 2025 Clue Book Awards SHORT LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Clue 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 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference. 

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2025 Clue Book Awards novel competition for Suspense and Thriller!

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

• A.J. Mccarthy – The Boy on the Dock
• Aja Holland – Casco Bay
• Ana Manwaring – Kickback
• Arthur Coburn – Murder in Concrete
• Ashley Thomas Sheikh – Kentucky Blood: Book I of the Kentucky Blood Series
• Avanti Centrae – The Picasso Job: A Phoenix Thriller
• Becky Anyanwu – Mind the Blinds
• Brian Cuban – The Body Brokers
• Carlo J. Emanuele – The Sins We Inherit
• Cathi Stoler – No Good Time: A Nick Donahue Adventure
• Charlotte Stuart – Unicorns Can Be Deadly a Discount Detective Mystery 5
• Cheryl Campbell – Bodies in the Bayou
• Chris Chan – Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History
• Dan Ramm – Long Branch: Never Let the Truth Stand in the Way of a Good Story
• Danielle M. Wong – Tiny Wild Things
• David Tenenbaum – Premonition
• Dwight Holing – The Thunder Head
• E. Alan Fleischauer – The Dark and Evil Sky
• Ellis K. Popa – Awaken the Dawn
• Francesco Paola – Left on Rancho
• Frank J. Edwards – Doctor Witch
• Holly Harrison – Death in the Land of Enchantment
• Jack Luellen – Someone Had to Lie
• Jeannée Sacken – The Women Who Stand Between
• Jl Spears – Daemon Protocol
• Joe Salerno – The Decision
• Julie Lomax – A Pawn’s Game
• Kd Sherrinford – The Whistle of Revenge
• Kevin Hwang – The Regression Strain
• Kit Karson – Savage Malice
• Larry Weindruch and Richard A. Yach – Nicky V: A Chicago Crime Story
• Leslie Liautaud – Butterfly Pinned
• Marian Exall – Loners
• Matthew John Parker – The Lost Last Prophecy
• Melanie Anagnos – Nightswimming: A Jamie Palmieri Mystery
• Michael Wendroff – What Goes Around
• Mike Van Horn – The Ivy Leaguers
• Miriam Verbeek – The Bank
• Nannette Potter – Deception’s Edge
• Otho Eskin – Black Sun Rising
• Paty Jager – Crapshoot
• Paty Jager – Wolverine Instincts
• Paul Levine – Midnight Burning
• Phillip Vega – Death in Utopia
• Sarah P. Blanchard – Grabtown
• Sean Hagerty – Cabal
• Sheila Sharpe – Artist, Lover, Forger, Thief
• Stephen G. Eoannou – After Pearl
• Stephen J Wallace – Hazardous Lies
• Susan Rogers and John Roosen – Warrior Pose
• T.O. Paine – The Crisis
• Tamar Anolic – This Side of the Law
• Theresa Janson – Reservations: A Samantha Wright Crime Series
• TJ Stecker – Redacted

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 Clue Grand Prize Winner

Enemies Domestic

By John DeDakis

Click here to see the full list of 2024 Clue Book Award Winners for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Clue 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!