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The CLUE Awards for Thriller/Suspense Novels 2015 – Official Finalist Listing
The CLUE Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genres of Thriller and Suspense Novels. The CLUE Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

More than $30,000.00 dollars worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to Chanticleer Book Reviews 2015 writing competition winners at the Chanticleer Authors Conference April 30, 2016!

The CLUE Awards FIRST IN CATEGORY sub-genres are:
- Suspense/Thriller
- Detective/Crime
- Private Eye/Noir
- Legal/Medical/Police Procedural
- Spy/Espionage
- 2015 — Amateur Sleuth/Cozy
The following titles will compete for the FIRST IN CATEGORY Positions and Awards Packages.

This is the OFFICIAL FINALIST POSTING of Authors and Titles that have made it to the Short-list of the CLUE 2015 Novel Writing Contest.
- CG Fewston for A Time to Love in Tehran
- K. J. Klemme for Tourist Trapped
- Patrick M. Garry for Blind Spots
- Shirley Worley for Easy Money
- Sue Barnard for The Unkindest Cut of All
- Michael A Smith for The Money Game
- Timothy S. Johnston for The Void; The Freezer; & The Furnace
- J.G. Schwartz for Inventing Madness
- Timothy Smith for The Red House on the Hill
- Antonio Commisso for Silent Partner
- Dave Edlund for Relentless Savage
- Joe Young for Indian Country
- Hannah Warren for The Cottage on the Border
- Gary Grossman for Old Earth
- Joe Corso for Lafitte’s Treasure
- Laurie Stevens for The Mask of Midnight
- Virgil Alexander for The Baleful Owl
- Matt Stewart for The Man from KNEW News
- DL Koontz for Edging through Darkness
- Mark Pople for Rogers Park
- Ivan Light for Deadly Secret of the Lusitania
- Megan Davidson for The Thundering
- Carol Hedges for Death & Dominion
- Lucy Carol for Hot Scheming Mess
- John T. Young for The Princess of Poland
- Keith Tittle for A Matter of Justice
- Scott D. Smith for Guilty Deeds
- K. J. Klemme for Tourist Trapped
- Mimi Barbour for Special Agent Maximilian
- Michele Daniel for The Red Circle
- Zach Fortier for Landed on Black; Hero to Zero; Street Creds
- Lonna Enox for Blood Relations
- Rian Everest for The Tangerine Tigress & The Tangerine Trio
- M. L. Rowland for Murder on the Horizon
- Ken Oder for The Closing & Old Wounds to the Heart
- Marilyn Ida Horowitz for The Book of Zen
- Christine Benedict for Anonymous
- Debra Erfert for Relative Evil
- Joan Hall Hovey for The Deepest Dark
- S.J. Dunn for Angry Enough to Kill
- Hubert Crouch for The Word
- Kent Politsch for Blood Anger
- Stephen Kaminski for Murder, She Floats
- Tom Dalgliesh for All Corpses on Deck
- D. J. Adamson for Outre
- J.A. Faura for Apex Predator
- N.G. West for Nine Days to Evil
- Vanessa Leigh Hoffman for Treasure
- Chief John J. Mandeville for Pine Village Co-op Murders and Sherlockito
- J.J. Chow for Seniors Sleuth
- Vinnie Hansen for Black Beans & Venom
- Marian Exall for A Dangerous Descent
The CLUE Finalists will compete for the CLUE Awards First In Category Positions, which consists of Four Judging Rounds. First Place Category Award winners will automatically be entered into the CLUE GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition, which has a cash prize of $250 or $500 dollars in editorial services. The CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse.
- All First In Category Award Winners will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
- First In Category winners will compete for the CLUE Awards Grand Prize Award for the $250 purse and the CLUE Grand Prize Ribbon and badges.
- TEN genre Grand Prize winning titles will compete for the $1,000 purse for CBR Best Book and Overall Grand Prize.
- A coveted Chanticleer Book Review valued at $345 dollars U.S. CBR reviews will be published in the Chanticleer Reviews magazine in chronological order as to posting.
- A CBR Blue Ribbon to use in promotion at book signings and book festivals
- Digital award stickers for on-line promotion
- Adhesive book stickers
- Shelf-talkers and other promotional items
- Promotion in print and on-line media
- Review of book distributed to on-line sites and printed media publications
- Review, cover art, and author synopsis listed in CBR’s newsletter
- Default First in Category winners will not be declared. Contests are based on merit and writing craft in all of the Chanticleer Writing Competitions.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.

Congratulations to the Finalists in this fiercely competitive contest!
Good Luck to all of the CLUE Finalists as they compete for the coveted First Place Category positions.

First In Category announcements will be made in our social media postings as the results come in.

The CLUE Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category winners will be announced and recognized at the April 30th, 2016 Chanticleer Writing Contests Annual Awards Gala, which takes place on the last evening of the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2016 CLUE Awards writing competitions for Western Fiction. Please click here for more information or to enter the contests.
March 3, 2016
THE RED RIBBON by Rachel B. Ledge, an 18c. British historical thriller

Julia King has begun to have haunting visions of the horrific event she witnessed at the last masquerade ball of London’s 1772-1773 social season, a scene she has been trying ever since to forget—her lover, Roland de Claire, murdered her best friend Annie in cold blood.

Julia considers herself lucky to have found someone willing to wed her after being embroiled in the dreadful courtroom drama surrounding Roland’s crime, in which she was tapped as the only eyewitness.

Now comfortably, if not precisely happily, married to successful, socially acceptable Charles King, she roams her idyllic estate with her sister Lennie, trying to discourage the younger girl’s obvious interest in a dashing sea captain, and suppress her own romantic memories of Roland. Recurring visions of Annie’s murder, however, give Julia the discomfiting sense that all is not as it seems.

When Lennie falls pregnant and has to leave the country in disgrace, Julia is alone with Charles, who is gradually revealed as cunning, ruthless, and utterly domineering. He claims he is the long-estranged brother of her now hung sweetheart Roland, and takes her to the de Claire estate to prove it. There, driven by her nightmares, her suspicions of his motives become so apparent that Charles has her locked in a madhouse.

Author Ledge has constructed a stirring, twisted tale in which something unexpected occurs in almost every chapter. Some readers may find that the beginning of the story moves slowly, but they will be rewarded for their patience when the suspense builds the work into a page turner. She writes equally vividly of grand masked balls, scurvy goings-on in London’s back alleyways, and the creaking decks of a ship at sea. And she neatly ties together all the plot threads into a satisfying ending.

The Red Ribbon proves a satisfying romp for fans of historical fiction, with its glittering ballrooms, bloody frays, mysterious subplots, mistaken identities, and voices from the grave.

February 27, 2016
CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction & Speculative Fiction FIRST PLACE Category Winners 2015
Chanticleer Book Reviews is honored to announce the First Place Category Winners for the Cygnus Awards 2015, the science fiction, speculative fiction, and steampunk fiction genre division of the Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Award Writing Competitions.

The Cygnus Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Awards Writing Competitions.

Please note that Fantasy, Myth & Legend, & Magical Systems entries were moved to the newly offered OZMA Awards for Fantasy Fiction. This contest will be awarded for the first time in 2016.

These First Place Category Winners will be recognized on stage at the Chanticleer Authors Conference on April 30, 2016 Awards Banquet. Good luck to them as they compete for the CYGNUS 2015 Grand Prize.

First Place Category Winners for the Cygnus Awards are:
- John Yarrow for The Time Forward Project
- James Wells for The Great Symmetry
- C. A. Knutsen for Janus Unfolding: Emergence
- Janine A. Southard for Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story
- Jessica Schaub for Gateways
- L.S. Kilroy for The Vitruvian Heir
- Tommy Partl for Mechanized
- Timothy S. Johnston for The Furnace
*This list is now complete 3/16/16

CONGRATULATIONS!

The 1st Place Category Winners compete for the CYGNUS AWARDS 2015 GRAND PRIZE position. The 2015 CYGNUS category winners will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala on April 30, 2016. See the Grand Prize Winners from 2014.

The submission deadline for the 2016 CYGNUS Awards is now closed. We are accepting entries into the 2017 Cygnus Awards Novel Competition.

To compete in the 2017 CYGNUS Awards or for more information, please click here.

THE DEADLINE TO ENTER THE 2016 CYGNUS Novel Writing Competitions was January 31st, 2016.

ENTER NOW

Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media, L.L.C. retains the right to not declare “default winners.” Winning works are decided upon merit only. Please visit our Contest Details page for more information about our writing contest guidelines.

CBR’s rigorous writing competition standards are why literary agencies seek out our winning manuscripts and self-published novels. Our high standards are also why our reviews are trusted among booksellers and book distributors.

Please do not hesitate to contact Info@ChantiReviews.com about any questions, concerns, or suggestions about CBR writing competitions. Your input and suggestions are important to us.

Thank you for your interest in Chanticleer Book Reviews International Writing Competitions.
February 26, 2016
The PARANORMAL Awards for Supernatural Fiction 2015 – Finalist Listing
The Paranormal Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Supernatural Fiction. The Paranormal Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

More than $30,000.00 dollars worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to Chanticleer Book Reviews 2015 writing competition winners at the Chanticleer Authors Conference April 30, 2016!

The Paranormal Awards FIRST IN CATEGORY sub-genres are:
- Paranormal Romance
- Urban/Edgy
- Magical Beings & Creatures and Magical Systems
- Supernatural Powers
- Adventure/Mystery/Thriller
- Paranormal
OFFICIAL LISTING of the 2015 Paranormal Writing Competition’s Finalists

The following titles will compete for the FIRST IN CATEGORY Positions and Awards Packages.
- Andy Kutler – The Other Side of Life
- Kayla Hampton – The Assassin
- Ben A Sharpton – 2nd Sight
- Sabina Khan – Realm of the Goddess
- Karen Musser Nortman – The Time Travel Trailer
- Elizabeth Crowens – Silent Meridian: The Transparency of Time
- R.J. Lewis – Fire In The Mind
- Diana Green – Dragon Wife
- M.L. Crum – Irony of Time
- Mart Sander – The Goddess Of The Devil
- Shaila Patel – Soulmated
- Alex E. Carey – Earth’s Embrace
- Alex E. Carey – Water’s Reflection
- Joanne Jaytanie – Willow’s Discovery, Book 3
- Kim Hornsby – The Dream Jumper’s Pursuit
- Penny Page – Coven Corners
- Carolyn Haley – The Aurora Affair
- Gail Siler, PhD – Decoding the Butterfly Promise
- Dana Faletti – Whisper: Book One
- Harry Steven Ackley – Our Lady of West 74th Street
- Aphrodite Anagnost & Robert P. Arthur – Passover
- K.C. Finn – The Book Of Shade
- K.J. McPike – XODUS
- Paula Cappa – Greylock
- Kathi Bjorkman – Third Eye Witness-Bearer of Truth
- April Holthaus – Legend of the Fae
- Robert Wright – Witch Way Home
- Diana Green – Bronze Fox
- Marti Melville – Onyx Rising Deja Vu
- Marti Melville – Silver Moon Deja Vu
- Tessa McFionn – Spirit Fall
- Richard Southall – Haunted Plantations of the South
- D.L. Koontz – Edging through the Darkness
- Kacey Vanderkarr – Stepping Stones
- Linda Watkins – Return to Mategias Island
- J. Steven Young – Blue Screen of Death
- Michael Schmicker – The Witch of Napoli
- R.E. Steedman – The Phantasmagorical Theatre of Crespin Varlot
AN ANNOUNCEMENT from Kiffer Brown, pres. of CBR.

We have moved the Chanticleer Reviews Writing Competition Awards evening up from September 24, 2016 to April 30, 2016. Our last awards evening was Sept. 29, 2015 when we presented the 2014 awards.This move makes the 2015 awards more relevant and recent for the winning authors. However, the date change has given us only six months to judge all the entries instead of the usual twelve months.

The reason why we scheduled CAC in September was because it was the only time available on the writer conferences’ schedule. When there was an opening in April, we grabbed it!

However, after this April 30, 2016 awards ceremony for the 2015 winners, we will be back to having an entire year for the judging rounds for the 2016 contest submissions whose winners will be announced in April 2017 instead of September 2017.

Moving the awards ceremony also means that we had to move the conference and the accompanying book fair also up from September to April, which means we only have six months between CAC15 and CAC16.

My apologies for the contest announcement delays and we thank you for your patience and understanding as we are making big changes here at Chanticleer Reviews. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com if you have any questions or concerns.
The Paranormal Finalists will compete for the Paranormal Awards First In Category Positions, which consists of Four Judging Rounds. First Place Category Award winners will automatically be entered into the Paranormal GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition, which has a cash prize of $250 or $500 dollars in editorial services. The CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse.
- All First In Category Award Winners will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
- First In Category winners will compete for the Paranormal Awards Grand Prize Award for the $200 purse and the Paranormal Grand Prize Ribbon and badges.
- TEN genre Grand Prize winning titles will compete for the $1,000 purse for CBR Best Book and Overall Grand Prize.
- A coveted Chanticleer Book Review of the winning title valued at $345 dollars U.S. CBR reviews will be published in the Chanticleer Reviews magazine in chronological order as to posting.
- A CBR Blue Ribbon to use in promotion at book signings and book festivals
- Digital award stickers for on-line promotion
- Adhesive book stickers
- Shelf-talkers and other promotional items
- Promotion in print and on-line media
- Review of book distributed to on-line sites and printed media publications
- Review, cover art, and author synopsis listed in CBR’s newsletter
- Default First in Category winners will not be declared. Contests are based on merit and writing craft in all of the Chanticleer Writing Competitions.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.

Congratulations to the Finalists!
Good Luck to all of the Paranormal Finalists as they compete for the coveted First Place Category positions.

First In Category announcements will be made in our social media postings as the results come in.

The PARANORMAL Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category winners will be announced and recognized at the April 30th, 2016 Chanticleer Writing Contests Annual Awards Gala, which takes place on the last evening of the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2016 Paranormal Awards writing competitions for Western Fiction. Please click here for more information or to enter the contests.
February 19, 2016
MAUI WIDOW WALTZ by JoAnn Bassett, a humorous cozy mystery

Nervous and demanding brides are nothing new to wedding planner, Pali Moon. She’s been in the business long enough to know how to calm nerves and cool tempers. But nothing in her skill set has prepared her for Lisa Marie Prescott, a spoiled, demanding uber-rich kid who insists on the “perfect” Valentine’s Day wedding. A wedding that comes with more than a few complications and one sticky little detail – the groom is missing and presumed dead.

Lisa Marie, however, insists that her fiancé, Brad, will show up on time. And if that fails, she has a back-up plan. GQ-handsome Kevin – Brad’s business partner – is going to stand proxy at the altar for Brad.

With bills piling up, her house in foreclosure and her business being pulled out from under her, Pali isn’t in a position to question the legality of Lisa Marie’s crazy plan. Or the fact that Lisa Marie expects a paparazzi-worthy ceremony complete with one thousand origami paper cranes in just nine days. Then Lisa Marie’s father, known as the “Godfather of Garbage,” shows up with a warning: he’ll focus his talent for making people disappear on Pali if she doesn’t deliver on her promise of the perfect wedding.

Pali’s desperate financial situation coupled with her strong sense of survival keeps her moving forward with arrangements for the big day. And with Lisa Marie’s demands escalating as her grip on reality crumbles, Pali is trapped in a no-win situation, struggling to keep the wedding-from-hell from turning into another Saint Valentine’s Day massacre.

In this highly entertaining first installment of the “Islands of Aloha” mystery series, author JoAnn Basset delivers a well-rounded cast of intriguing, eclectic characters. The author’s use of first-person narrative invites the reader into Pali’s inner circle, her “ohana” or “family” of caring friends that give the book a cozy, close-knit feeling of community. And with crazy Lisa Marie driving the runaway bridal train, the author provides a hilariously unique twist on the “Bridezilla” theme.

Wit and humor shine through the author’s savvy blending of endearing characters and incomparable island beauty. And with a fast-paced, cleverly-crafted plot, “Maui Widow Waltz” promises to be a hands-down favorite for cozy mystery enthusiasts!

February 18, 2016
HIGHER GROUND by McKendree Long, third novel in Western series

In 1870, we meet up with Boss Melton and Dobey Walls during a trip to Kansas where, intent on vengeance, they are on the trail of a man named Penn. Penn and Red are the two remaining survivors of a gang of six white men who raped Dobey’s wife and killed her mother, Boss’s wife. The hunt takes Dobey and Boss to Hays, Kansas, where they are in the right place at the right time to save Wild Bill Hickok’s life. The men then head for Abilene on the train, still intent on killing Penn. Big William, left behind to tend the wagon and horses, creates two fake graves for Dobey and Boss at Boot Hill, hoping to head off the Pinkerton agents, who are still on their trail for the theft of the Yankee payroll just after the war.

Those who have read McKendree Long’s first two novels will recognize these characters and events, and will once again have the opportunity to visit with such old friends as the Watsons in Santa Fe, Dobey’s mother, and Count Baranov. From the daily adventures of the men, to an edge-of-your-seat, blow-by-blow account of the Battle of Little Big Horn, (aka Custer’s Last Stand), the author combines his wonderful talent for storytelling with in-depth historical research, placing the reader right beside these men in their final days.

Long’s ability to represent the vernacular of the time and his clear-eyed vision of the historical events leading up to Little Big Horn, will enthrall as well as educate.

Walls and Melton embody the best of human values, exemplified through the valor of their actions, their honesty, and their determination to fight for what they believe to be just and right. These men leap off the page, remaining memorable long after the reader finishes the book.

But above all, this is the story of men who meet and become friends, and whose characters are shaped by a series of dramatic historical events that defined our country.

This novel goes beyond the typically simplistic view of the Civil War, delving into the divided loyalties of the homesteaders in the American West who found their families and friends fighting on opposite sides of the war. Long accurately portrays the dangers and shifting alliances of the Old West during the war, exposing the reader to a very different view of the war’s effects on the western states.

No Good Like It Is, Dog Soldier Moon, and Higher Ground create an award-winning trilogy of stories about the Civil War-era Western frontier that will leave readers feeling as if they spent many a pleasant hour with a cast of admirable and memorable characters who tell of their adventures and journeys.

February 15, 2016
THE TREASURE OF OCRACOKE ISLAND by John Gillgren, third book in the Adventure of Cali Family Series

What could be more engaging for children and their families than a featured villain who impersonates the infamous pirate Blackbeard? Gillgren’s third book The Treasure of Ocracoke Island in The Adventures of the Cali Family series brings back old villains, introduces new plot twists, and puts more at stake to find lost treasure.

It is the early 1700s, and Blackbeard prides himself on wreaking havoc, while also being an intelligent ladies’ man. However, his reign ends when a British ship invades, leading to his beheading at Ocracoke Bay; his treasure’s location is supposedly lost at sea. The year 1942 sails in, depicting the Russian ship Saratov being sunk by two torpedoes, which concealed a footlocker of gold that was going to pay the United States for war supplies.

The reader is brought back to present day with the Cali family, who are forced to search for the lost treasure of Ocracoke Island. When the women in Carmine’s family are kidnapped by a sinister man resembling Blackbeard, him, Snail, Tommy Osawa, and NCIS Special Agent Moki Loo Tsing must battle against time to save their loved ones.

Gillgren creates a stunning cast of villains that engage with the Cali family. The Blackbeard offender is both shocking and silly as he uses his faux accent to intimidate the women he kidnaps. Gillgren also brings back the dastardly villain Mr. Chang, who is determined to have his revenge on the Cali family for cheating him of money and opium. It becomes apparent as the novel progresses that Mr. Chang wants more than just wealth.

This series continues to craft daring heroes and heroines. The women in the Cali family show resistance and strength against Blackbeard’s threat; emulating a sort of Charlie’s Angels attitude against a wannabe pirate with a ridiculous costume. Gillgren also continues to develop characters from his previous books, particularly in regards to Snail. Snail is a youth who shows great maturity when the kidnapping situation becomes intense, and he inspires the older men of the family to follow suit. Such characters are a great inspiration to how families come together in times of adversity.

The novel contained enough tension and suspense to sink Blackbeard’s ship Adventure. The story contains multiple perspectives of different characters, leaving the reader with many cliff-hangers when the point of view shifted. Each character introduced new waves of anticipation.

Gillgren’s children’s series The Adventures of the Cali Family offers another treasure travel story that pushes mystery, family, and adventure into new depths of fun.

This reviewer highly recommends this book for children and their families who are interested in historical stories about adventure and family. Oh, and an ending that twists the tides of a plot.

February 12, 2016
I ONCE KNEW VINCENT by Michelle Rene, a historical fiction novel

Seven-year-old Maria Hoornik already knows more about life than she should, hiding in a curtained alcove whenever her alcoholic prostitute mother, Sien, brings customers home. One day, Sien brings home a different kind of man—an unknown artist, Vincent Van Gogh.

Vincent, longing for stability amidst his frustrations and failures, is determined to create a cock-eyed semblance of family life with Sien, who is pregnant with another man’s child, and her daughter Maria, with whom he immediately bonds, admiring her critical honesty and calling her “Little Cat.”

The three, and then Sien’s baby Wilhelm, form a fascinating ménage in new author Michelle Rene’s speculative novel based on considerable historical fact. Rene depicts Maria as a prodigy who comprehends her mother’s self-destructive habits all too well. Rene elucidates, through Maria’s curious gaze, the made-up family’s grinding poverty, Vincent’s stubborn insistence on doing his art his way despite his lack of economic success, and the constant quarrels over money and morals.

The child unwillingly absorbs the distress when Vincent’s arrogant parents refuse to continue supporting their son’s liaison with a known whore, forcing Sien to revert to her old ways to provide food. Maria’s maturity is underscored in troubling vignettes: she sells her hair so they can all have one Christmas dinner, sacrifices a piece of cake to make a “soup” to feed baby Wilhelm when Sien’s milk runs dry, and rushes home in a thunderstorm to try to stop Vincent from discovering that Sien is once again up to her old tricks.

Rene has designed Maria’s story with verve, splashing colorful images across a well-planned canvas: “Silence crept into the room and pulled up a chair for a nice long visit.” She deftly conveys a child’s perception of Van Gogh’s mental miasma: “Knowing what mood he would be in became a fine art in itself. I quickly became a master of that art.” The text is satisfyingly interspersed with the artist’s actual sketches and paintings of Sien, a notably ugly woman, and Maria, a serious, self-contained little girl rocking a cradle or sitting quietly while her mother sew; a little girl who, like Vincent, clearly wishes for the security of a real family.

Told through the eyes of a child, I Once Knew Vincent offers an imaginative study of a tormented genius who would create some of the world’s most recognized artworks.

February 9, 2016
AGNES CANON’S WAR by Deborah Lincoln — a Civil War Novel

Agnes Canon is too intelligent, and too stubborn, to let others make decisions for her. No matter what the consequences, her choices will be her own.

In this complex historical drama, schoolmarm Agnes Canon, refusing her father’s choice for a husband, leaves the safety of her Pennsylvania childhood home for the wilds of Missouri in the decade before the outbreak of the Civil War.

On the way she meets, and eventually weds, Jabez Robinson, a medical man who has seen the wonders of the world and war at its foulest. Living in a territory with loyalties on both sides as the national conflict heats up, Jabez and Agnes, equally matched in intellect and stubbornness, abhor the Southern institution of slavery, but also despise the greed and interference of the North. Their struggles are real, and the chaos endured will pit their marriage against a dramatically changing civilization.

Agnes is the pivotal character in this multi-layered story. She endures the pangs of childbirth and the deprivations of family life in a war zone. She watches as friends and neighbors go different ways in the war, and good men fight each other on the home front. She supports Jabez even as his publicly stated political ideals open them to harassment from violent, unprincipled militants.

Deborah Lincoln, who has based this novel on the life history of her great grandparents, writes with emotional intensity about dark times in an embattled landscape.

Unlike many Civil War sagas, this one takes no obvious sides. The focus is on Agnes—a vital, strong woman with feminist ideals, and Jabez, the only man smart and determined enough to gain her love. The romance is not overdrawn, though, and there is a complex skein of subplots providing scenes of rousing action and rich historical context.

Agnes Canon’s War reminds us that war produces equal measures of bravery and barbarism, and those in its midst who hang on to their principles are rare and admirable. An excellent read that explores love and societal schisms grown in the roots of cultural and political battles between the North and the South.

February 4, 2016
FRECKLED VENOM COPPERHEAD by Juilette Douglas — Best Debut Western

Straddling a big, gray horse, a young boy rides into White River, a small isolated town with few people. A town he fled years before. He is alone and sick. Multiple questions percolate, but the first one is, “How can he carry on?” Readers who seek historical western adventures, will find Freckled Venom by Juliette Douglas a satisfying read to be enjoyed by all ages of readers, youngsters or seasoned.

Juliette Douglas writes with a unique Western voice, full of quirky phrases that establish character, humor, emotional content, and moves the story briskly along. The story is set in 1878, and the narrative revolves around the opposing goals of the town marshal and the obsessed bounty hunter. Its supporting characters are enjoyable, although some lean toward stereotypes, but this old-time Western presents an engaging hero and heroine.

Tension and conflicts are layered and contain some violence. The Marshal Rawley and the venomous woman Lacy suffer as they’re jammed together against vile weather: rain, wind, cold and snow, while hunting three brutal socio-pathic brothers. While the villains provide gripping conflict and suspense, an underlying theme through the story is Lacy’s irreparable childhood damage.

Rawley tries to break through her emotional barricade, but is returned with Lacy’s biting reactions. However, such interactions define these characters as they grow; both of them learning while searching for a way to deal with their dilemma. Two plots climax at the end of the dual hunts: the hunt for the murdering scum brothers and the hunt for a resolution to Lacy’s pain.

As the narrative deepens, internal and external dialogue represents character reflections, and drives home. In almost every conversation with Lacy, Rawley uses a nickname, partly with affection, but also to taunt her, and the nickname becomes tiresome to Lacy and maybe to the reader also. However, the payoff for reading past these bumps is thoroughly enjoying a story that makes the Old West come alive.

Douglas writes the physical senses organically; readers see, hear, touch, and smell everything in the setting, know the season, feel the weather, and can taste the dust. Freckled Venom, Douglas’ debut novel, brings the Old West to life with vivid settings, believable adventures, and suspenseful plotting. She weaves together danger, Lacy and Rawley’s growth, their longing for intimacy, and induces reader empathy for Lacy and Rawley right to the end. Readers wanting to know more can look forward to Douglas’s sequel, Freckled Venom: Copperhead Strikes.

February 3, 2016

Chanticleer Book Reviews