Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: christine-benedict

  • CLUE AWARDS – Police Procedurals, Hard-Boiled Detectives, Thriller/Suspense/Mystery – in the SPOTLIGHT – CIBAS

    CLUE AWARDS – Police Procedurals, Hard-Boiled Detectives, Thriller/Suspense/Mystery – in the SPOTLIGHT – CIBAS

    So, how do you get a clue? 

    A hard-boiled detective pulls his overcoat a little closer, leans against the northern wall at Village Books in downtown Bellingham. Washington. The state.

    It’s late. It’s raining. It’s a typical Autumn night in the Pacific Northwest. So, what makes this night different than any other night?

    Glad you asked.

    Our gumshoe is hot on the trail of those killer stories that make you turn the page. You know the kind, police procedurals, good-man-gone-wrong tales, the who-dun-its and the why-didn’t-I-see-that-coming books that leave you breathless, reaching for the Alka-Seltzer or the next book in the series.

    Our gumshoe is nervous, see? He knows there’s more to discover out there, winners, maybe, that are just waiting to be discovered. That’s why he’s standing there, waiting. Oh, just a second… he’s gone now… Guess he got tired of waiting in the rain.

    But he left a message…

    “Get your manuscripts and novels ready, because the deadline to the 2019 CLUE Awards is coming before you know it. Submit your books and manuscripts to the best book awards on the planet by September 30, 2019, if you know what’s good for you.” 

    That was short and sweet. What are you waiting for?

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the very best books dealing with Detectives, P.I.s, Noir – stories that build suspense
    and pay off in spades. 

    The deadline for the 2019 CIBA CLUE Awards is September 30, 2019.

    Submit your work today right here.

     

    We thought you might enjoy some of our past winners…

    2018 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Timothy Burgess for California Son

    2018 1st Place Category Winners:  (Book reviews are slated for the ones without links). 

    • The Only One Left by Pamela Beason
    • Facing The Dragon by Philip Derrick
    • Forgotten Rage by Melodie Hernandez
    • Do Not Ask by Elaine Williams Crockett
    • Scare Away the Dark: A Stone Suspense by Karen Dodd
    • The Blind Pool by Paul McHugh
    • Hong Kong Central by Marilynn Larew

    2017 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Kaylin McFarren for Twisted Threads

    2017 1st Place Category Winners: (Book reviews are slated for the ones without links). 

    2016 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Keith Tittle for A Matter of Justice

    2016 1st Place Category Winners:

    2015 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Lonna Enox for Blood Relations

    Blood Relations by Lonna Enox

    2015 1st Place Category Winners:

    2014 CIBA Grand Prize Winner in CLUE – Rachel B. Ledge for The Red Ribbon

    The Red Ribbon by Rachel B. Ledge

    2014 1st Place Category Winners:

    Who is going to take home the Grand Prize for the 2019 CLUE Awards? It could be you! 

     

    The deadline is fast approaching!

    Submit your work today right here.

  • REAL-LIFE GHOSTBUSTERS Discover What Goes Bump in the Night at Author’s Farmhouse by Sharon Anderson

    REAL-LIFE GHOSTBUSTERS Discover What Goes Bump in the Night at Author’s Farmhouse by Sharon Anderson

    Anonymous by Christine Benedict

    Anonymous, a riveting story based on a real-life grab-the-seat-of-your-pants thrill-fest by Chanticleer First Place Clue Award-winning author, Christine Benedict, is making news! Her hair-raising novel is based on the real-life incidents that  she and her husband experienced  when they lived in a haunted 1875 farmhouse.  

    It all started the day she and her husband moved into the 14-room farmhouse with only a few of the rooms in livable condition. Her husband worked hard and socialized with his brothers while she stayed at home with the baby, trying to discern if she was going insane like her mother, or truly was hearing footsteps on the floor above… when no one else was at home. Benedict puts her character, Debra, into  some of the same horrifying situations she lived through, from thinking the house is haunted to thinking she might be inheriting her mother’s insanity, and to receiving explicit and terrifying letters from a stalker.

    With a new plot twist around every corner, the author delivers a complex story of obsession and jealousy that will keep the reader turning page after satisfying page. Christine Benedict’s Anonymous hits all the marks for an engrossing, edge-of-your-seat read.

     

    Real Life ghostbusters discover what goes bump in the night at author’s farmhouse!

    Welcome to the party Munroe Falls Paranormal Society!

    MFPS

     

    MFPS is based in Munroe Falls, just outside of Akron, Ohio.

    Their mission statement is:  The Munroe Falls Paranormal Society strives to provide an objective and unbiased approach to the scientific study, investigation, and research of paranormal phenomenon.

    They are a well-organized, science-based group of individuals whose passion is to  discover if the noises you’re hearing are just normal noises, or actual disembodied voices trying to scare the crap out of you.

    pimember150x141-fullThe MFPS has taken on investigating Benedict’s house, and what they discover is both shocking and hair-raising. Watch the video of the investigation and everything that happened here.

    Christine and The Munroe Falls Paranormal Society invite you to join them at The Berea Branch of The Cuyahoga County Library on November 14, at 7:00 pm to see this incredible documentary. Sponsored by Mysterious Midwest.  

    Christine Benedict is the 1st Place winner of the 2015 Clue Book Award

    Chanticleer Reviews:  “With a new plot twist around every corner, the author delivers a complex story of obsession and jealousy that will keep the reader turning page after satisfying page. Christine Benedict’s “Anonymous” hits all the marks for an engrossing, edge-of-your-seat read.”

    Watch the Anonymous’ spooky Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/70eys8mECFY

    Contributor:

    sharon2014-31-of-48Sharon Anderson is a horror writer with a sense of humor. Her book, Curse of the Seven 70s answers the question,

    ‘What happens when Vlad Dracula’s younger brother comes back to life bent on revenge, but finds love instead?”

     Find out more about this author at http://www.SharonAndersonAuthor.com

  • Three Spine-Tingling Reads that Will Get Your Heart Racing

    Three Spine-Tingling Reads that Will Get Your Heart Racing

    Three spine-tingling, psychological thriller novels reviewed by Chanticleer Reviews. (Warning: Each one of these novels was assigned to more than two reviewers due to their intensity.)

    Check the locks and turn on the lights when you read these selections:

    Poe:  Nevermore by Rachel Martens

    Poe NevermoreBe warned; Poe: Nevermore is not a cozy mystery. Ms. Martens succeeds at painting dark, suspenseful, sometimes horrific pictures. It is the type of psychological horror that locking the doors and windows and reading with the lights on will not keep out.

    I highly recommend this book for my fellow edge-of-our-seat junkies—those of us who are constantly seeking the book we ever so briefly fear picking up, then can’t put it down in the relentless pursuit of discovering whatever comes next! Martens’ Poe: Nevermore deliciously feeds these cravings along with satisfying those with classical literary interests. – Chanticleer Reviews

    The Grave Blogger by Donna Fontenot

    Grave BloggerThe Grave Blogger is a murder mystery that is not for the faint-hearted. The horrors of the torturings and killings detailed within its pages are definitely not for those who prefer their mysteries to be the cozy kind. This story, complete with a psychotic psychiatrist, takes place in the Deep South where a special kind of macabre is required to send chills up your spine….Fontenot’s style allows the reader to see through the eyes of the main characters, which is especially chilling from the killer’s perspective. Readers’ hearts will be racing as the story twists and turns and the suspense rapidly intensifies in this creepy “OMG-this could really happen” page-turner. Prepare to devour this fast-paced thriller in one sitting with the lights on and the doors locked. – Chanticleer Reviews

     

    Anonymous by Christine Benedict

    Anonymous by Christine Benedict“No one suspected the things her mother had done,” but Debra Hamilton knows full well what skeletons lurk in her past, and she’s spent a lifetime putting distance between herself and the crimes of her schizophrenic mother.”

    With a new plot twist around every corner, the author delivers a complex story of obsession and jealousy that will keep the reader turning page after satisfying page of this psychological thriller….As to the genesis of the anonymous stalker, his history will leave readers wondering about things that go bump in the night. It’s chilling to know that all the letters in the novel are from the man who stalked the author, Christine Benedict, twenty-plus years ago, and he still remains anonymous as of today.

    You’ve been warned….

     

  • ANONYMOUS by Christine Benedict, a psychological thriller

    ANONYMOUS by Christine Benedict, a psychological thriller

    “No one suspected the things her mother had done,” but Debra Hamilton knows full well what skeletons lurk in her past, and she’s spent a lifetime putting distance between herself and the crimes of her schizophrenic mother.

    With the potential of mental illness lodged like a genetic time bomb in every cell of her body, Debra lives in constant fear that she’ll follow in her mother’s footsteps. So when things go missing and Debra starts hearing noises in the 100 year-old fixer-upper that she and her husband Greg bought, she’s terrified that her mind, like her mother’s, is beginning to crack.

    Debra’s pragmatic neighbor, Julie, delivers her own brand of common sense in dealing with the “events” that continue to occur in the old farmhouse. Julie’s skepticism turns to concern and then fear as she experiences, first-hand, the otherworldly presence plaguing Debra’s life. Then Julie’s fears mount when she starts receiving graphic, sexually-charged letters from an anonymous stalker. As the intent of the letters becomes darker and more menacing, Debra’s and Julie’s worlds collide in ways they’ve never imagined.

    Part ghost story, part psychological thriller, Christine Benedict’s Anonymous illuminates the bond forged between two women, both survivors of a traumatic past, who become unlikely allies in the fight for their lives.

    In Anonymous, author Christine Benedict has created a world rich in character. Through the use of flashbacks she invites the reader to learn more about the two main characters, Debra Hamilton and Julie Zourenger, allowing the reader to identify with each of the women. The author also breathes life into the subsidiary characters. Debra’s supportive and loving husband, Greg, is skillfully counter-balanced by Julie’s angry, verbally abusive husband, Kyle.

    As to the genesis of the anonymous stalker, his history will leave readers wondering about things that go bump in the night. It’s chilling to know that all the letters in the novel are from the man who stalked the author twenty-plus years ago, and he still remains anonymous as of today.

    With a new plot twist around every corner, the author delivers a complex story of obsession and jealousy that will keep the reader turning page after satisfying page. Since its release, Christine Benedict’s novel Anonymous has received stunning accolades and was shortlisted for a variety of literary awards. Fans of literary heavyweights A.M. Homes (“The End of Alice”) and Robert Clark (“Mr. White’s Confession”) will find that Christine Benedict’s Anonymous hits all the marks for an engrossing, edge-of-your-seat read.

     

    Reviewer’s note: This book contains graphic violence and adult content.