Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: clint-hollingsworth

  • 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.

  • The SAGE WIND BLOWS COLD by Clint Hollingsworth – Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Literary

    The SAGE WIND BLOWS COLD by Clint Hollingsworth – Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Literary

    Blue and Gold Clue 1st place badgeMac Crow is in his early twenties and an expert tracker, but he’s treated like a kid by his Uncle Gil, who doesn’t want Mac Crow to get hurt if he can prevent it. In the opening episode, Mac Crow’s special skills are called for in hunting down a “low-rent low-life” who has skipped out on his court date. While Gil and the rest of the team, including the lovely and wilderness-wise Rosa who seems sweet on Crow, are sure the miscreant has headed into the foothills, Mac Crow’s instincts, bolstered by his specialized tracker training, tell him otherwise.

    His intuitive sense leads him straight to the fugitive and into a nasty fight that demonstrates his well-developed karate know-how. Mac Crow’s reputation as a wilderness sleuth is growing and soon a love interest from his teenage years (Kailee) reconnects with him during training camp. As part of a Search and Rescue team, Kailee tells him about a little girl who’s been lost in the Washington State wilderness for two days and nights. Mac Crow sets out immediately, finding footprints not only of the child but of an adult who is apparently stalking her. Then one of Kailee’s SAR team is found dead, arrows in his body and that of his sniffer dog. Clearly, a psychopath is on the loose, and no one will be safe until he’s hunted down. But, as Mac Crow will learn, the danger is a lot bigger than one lone killer.

    Hollingsworth writes about what he knows: like his hero, he has been to tracker school and is a black belt in karate. He also studies the natural world and writes about it with sensitivity and respect. Mac Crow enjoys the world he works in – “the smell of pine was perfume to me.” He knows when the moon will rise and how to navigate through briars. He can interpret different bird sounds and make a warm bed on pine needles. All these small touches constructed by the author add to the suspense as Mac Crow imagines what a villain will do next by the tell-tale signs he leaves he moves through in the forest and fights gun-toting killers using his brains and his feet. Hollingsworth knows human nature, too, plausibly moving his focus from adventure to romance as Mac Crow tries to decide whether he should rekindle an old flame or feed a fire already gently glowing.

    Fast-paced action, realistic survival skills, wilderness awareness and a tough but tender hero make this book a good read for any arm-chair adventurer as well as those who’ve walked the trails.

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews