Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: keith-tittle

  • 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.

  • DRAWN BACK by Keith Tittle – Alternative History, Murder Mystery, Family Drama/Romance

    DRAWN BACK by Keith Tittle – Alternative History, Murder Mystery, Family Drama/Romance

    Anyone who has fantasized about what it would be like to be a time traveler or have had a strong desire to put on a thinking cap then solve a puzzling murder might well find both of these wishes fulfilled vicariously through Keith Tittle’s début novel, Drawn Back.

    Set in Portland, Oregon, this tale of greed, corruption, ruthless murder and love that spans many decades shifts back and forth between 1929 as the stock market crash approaches and the much-less calamitous year of 1991.

    A dreadful murder takes place at the beginning of the novel to kick off the action in 1929; a preamble of what’s to come. Fast-forward to 1991 as Professor Patrick O’Connell is just beginning his tenure at Portland State’s history department, with a wage that’s not quite a living wage and a desire to find a place to live while he grades papers and contemplates his failed marriage. The answer comes sooner than expected when he meets the beautiful and charming Rachel Wirth, whose wily grandmother, Julia, insists that he move into her family home gratis instead of paying rent.

    In his 10-Question Author Interview, Tittle admits that his approach to storytelling is strongly influenced by his love of movies from the 1930s and ‘40s – and a very good influence indeed. Tittle weaves a solid who-dun-it character-driven story, a multifaceted mystery incorporating elements of romance and time-travel. Despite the need for one more editorial pass, Drawn Back invites the readers to “…explore its characters’ motivations and morality in the darkest of circumstances.” A Matter of Justice, the author’s second title won the CIBA 2016 Clue Awards for Mystery and Suspense novels.

    Unable to truly comprehend his newfound luck with these two remarkable women, O’Connell wanders about the otherwise empty house (both women live elsewhere) and literally steps back into the same dwelling 62 years earlier and becomes the sole witness of a well-planned murder. Then, by intervening with a critical piece of “placed” evidence, the wheels are set in motion for an incredible journey through time where any wrong move by the “guest” could have disastrous ramifications in the future yet to come.

    Tittle delivers a most believable narrative that finds its focus around corporate greed, villains who are willing to do whatever it takes to “win,” and two women who are waiting for their hero to uncover the truth.

    The question becomes, can our hero right the wrongs of the past without destroying the future? Readers will delight in the answers.

     

     

     

  • The CLUE Book Awards for Mystery Suspense & Thriller Novels – Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners – CIBAs 2018

    The CLUE Book Awards for Mystery Suspense & Thriller Novels – Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners – CIBAs 2018

    Thriller Suspense Fiction Award

    We are excited and honored to officially announce the Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Winners for the 2018 CLUE Book Awards at the annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards ceremony. This year’s ceremony and banquet were held on Saturday, April 27th, 2019 at the Hotel Bellwether by beautiful Bellingham Bay, Wash.

     

     

    We want to thank all of those who entered and participated in the  2018 Clue Book Awards for Mystery Suspense & Thriller Novels, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs).

    Keith Tittle, the author of the 2016 CLUE award-winning A Matter of Justice announced the 2018 Clue Award Winners at the Chanticleer International Book Awards Banquet and Ceremony.

    PublishDrive and Hindenburg Systems awarded additional prizes to the 2018 Clue Book Award winners. Thank you!

    Congratulations to the 2018 Clue Book Awards for Mystery Suspense & Thriller Novels First in Category Winners!

    • The Only One Left by Pamela Beason
    • California Son by Timothy Burgess
    • 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

    And now for the 2018 Clue Book Awards GRAND PRIZE WINNER for Mystery Suspense & Thriller Novels:

    California Son by Timothy Burgess

    took home the Clue Grand Prize Ribbon

     

     

     

    An email will go out to all First Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Winners with more information, the timing of awarded reviews, links to digital badges, and more before May 31st, 2019 (approximately four weeks after the awards ceremony). Please look for it in your email inbox.

    When we receive the digital photographs from the Official CAC19 professional photographer, Dwayne Rogge of Photo Treehouse, we will post the photographs of Clue award winners on this page.

    Click here for the link to the Clue Semi-Finalists.

    This post will be updated with photos and more information. Please do visit it again!

    The deadline for submissions into the 2019 Clue Book Awards is  September 30, 2019 Midnight (PST).

    Our next Chanticleer International Book Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 18th, 2020, for the 2019 CIBA winners.

     Enter your book or manuscript in a contest today!

     

  • A MATTER of JUSTICE by Keith Tittle – Mystery & Suspense, Thriller

    A MATTER of JUSTICE by Keith Tittle – Mystery & Suspense, Thriller

    2016 Grand Prize Clue Awards Badge for Keith Tittle's A Matter of JusticeWhen Jefferson Dawes is called in on a cold case, he will be forced to revisit his past – both professional and personal. His old friend and former workmate Alex Burwell, now deceased, was sure that Jeff was the right man to investigate a series of suspicious “accidental” deaths, all linked directly to a trial that took place three years ago. Those deaths now include Burwell’s own mysterious demise.

    Three years ago, a nice young man with no blot on his name was imprisoned when circumstantial evidence piled up to convict him of a brutal, sexually tinged killing. He never denied the crime. He died in prison. Now the judge who tried the case, the jury foreman, and several others connected to the conviction are also dead, each lost to freak happenings: a boat explodes; a man jumps off a bridge; a body is found in a rental car.

    Tough-minded District Attorney Cynthia Orbison, who sees bonds of coincidence between the current killings and a vicious Latino drug lord she is trying to bring down, hires Jeff away from his job with a security firm and sets him up in his former workplace among her staff. He’s tasked with using his investigative skills to go through the evidence Alex compiled before he suddenly passed away. Cynthia gives Jeff a team: Samantha, or Sam, young, smart and anxious to prove herself; and Paul, a little older, seasoned and cautious. Their lives are at risk despite measures taken to keep the case under wraps. And even as they plug away at a solution, a methodical killer is stalking and slaying more hapless victims.

    Tying all the threads together will be Jeff’s job, as he examines a jumble of apparently unrelated facts. He discerns links to the Russian mafia, Latin drug cartels, and some sad but very human motivations that have remained hidden over the years. As the team gathers testimony from various witnesses, Dawes sees the circle tightening around one suspect whose deviant brilliance may yet prevent the hoped-for apprehension.

    Author Keith Tittle rings all the challenges in this complex, gripping mystery. His story combines diverse elements lending the story opportunity for multiple mayhem. Jeff Dawes is a believable hero – determined, diligent, dogged by past failures that spur him to try harder. The setting – Portland, Oregon, with its scenic natural environs makes for a variety of well-staged scenarios.

    A gripping, page-turning novel poised to entertain thriller fans across a wide spectrum. A Matter of Justice by Keith Tittle provides the lead-in for a new series from a promising new author.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker