Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: female sleuth

MYSTERY & MAYHEM SHORT-LIST for 2016 (2016 M&M Semi-Finalists)

These titles are in the running for the 5 First Place Book Awards for the 2016 Mystery & Mayhem Book Awards competition!

Congratulations to these authors for their works moving up from the 2016 M&M Finalists to the Short List. The novels will now compete for the First Place Category Positions!

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to FINALISTS LIST and now has moved forward to the SHORT LIST of the 2016 M&M Book Awards. They are now 2016 M&M Semi-Finalists as they compete for the limited First in Category Positions of the 2016 M&M Book Awards in the last rounds of judging.

Each of the titles below have earned the M&M AWARDS SHORT LIST Semi-Finalists bragging rights!

The Mystery & Mayhem Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Cozy Mysteries and Classic Mysteries. The M&M 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 2016 writing competition winners!

The M&M Book Awards FIRST IN CATEGORY sub-genres are: Amateur Sleuth, Romance, Animals, Cooking/Knitting/Hobbies, Blended Genre, Medical/Lab, Travel, Humorous, Historical, Classic British, Y/A, and Senior Sleuth.

The following titles will compete for the FIRST IN CATEGORY Positions and Book Awards Packages.

NOTE: This is the Official List of the M&M 2016 SHORT LIST.

The Finalists Authors and Titles of Works that have made it to the Short-list (aka The Semi-Finalists) of the M&M 2016 Novel Writing Contest are:

Under English Heaven by Alice K. Boatwright

Secrets Revealed by Kate Vale

The Body Next Door by Gay Yellen

A Scone To Die For – H.Y. Hanna

Death Runs on Time by A. B. Michaels

Secrets, Lies, and Champagne Highs by Jeanette Hubbard

Killer Transaction by Catherine Bruns

Twelve for Twelve by Dawn Rasmussen

The Prosecution of Mr. Darcy’s Cousin by Regina Jeffries

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc by Jennifer Kincheloe

A Girl Like You by Michelle Cox

Engaged in Danger: A Jamie Quinn Mystery by Barbara Venkataraman

Death Unscripted by M.K. Graff

Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai by Traci Andrighetti

Sherlock Holmes and the Dance of the Tiger -Suzette Hollingsworth

Skyrizer # 7 by Phillip Buchanon

The Erotica Book Club for Nice Ladies by Connie Spittler

Smart, but Dead by Nancy G. West

Hot Scheming Mess by Lucy Carol

The M&M Semi-Finalists will compete for the M&M First In Category Positions, which consists of Seven Judging Rounds. First Place Category Award winners will automatically be entered into the M&M GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition, which has a cash prize purse of $200. The CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse.

All Short Listers will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.

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 each of you as your works compete for the M&M Awards First Class Category Positions.

Good Luck to all of the M&M Semi-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 2016 First In Category Winners and Semi-Finalists will be recognized at the 2017 Chanticleer Annual Awards Gala and Banquet.

The M&M Grand Prize Winner will be announced at the April 1st, 2017 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 2017 M&M Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is March 31st, 2017. Please click here for more information.

January 23, 2017
ISLANDS by Sara Stamey – a contemporary thriller that combines the lure of the Caribbean with gritty reality

When anthropologist Susan Dunne goes to a Caribbean island to investigate a mysterious stone carving, she finds that it is not only the ancient past that haunts her, but a ghost from her closest family.

Susan is drawn to the islands by a crumpled letter from her murdered brother, who before his death made a find that could lead her to academic fame. If she can locate his discovery, she may be able to prove that a petro-glyph hundreds of years old is of African origin, predating the incursion of Columbus to the Caribbean. The combination of her professional dreams and the nightmare of John’s violent killing quickly pull her into the bloody heart of the region’s notorious voodoo cult. Seeking an old, wise professor, Phillip Holte, who may know where to find the petro-glyphs, she is aided and at times thwarted by John’s grieving girlfriend Laura, and by John’s worst enemy, possibly his killer, Victor Manden.

With Vic dogging her tracks and Laura watching from the sidelines, Susan, perilously naïve concerning the secrets of the island people, believes she is close to her goal when she finds and is befriended by Phillip. But she continually ignores the warnings of those who know better than she the danger she’s in. Almost too late she realizes that someone she has trusted is a force for savagery and suffering, pulling her into a morass of occult horror beyond her worst imagining. Before her island visit is over, Susan will have to confront the most primitive aspects of her own nature.

Author Sara Stamey has lived some of what she has created in the fictional Islands: she is a world traveler, who, like Susan and her Caribbean companions, is an avid scuba diver. Stamey knows the region, colorfully painting the searing sunlight, the sparkling clear underwater world viewed by divers seeking buried treasure, the ubiquitous sweet and sometimes doctored rum drinks, and the tight, tense lines drawn between island “natives” (actually former slaves) and the “continentals,” the name given to the minority whites, former plantation masters now trying to cynically exploit their properties as a glitzy tourist trap.

Mystical, romantic, intellectually and viscerally stimulating, Islands deftly depicts a woman’s encounter with deadly lies and the chance for true and lasting love.

December 22, 2016
A DANGEROUS DESCENT: A Sarah McKinney Mystery by Marian Exall – a contemporary cosmopolitan mystery

A hectic life, a missing daughter, love lost and found come together in this spellbinding mystery thriller, Marian Exall’s second book in the Sarah McKinney series, A Dangerous Descent.

Sarah McKinney, a witty, hard-working New Yorker, is whisked off to France to help her old mentor find his long-lost daughter in the second book of this thrilling mystery series.

Sarah McKinney was happy with her chaotic life as a mediator in New York, where the most complicated thing she had to deal with was her love life. When she meets up with an old mentor, she doesn’t expect the meeting to end with her hoping a plane and flying halfway across the world.

But hop that plane she does, to help out her mentor fulfill his promise to his dying wife: locate their estranged daughter living in France. But finding Chantal isn’t easy. She’s not where she’s supposed to be. With urgent business back home, Sarah’s mentor pleads with her to find his daughter. She agrees and with the help of an old flame, she’s off to locate the missing girl.

But finding Chantal proves more difficult than expected and Sarah finds herself chasing leads down dangerous paths.

Marian Exall’s A Dangerous Descent is a captivating mystery that skillfully keeps the reader glued to the page. The book starts out with a light tone that tricks readers into thinking they are following the witty escapades of a New Yorker, only to find the journey darkening and becoming much more dangerous as the story progresses.

But the immediate likeability of Sarah, as well as her touching relationships, keeps the novel positive. Readers will smile as often as they grip the seat of their chairs.

Indeed, Sarah’s narration is perhaps the best part of the novel, and she remains worth rooting for throughout the story. Her traumatic childhood has left her tougher than a bed of nails, and she keeps her wits about her during terrifying situations. Exall masters the characterization of Sarah, portraying her as a sharp, collected professional against the foil of Chantal’s bizarre disappearance.

Exall’s writing is sharp and well-paced, with natural dialogue and gorgeous descriptions of setting. So much so, the reader is bound to feel as if they are in France as well!

A Dangerous Descent is Book 2 of a thrilling mystery series with a soft spot for tender-hearted lovers.

December 16, 2016
SPECIAL AGENT FRANCESCA (Undercover FBI Book 1) by Mimi Barbour – entertaining wild ride

From the city that never sleeps to Sin City, Mimi Barbour’s “Special Agent Francesca: Undercover FBI” is a thrill-fest, rapid-paced investigative novel with a lot of heat.

Mimi Barbour takes her reader in a rush to Sin City, piling on the intrigue and mystery within the first few pages, and, of course, introduces FBI Agent Frankie Donovan. Miss Fran Murphy, an alias our heroine uses while posing as a new hotel owner in order to fight the thugs who threatened the last owner. All in the chase to get Mr. D, an evil and violent crime boss in the city that never sleeps.That isn’t all Frankie has on her back: part of her undercover background is Sean Collins, her fake fiancé, so-called body-guard, and all heart-throbbing desire. As an initial series of bad impressions melt away, along with Frankie’s rigid professional control, she is able to help Sean realize his deepest dreams.

Frankie is struggling to leave the shadow of her icy, overbearing, type-A mother behind in New York City while wrapping her head around the recent, sudden revelation that her father is actually alive and living in Las Vegas as a detective – with a wife and three more daughters. As they plunge into building the father-daughter bonds denied to them for more than twenty years, professional intrudes on the personal, and Frankie heads for Los Angles to investigate a pair of kidnappers for her father. Sean takes co-pilot, until Frankie lets loose a little more control, and their impromptu vacation heats up fast.

Author Mimi Barbour does not pull punches in the drama and keeps the tension wound, throwing Frankie, who deplores violence, into fight after fight, culminating in a prize-fight challenge that could put Frankie in way over her pretty head.

And she’s not the only one with mysteries to solve and confrontations to face: something is going on with Sean’s best friend, and he’ll bring all his experience as a psychologist to figure it out. Anticipation and action ride high and higher still in this rapid pace investigative novel, dangling the hope of happiness for Special Agent Francesca over the threat to her life.

Barbour professes to enjoy cop TV shows and that was what inspired her to create her FBI agent series. She placed the first in the series in the hotbed of Las Vegas, the gambling capital of North America. The story explodes with steamy scenes, gritty language, and a lot of action – a lot of page turning action in this entertaining debut.

December 16, 2016
CROSSING into the MYSTIC by D.L. Koontz – a paranormal mystery that crosses genres

Grace MacKenna has a problem – actually, she has two. At sixteen, she loses her family and is sent to live in Boston with her greedy aunt. Then she discovers she has something called “subtle vision” that allows her to see spirits. But not the spirits of her family, who have crossed fully to the other side. Grace sees the spirits trapped in limbo on Earth, who must complete their business before they can escape.

Her first spirit confrontation occurs when she inherits Crossings, her stepfather’s house in Maryland. It is haunted by William Kavanaugh, a young man murdered during the Civil War who needs her help in solving the mystery of his death so he can move on.

It takes her a while to figure everything out, being distracted by the maneuvers needed to occupy her new home without her guardians and understand the “subtle vision.” When she trips over Clay Baxter, a recovering young veteran just home from Afghanistan, upon moving in, more conflict comes into play. He’s “a ruffian and a gentleman all in one package”; “night to my day, truck to my Volvo, grease to my silk, bedroll to my egg-roll.” He’s also twenty and can’t approach Grace as he desires because she’s a minor (and he happens to be engaged). To make matters even more complicated, Grace thinks she’s in love with William, who becomes progressively more solid as she masters her perceptive powers.Clay worries that Grace is being pulled, dangerously, more and more into the world of the dead.

Grace’s physical and emotional reactions to the paranormal are convincingly portrayed by the author. Koontz grounds the story in the area’s history, teaching readers about the Civil War era while riveting us with suspense—all in a Gothic undertone of ghosts and graves, shadows and groaning doors. Grace is believably mature for her age while intermittently reverting to the normal insecurities of being at the crossroads of teenager and young adult. This makes her character even more to root for. The plot-line twists and turns adding suspense, the setting is, well,vividly haunting, and the author adds a dash of wit and humor to the mix while the characters are rich and complex.

“Crossing Into the Mystic” is the launch volume of this paranormal mystery trilogy that crosses genres (YA+) told in a bright, new-adult voice. Also, while the central story is resolved nicely enough, there is plenty to entice the reader to look forward to the next two books.

November 9, 2016
TOURIST TRAPPED by K. J. Klemme — a madcap international mystery

Can a spunky female attorney and her computer-geek sidekick survive the violence of paid kidnappers and cold-blooded murderers, a dangerously deranged mother and her captive children, the vicious plotting of a twisted psychopath, a traitorous fiancé, and at times the worst enemy of all—their own reluctance to let go and let love work its magic?

Amanda Sloane, high-profile Chicago divorce lawyer, gets a panic call from her estranged father, Don, telling her that her half-sister Rebecca and her fiancé have disappeared in Cancun, Mexico. Don wants Amanda to help find her. Amanda, forced to recall how Don abandoned her and her mother, is reluctant. But even as she tries to avoid the situation, friends begin to tell her how good-hearted she is, even though she is usually seen, and often sees herself, as relationship destroyer, someone who “goes through men like Starbucks goes through coffee cups.”

Acting on the newfound wish to do the right thing for what little family she has, she heads for Cancun, dragging her nerdy co-hort Chad Cooper along to deal with her clients at long distance, under her always strict supervision.

Before long they’re in Mexico desperately hunting for Rebecca, despite minimal cooperation from the local police, some temptations of the lush natural surroundings, the call of a long-lost love, and a plethora of clues that, as Chad diligently and correctly points out, just don’t add up. To complicate matters, under Cancun’s romantic spell Amanda thinks she might be falling for Chad even though she has a fiancé back home who wants her help in getting him elected, and Chad has a wife he never talks about.

Then Chad is called away to Portland where he secretly has his own person-hunt. Amanda is left battling bad guys, and being stalked by a powerful, politically motivated psychopath who wants her gone by whatever means.

In Klemme’s deft hands, regret may be tempered by reconciliation, trust may push aside the shadows of treachery, and the seeming end of the story forms a new beginning. Tourist Trapped, designed as Part One of a trilogy, is a madcap, fast-paced international mystery that pits multi-layered villainy against inexperienced, but spirited, sleuthing with a back-beat of newly minted love.

August 5, 2016
HOW the MIGHTY FALL by E. J. Chadwell, an enthralling murder mystery

A great mystery has readers so immersed in the action that the book’s pages fly by as readers look to determine the murderer. However, readers can only be captivated by such a narrative if it contains a clever plot, dynamic characters, the right dose of clues together with red herrings, subplots that enhance the story, and a logical, yet unexpected ending which readers try to attain as they read.

How the Mighty Fall is a story with a plot and denouement that qualifies as a top-drawer mystery.

The story starts engulfed in action. Connie Ross is hosting a party onboard her yacht that readers immediately learn is her sanctuary.

“Inexplicably drowsy, Ross had been forced to leave her party. She now held tightly onto the rail as she bobbed and weaved in time with the churning waters.”

“She relaxed her grip, however, when a familiar voice offered help by massaging her back and getting her to relax. Ross drifts as she relaxes, releases her hold on the rail, when ‘one forceful push against her back sent Ross over the rail.’ ”

Home on maternity leave, Officer Gigi Mirabelli gets a middle of the night call from Jimmy Frail, Chief of Detectives, who cancels the rest of her two months leave to put her back on duty for the high-profile missing person’s case of Connie Ross, the media mogul. She will collaborate with Harry Burns, a homicide detective.

Although not yet confirmed, authorities suspect murder. Connie’s celebrity status makes the case one which authorities want to be resolved quickly. The press will keep the case front and center, making its resolution a high priority.

Mirabelli and Burns do not fit into any stereotype of detectives on a missing person or a murder case. Their physical description, dialogue, and actions highlight their differences as they seek to solve the mystery. Readers will subtly learn more about them in the course of the action, with bits of their personal lives that explain their unique approach to the case, and just enough humor that makes the discovery pleasurable.

Who is Connie Ross? As the story develops, the author shows readers the many sides of this powerful woman. Who would want to kill her? Readers discover along with Mirabelli and Burns that the list of her enemies is a very long one.

The author executes the mystery with excellent characterization of all the characters, with superb dialogue, and with a strong clever plot that never fails to hold reader interest. The intriguing clues have readers working with Mirabelli and Burns to solve the mystery; Chadwell adds just the right amount of captivating twists and turns to keep her readers pondering the solution. The not easily determined ending is powerful.

An enthralling murder mystery that is set in the city that never sleeps.

July 29, 2016
ICED TEE by Cherie O’Boyle, second installment of the Estela Nogales Mystery Series

A freezer with blood trickling down the side. An inquisitive border collie. Cherie O’ Boyle stirs these intriguing images to bring readers another engaging mystery with Iced Tee: An Estela Nogales Mystery, the second book in her popular series. Boyle doesn’t fail to bring another fantastic narrative for cozy mystery fans.

Readers are introduced to the quirky little community of Arroyo Loco located in the coastal mountains of California. A diverse community complete with its own obligatory Home Owners Association, filled with people you probably recognize from your own neighborhood: you have busybodies, town gossips, the obligatory community grouch, and the person who leads the association but no one really cares for them leading. Definitely a slice of California pie in this book!

Our ensemble of quirky characters is topped off by one Estela Nogales who with her border collies Shiner and Scout, “live here happily in our weathered house under a big blue oak.” Estela is an amateur sleuth and psychologist by trade. At times self-deprecating, yet charming with a wry sense of humor, Estela really drives the story forward. Cherie O’Boyle crafts a character that makes the reader want to do two things: never put the book down until it is finished and pick it back up once completed.

Estela’s perspective of the community is priceless and epitomizes the author’s desire to create a community that appears like any other real-life counterpart. Her descriptions are intimate and cozy, making readers feel right at home in the community in a feel-good type of way.

The mystery unfolds rather quickly and humorously. Community member Tee is found dead, but this is certainly not your run of the mill death. Tee is discovered in a chest freezer. What ensues is a frankly hilarious exchange of community members on what resulted in poor Tee’s demise.

The wild running theory is that Tee was killed over stolen ice cream; perhaps she was the ice cream thief. Did she fall backwards into the freezer, bumping her head, during this act of thievery? Was she startled by a fellow community member who caught her in the middle of this horrendous crime? After all, a broken camera was found in pieces on the floor near the chest freezer!

You will have to pick up Iced Tee to find out what happens next. The narrative abounds with smaller challenges popping up in the background of the freezer mystery. If you enjoy puzzles presented in the form of a laugh out loud whodunnit, than this is this book for you. Cherie O’Boyle crafts another good old cozy mystery that will certainly appeal to a wide variety of readers and keep them guessing until the final page.
Reviewer’s Note: This mystery was awarded the 2015 Chanticleer Book Reviews “Small Town Cozy” for Mystery and Mayhem Awards.

July 14, 2016
HOT WORK in FRY PAN GULCH (Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter) Book One by Jacquie Rogers – Take a ride to the Old West

Feisty, independent Honey Beaulieu is nobody’s fool, and she darned sure isn’t any man’s plaything. So earning a living on her back at her mama’s Tasty Chicken Emporium is not part of her life plan. Problem is, she doesn’t know exactly what her plan should be.

Fortunately for Honey, her no-nonsense mama sees the proverbial writing on the bordello wall and does her own brand of arm-twisting to get Honey a job at the town marshal’s office.

Lazy Marshal Fripp is none too thrilled to have a woman invading his domain and if it weren’t for his day-long excursions to the Tasty Chicken he and Honey would be banging heads constantly. With Fripp out of the office, Honey straps on her “Peacemakers” and gets a leg up on the career ladder, climbing from clerk-and-cleaner to Deputy Marshal. But Honey learns the hard way that Fripp is not about to stand on the sidelines while she hops on the fast-track to success.

Plus, “lawdoggin’” doesn’t come close to paying the bills, let alone paying for all of the stray livestock that comes her way. So when a wanted man rides out of town on the back of Marshal Fripp’s horse, Honey is faced with the most important career decision of her life.

Should she stick it out as the deputy marshal of Fry Pan Gulch or should she trade in her badge and a steady paycheck for a chance to leave the marshal in the dust and make some real money bounty hunting?

In this hilarious first installment of the Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter series author Jacquie Rogers introduces a lively and engaging main character whose heart of gold shines brightly through her tough-as-nails façade. Saddled with a strong conscience and her own set of rules, Honey sets the good old boy franchise on its ear, proving that they’re no match for a resourceful and enterprising, sharp-shooting woman.

In addition to her fresh, new Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter series, award-winning author Jacquie Rogers is well known for her popular Hearts of Owyhee western historical romance series and for her highly entertaining story-telling.

Set in the Old West’s rough-and-tumble Wyoming Territory, Hot Work in Fry Pan Gulch is a tightly-written, action-packed romp that delivers page after page of laugh-out-loud fun—and maybe even a bit of romance along the way.

April 19, 2016
The CLUE Awards for Suspense/Thriller Fiction 2015 First Place Category Winners
The CLUE Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Suspense/Thriller Fiction. The CLUE Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

We are pleased to announce the 2015 CLUE Awards Official First Place Category Winners. Good Luck to them as they compete for the 2015 CLUE Grand Prize Award.

Please note that Global Thrillers and Lab Lit fiction entries were moved to the newly offered Global Thrillers Awards 2016.

Congratulations to the 2015 CLUE Awards First In Category Award Winning Suspense/Thriller Fiction Novels:
- Blended Genre: Timothy S. Johnston – The Tanner Sequence
- Suspense/Thriller: K. J. Klemme – Tourist Trapped
- Mystery/Crime: Patrick M. Garry – Blind Spots
- Manuscript Mystery/Crime: Scott D. Smith – Guilty Deeds
- Espionage/Spy: Michele Daniel – The Red Circle
- Contemporary Suspense: Christine Benedict – Anonymous
- Mystery: Lonna Enox – Blood Relations
- Historical/Vintage Thriller: Michael Scheffel – St. Louis Affair: The Adventures of Herbert Falken
- Legal/Medical/Police Procedural: Laurie Stevens for The Mask of Midnight
- Courtroom Drama: Hubert Crouch for The Word
- True Crime: Zach Fortier for CurbChek Reload
- International Mystery & Crime: Marian Exall – A Dangerous Descent
More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The CLUE First Place Category award winners will compete for the CLUE Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Suspense/Thriller Fiction Novel. Grand Prize winners, blue ribbons, and prizes will be announced and awarded on April 30, 2016 at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala, Bellingham, Wash.

The First In Category award winning titles will receive an award package including a complimentary Chanticleer Book Review of the winning title, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting entries into the 2017 CLUE Awards. The deadline is September 30, 2016. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the CLUE Awards 2015 FIRST PLACE official listing.

More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the 2015 Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Ten genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.

Who will take home the $1,000 purse this coming April at the Chanticleer Awards Gala and Banquet?
March 15, 2016