Tag: Mystery Suspense

  • GUILTY DEEDS by Scott D. Smith – Police Procedural, Mystery, Thriller

    GUILTY DEEDS by Scott D. Smith – Police Procedural, Mystery, Thriller

    What would you give if you could add to your memories – say, load your brain with pleasant, peaceful memories on top of the violent ones you live with every day? What would you do if the memories you were promised actually turn out to be those of a sadistic serial killer?

    Memories are at the heart of this fascinating detective thriller, Guilty Deeds, by Scott D. Smith. The plot involves the transplanting of memories from one person to another and the result is an intriguing set of concentric mysteries and a very good read.

    Stephanie Monroe, a young, smart and sarcastic detective working in Houston has a seemingly open and shut case when one Robert Grayson, a veteran who saw a good deal of violence in the Middle East, arrives at the police station with blood-stained hands and confesses to the murders of several women. He’s terrified he’ll kill again and begs to be incarcerated before he can do so.  Investigations don’t get much easier for a homicide detective, but Stephanie has been on the job long enough to know that life is never that simple.

    Enter Happy Memories, a company that buys and sells memories for your pleasure – and their profit. When Stephanie uncovers the fact her self-proclaimed killer is one of Happy Memories’ clients, she turns her investigation to the very affluent Dr. Lawrence Mead the owner of the company whose practices range from the unethical to the sinister. With the help of the police psychiatrist and Robert, Stephanie works to unravel this ever-deepening mystery before Robert’s sanity becomes the next victim.

    Tension is ripe throughout the well-written scenes and the dialogue is unexpectedly fun and engaging. The affectionate and quick-witted banter between Stephanie and Robert, whose attraction to one another grows as they become more deeply mired in the investigation, is solidified when they share their own sets of memories. This establishes a trust that will connect them in ways they could never have anticipated – and hooks the reader from the start.

    The conclusion leaves the reader hoping for a sequel. How fortunate, then, that there’s an epilogue that manages a perfect and surprising finish for a novel that probes the essence of the human condition. Thought provoking and entertaining, this thriller will have you second guessing yourself.

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  • TIGER and the ROBOT by Grahame Shannon – Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Women’s Adventure

    TIGER and the ROBOT by Grahame Shannon – Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Women’s Adventure

    Chandler (Chan) Gray, recent president of a “rags to riches and back to rags again” app development start-up, is the good-looking, good-hearted protagonist. He was left with enough money to buy the 50-year-old vintage yacht, “Blue Rose,” his home of the moment.

    Tiger is the childhood nickname of the feisty, but gorgeous billionaire Gina Lee, owner of the 120-foot yacht, Aphrodite (aka Afro).

    The Robot is an Android app, the female persona of which is named Saga, created and programmed by the tech savvy Chan. Little does Chan know of the extent of Saga’s AI, its development continuing autonomously way beyond what he programmed, leading to her role as cyber-sleuth private investigator on the trail of Gina (aka Tiger) after she is kidnapped on the morning of the prestigious Swiftsure yacht race.

    “Aphrodite” skipper Billy Taylor, used to his boss’s eccentricities, nonetheless wonders where Gina might be when the race countdown begins. However, he knows that it is his job is to make sure Afro wins the Swiftsure. Chan, previously asked by Gina to join the Afro crew, isn’t as sanguine as Billy, but manages to do his share of the crewing, is caught up in the excitement of waves and wind especially as the sleek vessel is poised to win position among the parade of more than 150 competing yachts racing toward the finish line. Putting a dampening on the thrill is that Gina, the yacht’s owner, is still mysteriously missing. Billy advises Chan to let the police handle her disappearance, but Chan, who recently spent a most memorable night with her at the Empress Hotel, can’t do that. Billy agrees, and Chan search begins, with cooperation from the police.

    Saga (the Android app developed by Chan) enters the story big-time at this point. Chan is the private investigator on the case to the rest of the world, but Saga—operating as an app in Chan’s Android mobile phone while observing the scene via the tiny cameras built into Chan’s sunglasses—is operating behind the scenes.

    Right at home in the world of complex, inventive, and daily changing high-tech communications and electronics, the author Grahame Shannon knows his way around technology. Also, he is a well-known designer of racing yachts as well. In fact, Shannon is a well-known yacht designer. And, for someone born in the Caribbean (Grenada), he’s quite at home in Victoria, Vancouver, and coastal and rural British Columbia, as well as the mariner’s highway along the B.C. and Alaska coast.

    The combination of the authors background and expertise makes the Tiger and the Robot  an entertaining and plausible read for those who are fans of sailing, cyber thrillers,  and for those who simply enjoy a good whodunit mystery. Shannon has created a page-turner of a thriller and carved a small world’s worth of fascinating and unique characters, pulled out of both high places and dark corners.

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    Special Note: The Swiftsure International Yacht Race Week of 2017 began in Victoria, B.C., over Memorial Day weekend. While the reviewer penned this review of Grahame Shannon’s exciting fictional search for the fictional kidnapped owner of a fictional entry in (and fictional winner of) the Swiftsure race of 2016! The fact of the actual race (sponsored by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club every Memorial Day weekend) in real-time late May 2017 lends a touch of reality to Tiger and the Robot, especially if you’re familiar with Victoria, Vancouver, British Columbia, and possibly even the annual Swiftsure event.

  • PRINCE of the BLUE CASTLES by Timothy Vincent – Crime Thriller, Suspense

    PRINCE of the BLUE CASTLES by Timothy Vincent – Crime Thriller, Suspense

    Wilson Ames will always offer you a deal of a lifetime – your lifetime, that is in Timothy Vincent’s suspense/thriller, Prince of the Blue Castles.

    Highly suspenseful and carefully penned, this is a thinking person’s novel that will grab you from the get-go. Castles come into play, but they comprise a book within this book, a small sketchbook to be precise. Our protagonist, Wilson Ames, is never without it since he never knows when he’ll feel the need to draw a castle, using an old-fashioned mechanical pencil filled with dark blue lead.

    Yes, it may seem odd that someone in Ames’ line of work carries a sketchbook rather than a gun or a high-tech electronic device to help extricate himself from dire situations. But, then, Ames is not your typical hero. A slight, quiet, fastidious man who speaks with utmost clarity and precision, his power rests in not being a James Bond type. His opponents don’t know what to make of him, and his size and demeanor cause them to underestimate him, a miscalculation that works to Ames’ advantage.

    So, what exactly does he do? As the founder and only employee of Suadela Consulting Agency, he’s a messenger who delivers the most sensitive of communications.  In doing so, he negotiates, arbitrates, and manages to persuade clients to undertake specific actions if they want to avoid disastrous consequences.

    Although he maintains a very low profile, his skills are well-known to Haines, an old college friend who hires Ames to contact various people. While negotiating with clients, Ames is unflappable. Even when being questioned by brutal, sadistic men who torture him, Ames maintains a clarity of thought and never discloses his consuming desire for the safety of his wife. The cost may be his life, but such is his devotion to her that any concern for himself is abandoned.

    Vincent provides just enough tantalizing information about Ames’ past, via flashbacks, to allow the reader to regard him in the present with escalating curiosity and admiration. When Ames is boxed in by circumstances, his values about to be compromised beyond repair, he meets a worthy opponent, Mr. Yoto, and learns that life sometimes offers options that can’t be anticipated.

    And what of the castles, described in such inviting and lovely language? Is the reader just privy to a relaxing pastime for someone whose life often takes harrowing turns? There’s more to quiet little Wilson Ames than meets the eye, and the same is true of his drawings. They clue the reader to Ames’ thoughts and plans. They are, in a sense, maps that he uses to navigate his work and his overall life. And just when the reader believes all to be resolved, a bit of dark red literally enters the picture, and all is forever changed. Overall, Ames’ opponents are foolhardy to underestimate him, and readers should not make the same mistake.

    A thinking person’s psychological thriller – twists & turns,worthy opponents, conspiracies & deceptions abound–exquisitely intriguing.

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  • MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT by Ann Charles – Action/Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

    MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT by Ann Charles – Action/Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

    Ann Charles has another true winner on her hands as she reunites the intrepid band of archeologists led by Angélica García for the second installment of her crackerjack series A Dig Site Mystery. From the very first sentence, Make No Bones About It is an entertaining thrill ride of the first order.

    Top-notch archaeologist, Angélica García, admits that after her divorce she “suffered from trust issues—as having no faith in her own ability to judge character.” She leaves her university teaching job for a change of pace and heads to Mexico where she is hired by the National Institute of Anthropology and History to clean up and prepare derelict dig sites (ruins) for the current tourism boon— archaeo-tourism.

    Angélica’s latest project has a few challenges she must overcome. It is located in a remote part of Mexican jungle infested with a myriad of hazards: scorpions, spiders, toxic fauna, bloodthirsty insects, hungry Jaguars, mounds of skeletal remains, and a seemingly endless supply of deadly rattlesnakes. Oh, and it is the same place where her mother, a top archaeologist in her own right, was killed in a helicopter crash—some say because of a curse.

    To accomplish her mission, Angélica is joined by her father, Juan, a brilliant man nursing a leg injury who is saddled with his fair share of superstition anxiety. Quint Parker, a handsome photojournalist that jets off across the globe on assignments on short notice, but returns to lend a hand and tug on Angélica’s heart strings: she is ready with open arms and a razor-sharp machete! Pedro, her quasi-adopted brother and helicopter pilot, and several others round out a solid cast that adds color, context, and pathos to the story.

    Angélica leads the team to unlock and document the secrets of the ruins, but she is consumed by a quenchless drive to complete her mother’s unfinished work. As the team delves deeper into labyrinth warning signs abound and it becomes clear that they are in mortal danger. The book’s first sentence states, “The Mexican jungle had devoured the remains of the dead, bones and all,” and so for those who ignore history could become history.

    At the beginning of the book, Ann Charles discusses her extensive research, which pays off tremendously and adds incredible depth and texture to a well-crafted story. Additionally, C.S. Kunkle’s fabulous illustrations are dramatic, prescient and add substance to the story.

    Make No Bones About It, simply put, is one of those books you pick up and cannot put down.

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  • The BOY WHO WANTED WINGS by James Conroyd Martin – Medieval Historical Fiction, War/Military, European

    The BOY WHO WANTED WINGS by James Conroyd Martin – Medieval Historical Fiction, War/Military, European

    A suspenseful and often overlooked chapter in history, the siege of Vienna in the late 17th century is the subject of James Conroyd Martin’s masterful novel, The Boy Who Wanted Wings.

    Although Poland’s involvement in the protection of the city from the invading Turks is the mainstay of the book, Martin widens the breadth of his study to underscore the multinational effort undertaken to halt the spread of Islam, providing meticulously researched details about the allied forces of the Saxons, Franconians, and Bavarians uniting to halt the siege of the Ottomans and Crimean Tatars*.  Although this is a work of fiction, to the author’s credit, the wealth of historical information provided is beyond impressive.  Most helpful is the glossary of Polish cultural and military terms of the time at the outset of the book.

    The reader navigates this chapter in Europe’s past with Aleksy Gazdecki, a boy on the verge of manhood whose personal past and present circumstances present no end of identity issues.  A Tatar by birth, he was orphaned as an infant and raised by a Polish peasant family, tenants of Lord Halicki.  Aleksy’s swarthy complexion and dark, almond-shaped eyes cause him to stand out amongst the Poles and ultimately be treated with suspicion.  He longs to join the Winged Hussars, the elite branch of the Polish military whose legendary skills with seventeen-foot-long lances are announced by a uniform that includes “wings.”  Although he trains with a former soldier, currently a stablemaster, Aleksy knows how futile his dream is since only men of noble birth can become Winged Hussars.

    Amidst the military drama is, of course, personal drama.  Aleksy has a chance encounter with the beautiful Krystyna, Lord Halicki’s daughter, and the two engage in a dangerous, secretive romance, jumping the hurdles presented by her family, who are determined to see her married to a wealthy noble, as well as confronting the escalating war at hand. Krystyna’s brothers, the sweet Marek and the haughty, vengeful Roman, will cross paths with Aleksy again and again since he follows them into battle as Marek’s “retainer.”

    Just as Aleksy sought to overcome the circumstances of his birth in his romantic life, he will do so also on the battlefield. Ironically, his Tatar heritage gives him the opportunity to save a life, a very important life, and the resulting events put Krystyna within his reach. Martin takes no shortcuts and keeps the reader guessing with a long list of characters and numerous plots twists all carried out with exquisite pacing.

    Despite the triumph of the Poles, Martin deftly explores the addictive nature of bloodlust and the true consequences of war. Aleksy is exhausted and saddened by the killing and able to transcend nationalistic feelings.  He has killed men, regardless of where they’re from or what faith they practice. It’s an apt observation from a Tatar who has lived his life amongst a people other than his own, a Tatar who has tried to be the most loyal subject of Poland.

    This is a novel with staying power.  Given the geopolitical situations in the world today, the author reminds us that war has a long and bloody history, and political alliances are intricately tied to this history. James Conroyd Martin’s The Boy Who Wanted Wings will make one most glad for the opportunity to spend time in the 17th century.

    *Alternate spelling: Tartar

    This book is also available in Softcover (ISBN-13: 978-0997894509) and Hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0997894516)

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  • SEX, LIES, and SNICKERDOODLES by Wendy Delaney – Cozy Mystery, Woman Sleuth, Thriller/Suspense

    SEX, LIES, and SNICKERDOODLES by Wendy Delaney – Cozy Mystery, Woman Sleuth, Thriller/Suspense

    If you like your mysteries cozy with a side of sassy romance and a dash of family squabbles, you’ll enjoy spending time with Wendy Delaney’s Sex, Lies, and Snickerdoodles featuring truth wizard, Charmaine.

    The story takes place in the small town of Port Merritt in the Pacific Northwest where Charmaine Digby is a newly appointed Probationary Special Assistant to the Chimacam County Prosecutor/Coroner. While the job title may be a bit unwieldy, Char throws herself into the role with gusto.

    Her zeal doesn’t sit well for friend-with-benefits Steve Sixkiller, the town’s one-and-only detective. On the one hand, his closed-mouth approach frustrates Charmaine but on the other, sex with him is great since they occasionally share a bed and make ice cream a part of their escapades. This is not a steamy romance novel – it’s a cozy mystery.

    Fortunately for Charmaine, the entire town has its ear to the ground and the nosy neighbors and colorful characters have plenty to say and are willing to share. When news hits the streets that Russell Ferrantino, a local lothario, has been found dead, tongues wag. Especially when his death may – or may not – have involved foul play.

    Along with her own investigation of the supposed murder, Char soon has her hands full dealing with the surprise arrival of her (literal) drama queen mama, “Hurricane Marietta,” AKA Mary Jo Digby. Seems Marietta has attracted the attention of Charmaine’s former biology teacher. Now Char finds herself sleeping on the ‘Crippler’ at her Grams while fearing her mother may jump into yet another misguided marriage.

    Clues keep piling up and the pool of suspects, expanding. Russell Ferrantino’s brothers, Andy and Nathan don’t seem overly distraught at his passing. There are plenty of Russell’s lovers, past and present, to mourn but did any of them have a bone to pick with the deceased? With Char’s persistent poking into every nook and cranny, feathers are sure to be ruffled and the clues will shake loose, too. What kind of ‘work’ was Russell doing over at Joyce Lackey’s place? And one wonders how Pete Lackey felt about having the town’s troublemaker spending so much time at his place.

    Wendy Delaney’s style is fresh and frisky, leading her readers down a path to a rollicking good time. Delaney’s folksy (the series is called Working Stiffs mysteries)  storytelling in Sex, Lies, and Snickerdoodles  goes down like a mug of hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and a daub of whipped cream on top or your favorite summer imbibement! Enjoy!

  • RETURN to MATEGUAS ISLAND by Linda Watkins – Literary Thriller/Paranormal/Occult

    RETURN to MATEGUAS ISLAND by Linda Watkins – Literary Thriller/Paranormal/Occult

    Return to Mateguas Island picks right up with the same intrigue, suspense, drama and mystery that Mateguas Island contained. A page turner from the beginning, this is a tale you will not want to walk away from. The story begins years later with, Karen Anderson along with her new husband Dex and her two teenage daughters returning to the island. Karen goes quite reluctantly, but daughters, Sophie and Terri, are on a mission to find out the truth about their father who went missing and subsequently declared dead.

    Return to Mateguas Island would fit nicely in the supernatural genre but has enough suspense throughout to lean toward this genre as well. This mixture of the two genres makes the story more complex and holds the reader’s interest throughout.

    In this second novel, author Linda Watkins has already established and developed her characters and yet goes deeper into development within these pages. The books do stand alone, but to get a full picture, it is advised to start at the beginning with Mateguas Island to fill in backstory and ascertain each character’s story arch as the tale continues.

    This story answers many of the questions from the first book. By the end of Return to Mateguas Island, however, you are left with just as many new questions and just as hungry for a third installment.

    Upon their return, Karen and the girls find the island relatively unchanged from the day they had left it behind. A day Karen hoped would have been the last they would see of this mysterious venue. The memories were too painful and too jarring for Karen and this quickly bubbled to the surface. As with the previous book, there is something just beneath the surface of things that happen on the island, subsequently, as readers dig into the second book, they will find themselves in a familiar environment.

    The story unfolds rather quickly as Karen once again displays odd behavior as the family returns to their old home. The intense story continues as a well-paced read with many twists and turns. The book holds its own next to the first novel and carries the tale, skillfully and smartly weaving in events that serve to whet readers appetites for the third book.

    High suspense and flashes of horror beckon American Gothic readers to Return to Mateguas Island, the second book in Linda Watkins trilogy –a stunning success leaving readers posed in anticipation for the next installment.

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  • AFTERMATH by Marilynn Larew – Mystery Suspense/Thriller/Female Sleuth

    AFTERMATH by Marilynn Larew – Mystery Suspense/Thriller/Female Sleuth

    Mystery maven Marilynn Larew has devised a can’t-put-down thriller with a female lead who can handle everything from flying bullets, dead cats, and snakes in the jungle, with only the occasional meltdown in Aftermath.

    It’s a normal day for private investigator Annie Carter when handsome, Irish, and possibly crazy “Don’t call me Charlie” Magee shows up at her townhouse/office/home claiming someone is trying to kill him. For one thing, a body fell out of a window and landed near him. But even more convincing, someone shoots a hole through Annie’s front window just as Magee arrives on her doorstep – and not long after that, they find a dead cat on the stoop.

    But can Magee be for real? His stories are garbled, and sometimes he seems to be dodging the truth, but when she lets him move in (for his own protection) it turns out he’s a decent cook and, well, let’s say his interest in her is hard to resist.

    Meanwhile, Annie’s lawyer daughter Elizabeth is bugging her because her boyfriend wants to get married, which is against Elizabeth’s feminist principles, and for some reason, it’s all Annie’s fault. Added to this chaotic, action-crammed and often witty mix is Annie’s newest client, Vivian Rowlandson, whose husband has disappeared without a trace. A complex inheritance means the client must find her spouse or lose all financial support for her over-sized mansion and ten horses. And just as all these mysteries build, Elizabeth is kidnapped.

    Threading her way through other people’s bizarre problems is what Annie signed on for when she became a private investigator. It was the job best suited for a single parent. But now her mothering skills are questioned and her own life is in danger.

    Eventually, the hunt for Vivian’s errant husband will take Annie to the shadowy, steaming jungles of Southeast Asia where human and reptile killers lurk around every tree—and where the charming Magee will prove a stalwart bodyguard—in more ways than one.

    Practiced mystery novelist Larew (Dead in Dubai, The Spider Catchers) presents a plot that brings her expertise to the fore. With teaching and publishing credits in American and Vietnamese military history, she has also visited Hanoi and other far-flung places. Her Annie is a heroine for the mid-life generation: a gritty divorcee with a penchant for adventure and a secret passion for unruly older men. Larew sculpts Annie with just the right proportions of savoir-faire, guts, and a few moments of unabashed girly-ness.

    Sure to please Larew’s fans and attract new ones, Aftermath is a welcome addition to the female detective mystery/thriller genre steeped in exotic locales, alluring hints of romance, bullets flying, people disappearing, and just enough humor to wrap it all together for the perfect read.

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  • PASSOVER by Aphrodite Anagnost and Robert P. Arthur – Horror/Psychological Thriller/Ghost Story

    PASSOVER by Aphrodite Anagnost and Robert P. Arthur – Horror/Psychological Thriller/Ghost Story

    This novel is a multi-dimensional excursion into the paranormal. Its twists and turns take the reader on a circuitous route, where the impossible is ordinary, and there is no safe place.

    Authors Aphrodite Anagnost and Robert P. Arthur have created a fast-paced, well-written read to challenge even the most hard-core fans of mystery and the supernatural. The writers use a mosaic of imaginative ideas, sensory detail, and historic events to move the reader through a morass of implausible events, to a chilling conclusion.

    For the residents of Zebulon, a tiny, historic Virginia town on the Delmarva Peninsula, the world has become surreal. For the last three months, a serial murderer has been at work. On the night of the full moon, moving from house-to-house on Burnt Chestnut Road, this creature has committed atrocious acts.

    Inexplicable smells, sights, and quirks of weather impinge upon the police investigation of these, driving most of Zebulon’s residents to flee in fear.

    If the killer remains consistent, the next house in line is the home of Dr. Rachel Shelton and her family. One, or all of them, is destined to be the next victim, and tonight is the night. Rachel and her husband, Dave, try to prepare for the onslaught. Little do they know that sharp knives and loaded rifles cannot protect them.

    Sheriff Phil Wise revisits the murder sites and struggles to make sense of the mayhem that occur at each, when “…all explanations seemed stranger than the crime scene itself…” Beatricia, Rachel’s mother, senses the truth, and her revelations help keep the reader engaged.

    The frequency of multiple motifs, e.g., the unexplained smell of burnt wood, levitation of furniture, dis- and re-appearance of objects, random cold spots, and intermittent cessation of normal sound can work to distract the reader. Inconsistencies within the narrative, such as a kitchen floor that is described as linoleum, then tile, and then linoleum in the span of two pages, a discordant timeline of the murders, and a geographic site for one of the serial murders that contradicts the described pattern, detract from the storyline. However, Passover’s plot has “good bones,” and those who enjoy the genre will devour this work. The well-developed character of Beatricia, Rachel’s mother, goes a long way in helping maintain reader engagement.

    Beatricia is not only a learned scholar but also a gifted medium, who views the horrendous events through the lens of spirituality. It is only after she enters the investigation with Lev, a Jewish apostate, that those old truths begin to reveal themselves, and the pieces begin to coalesce. Rachel must acknowledge and utilize her innate psychic abilities if they are to defeat the evil supernatural forces that surround and threaten them.

    “Passover” by Aphrodite Anagnost and Robert P. Arthur takes the reader to a universe where the mundane meets the mystical. Here, the power of “animal magnetism” enables the dead to reanimate and materialize, and a charming teen-aged ghost attempts to seduce Rachel’s adolescent son.

    In this altered reality, symbolism, echoes of ancient religions and myth, memories of age-old bondage, savage twentieth-century anti-Semitism, and ghosts and apparitions collide with everyday family conflict and strife. “Passover” is a paranormal mystery on steroids!

  • The CLUE Awards for Suspense/Thriller Fiction 2016 First Place Category Winners

    The CLUE Awards for Suspense/Thriller Fiction 2016 First Place Category Winners

    Thriller Suspense Fiction AwardThe 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.

     Congratulations to the 2016 CLUE Awards First In Category Award Winning Suspense/Thriller Fiction Novels:

    • Detective: A Matter of Justice by Keith Tittle
    • Private Eye/Noir: The Innocent Dead by Keith Dixon
    • Legal Thriller: Almost Mortal by Christopher Leibig
    • Suspense: The Sage Wind Blows Cold by Clint Hollingsworth
    • International Espionage: Epstein’s Pancake by Bjarne Rostaing
    • U.S. Political Thriller: Do Not Assume by Elaine Williams Crockett
    • Undercover Work: Behind The Mask by Dana Ridenour
    • Eco/Natural Resources Thriller: Seed of Control by Lawrence Verigin
    • Investigative: Striking Blind by Lonna Enox
    CLUE Award Winners: Dana Ridenour, Keith Tittle, Lawrence Verigin, Clint Hollingsworth, Elaine Williams Crockett, and Lonna Enox

    CONGRATULATIONS to  Keith Tittle author of the CLUE GRAND PRIZE winner — A Matter of Justice!

    The 2016 CLUE Short Listers competed for these First Place Category Positions. The CLUE First Place Category Award Winners’ novels have competed for the CLUE Grand Prize Award for the 2016 Suspense/Thriller Fiction Novels. These winners were announced and recognized at the annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala, Bellingham, Wash., on April 1st, 2017.

    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.

    Congratulations to those whose works made the CLUE Awards 2016 FINALISTS and SHORT-LISTERS lists.

    More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the 2017 Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Fifteen different genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.

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

    More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the 2017 Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Fifteen different  genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.

    More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

    Please note that Global Thrillers and Lab Lit fiction entries were moved to the newly offered Global Thrillers Awards 2017.