Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Mystery

Chanticleer Staff Picks Fav Reads – What are your current favs? We want to know!

What are your current favorite top 2 picks from the Chanticleer Collection?

Chanticleer Reviews Staff Picks are books reviewed by Chanticleer and selected by Chanticleer team members as their current favorite reads.

First up,we have picks from Lacey Longpré. Lacey began as an intern for Chanticleer several years ago while attending Western Washington University. She has since become a valuable asset to the team as a proofreader, helping to organize our annual conference, staff reviewer, administrative assistant, social media pixie, and community relations.

Lacey picked 2 titles from among our many reviews and tells us why she liked them.

Fragments of Your Soul by E.S. Erbsland

I’ve always been a fan of alternative worlds with mysterious creatures. Erbsland does a fantastic job of building the world Arvid Bergen is thrusted into; there are shapeshifters, runes, and a mysterious god who seems untrustworthy. The universe is really strange and brilliant, and the vivid description guided me through the plot and kept me wanting more. I can’t wait for the next book in The Mirror Worlds Series!!

Read the Chanticleer Review of Fragments of Your Soul.

Broken Places by Rachel Thompson

As an aspiring memorist, this narrative hit close to home for me. I’m not a sexual abuse survivor, but I can relate to using books and music as a way to escape from a problem, or if I just need to forget about my emotions. Books and writing have always been a safe place for me. The story is touching and courageous, and I felt a deep connection to the author as she took the reader through her journey of recovery. A beautiful narrative, highly recommended.

Read the Chanticleer Review of Broken Places.

Give your favorite author some booklove!

What are your current TWO favorite reads from the Chanticleer Collection?

Tag us on Twitter at @ChantiReviews or Facebook and tell us why they are your current favs: https://www.facebook.com/chantireviews/

We will promote the top ten favorite books from the Chanticleer Reviews Collection, along with their covers and book links, that received the most recommendations on Tuesday, July 19, 2016 and send the list out to our entire e-news subscriber list and post to our social media platforms!

Don’t delay! Anyone can tag her/his favorite current top picks–just be sure to tag us so that we can include your pick in the tally.

Twitter: @ChantiReviews

Facebook: Chanticleer Book Reviews

Hashtag #CBRfavs

June 28, 2016
THE BLEAK: a Sam Dyke Investigations, Book 4 by Keith Dixon

“The ninth rule of private detection states that you should never take on a client you think might be nuts. I wasn’t entirely convinced this was the case with the woman who’d called me that morning, but I was certainly tending that way.”

Sam Dyke is a private investigator whom you can’t help but enjoy getting to know. Readers will quickly get to understand Dyke’s character by his sharing of his detective tenets.

The case involves a distraught female named Margaret, who is deeply concerned over the recent behavior of her boss Nathan. Though apprehensive, Dyke takes on her case anyway even if it goes against his better judgement.

What unfolds is a fast-paced thriller based in England, specifically in Crewe, where a number of questionable suicides have taken place. One of these suicides turns out to be Margaret’s boss.

Dyke shares more of his detective axioms: “I’ve found that once I start a case it tends to move quickly. I hadn’t exactly started on this— whatever “it” turned out to be— but things still moved along at a click.”

Sam’s focus rests upon the research facility where Nathan worked. In fact, Sam is asked by the CEO of the company to look into Nathan’s death as well. This was not well received by some of the employees. “Why are you letting Dyke into all this? He’s a little toe-rag who shouldn’t be truffling around looking for something that he won’t find.”

Sam faces near silence and some pretty stiff push-back from some of those whom he interviews: “What do you think you’re going to find, exactly? What do you think people are going to tell you?”

Sam counters with “I won’t know until they tell me. That’s the way it is in this game. One minute, complete ignorance, the next, enlightenment. Private detection is almost a spiritual act.”

A real sense of danger and suspense culminates in some fairly intense moments for our main character. At times you are left wondering if Sam Dyke has taken on his last case.

When Sam interview’s Nathan’s wife, Isobel, what she tells him gives him grave reason for concern. “In the last eighteen months I watched my husband change from someone who enjoyed his life, enjoyed his work and enjoyed whatever spare time he had left to spend with me. He changed into someone whom I barely recognized. He didn’t eat well. He didn’t sleep well. He spent more time at the office than any sane man should.”

As the story progresses you learn of the bleak. Who or what is the bleak? You’re going to have to read this well-crafted detective tale to find out. Keith Dixon has given readers a thrill ride in this fast-paced story of hidden truths waiting to be discovered.

Keith Dixon’s winning protagonist is Sam Dyke; a gritty British detective who can take as well as give. Fans of hard-boiled detective series are going to revel in following the cases of Sam Dyke, Investigations.

June 2, 2016
GREY DAZE: a Lance Underphal Mystery by Michael Allan Scott

Disturbed by psychic powers and whisperings from his dead wife Sonja, freelance photographer Lance Underphal finds himself caught in a web of evil.

When Lance’s lady friend Callie asks him to investigate the disappearance of her reclusive uncle, he and Jake Jacobs, a PI and former Navy SEAL, are on it. What seems like the natural death of a lonely old man reveals itself as murder. As Jake tracks the suspects, he discovers a pattern leading to government corruption at the highest levels—drug dealing and gun running involving biker gangs and the U.S. Dept. of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Lance is jailed, arrested on felony charges for Sonja’s death, all the while plagued with paranormal visions of the murderer. Hit from all sides, he suffers a heart attack.

Sonja’s ethereal guidance and Lance’s innate toughness put him back on track, and after he and Jake deal with everything from a shyster lawyer to a drug-addicted killer to a biker gang covertly supplied weapons by the ATF, the story could be over. But further psychic insights into a cache of stolen gold and murdered souls crying for release force Lance and crew to press on.

The third in the Lance Underphal Mystery series by Michael Allan Scott, Grey Daze dishes out action on every page. Scott clearly loves language and uses it deftly, depicting vicious battles to the death, steamy sex, and disgusting doings in a drug dealer’s den with equal zest and a refreshing absence of four-letter words. He has created credible, multi-dimensional characters, using them as glue for his sudden scene switches and dizzying plot twists.

Lance is an empathic anti-hero beset by middle-age aches and angst; Callie has her own sixth sense and is poised to accept a new romance; Sonja contributes unearthly messages ranging from wise, to wifely, to downright spicy; Jake is half muscle, half guts, and all heart. The circle is completed by a huge but affectionate pooch rescued from a life of crime.

This murder mystery/thriller, based on real events (as per the author), is layered with plot twists and alarmingly vivid details, along with voices of the dead and visions of imminent peril, make Grey Daze an action-packed page turner. It is sure to please already entrenched Underphal fans and draw new ones to the fold. Highly recommended for thriller/suspense fans.

June 2, 2016
The Official List of the Chanticleer 2015 Grand Prize Winners of the Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions

We are excited and honored to have announced the 2015 grand prize award winners at the third annual Chanticleer Authors Conference’s Awards Banquet held on Saturday, April. 30th, 2016 at the Hotel Bellwether by beautiful Bellingham Bay, Wash.

We want to thank all of those who entered and participated in the fiercely competitive 2015 Chanticleer International Writing Competitions.

Our next Awards Banquet will be held on April 1st, 2017, for the 2016 winners. Enter your book or manuscript in a contest today!

CBR– Discovering Today’s Best Books with the CBR BLUE RIBBON Writing Competitions!

The Chanticleer Grand Prize Award 2015 for Overall Best Book:

Daughter of Destiny by Nicole Evelina was awarded the Chanticleer Overall Grand Prize for the Best Book in the 2015 Chanticleer International Writing Competitions. Congratulations to author Nicole Evelina.

The Chanticleer Genre Grand Prize 2015 Winners are as follows:

The Cygnus Grand Prize for SciFi and Fantasy Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Great Symmetry
by James Wells

View Cygnus Category 1st Place Winners

The Journey Grand Prize Ribbon for Narrative Non-fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Rhythm for Sale
by Grant Harper Reid

View Journey Category 1st Place Winners

The M&M Grand Prize Ribbon for Mystery & Mayhem Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

There’s Something About Marty
by Wendy Delaney

View Mystery & Mayhem Category 1st Place Winners

The Dante Rossetti Grand Prize Ribbon for YA Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Girl and the Clockwork Cat
by Nikki McCormack

View Dante Rossetti Category 1st Place Winners

The Chaucer Grand Prize Ribbon for Historical Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Valhalla Revealed
by Robert A Wright

View Chaucer Category 1st Place Winners

The Laramie Grand Prize Ribbon for Western, Pioneer, Civil War Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Doctor Kinney’s Housekeeper
by Sara Dahmen

View Laramie Category 1st Place Winners

The Chatelaine Grand Prize Ribbon for Women’s Fiction and Romantic Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Daughter of Destiny
by Nicole Evelina

View Chatelaine Category 1st Place Winners

The CLUE Grand Prize Ribbon for Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

Blood Relations
by Lonna Enox

View CLUE Category 1st Place Winners

The Paranormal Grand Prize Ribbon for Paranormal/Supernatural Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Aurora Affair
by Carolyn Haley

View Paranormal Category 1st Place Winners

The Somerset Grand Prize Ribbon for Literary, Contemporary, & Mainstream Fiction 2015 was awarded to:

The Alexandrite
by Richard Lenz

View Somerset Category 1st Place Winners

Now this is something to CROW about!

Enter Your Book or Manuscript in a contest!

Please note that the above awards are for submissions that we received in 2015. The award winners were acknowledge at the 2016 annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 30th, 2016.

The winners of the 2016 Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions (works entered in 2016) will be recognized at the 2017 Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Banquet held April 1st, 2017. Reserve your spot now.

We invite you to read the Chanticleer editorial book reviews of these stellar works. The reviews will be published on our website and in the Chanticleer Reviews online magazine. If they are not currently posted, they will be posted as they are reviewed! Congratulations, again, to these award winning authors!

For more information about the Chanticleer International Writing Competitions, please visit our Writing Contests pages.

We are currently accepting 2016 and 2017 contest entries: CBR International Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.

We would like to thank our sponsors who make the Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions and the Chanticleer Authors Conference possible.

May 2, 2016
DREAM of a VAST BLUE CAVERN by Selah J Tay-Song – Book 1 of a new epic fantasy series

In a wondrous world where a frost-covered region is contrasted with a sultry realm of lava and fire, the forces of cold are threatened by armies of flame, and a princess must stand between them.

New fantasy novelist Selah J. Tay-Song has created a unique landscape where exotic beasts—hippoles, chirats, and slinks—roam the tundras and lava rivers of two opposing continents: Isklaon, inhabited by the Icers, and Chraun, the kingdom of the Flames.

Their territories are connected by underground tunnels, and both the Icers and the Flames derive subtle energies from the T’Jas, a kind of vibrational wave that emanates from extremes of cold and heat. Flames are protected by a layer of lava mesh on their skin, Icers by vaerce, a crackling blue glow. Humans, known as Semija, are kept as servants in this fantasy universe.

Stasia, an Icer princess, has been having dreams, the first person of her generation to be so gifted. She is haunted by visions of the legendary blue cavern of V’lthurst (“land of dangerous beauty”), and, certain her that dreams are always prophetic, she is convinced that she can and will find it.

But she and her sister princesses will first have to deal with Flame King Dynat, whose goal is to reduce Iskalon to a cinder. Aided by her friend and healer Larc and her guardian Glace, Stasia begins exploring the tunnel that links her icy home to Dynat’s fiery kingdom, even as he attempts to destroy her country in a horrific blaze.

Constructed in episodes told from the many character’s viewpoints, Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern projects a seamless, mythic atmosphere.

The author has invented imaginative fantasy names and terms that sometimes veer close to earthly language (“egla”, like “igloo”, for house), and has appended a helpful glossary and a list of Icer and Flame military ranks. It is a difficult task to keep so many threads of plot running concurrently, but the reader will soon feel comfortably immersed, because Tay-Song is a skillful storyteller and because at its core, her story is logical and consistent.

Tay-Song planned this book as the first in a series (Dreams of Qai Maj) with alluring mysteries at the end needing resolution.

Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern is a stirring saga featuring an ice princess with a warm heart, at war with a cold, heartless flame king in a shimmering world of crystal frost and blazing lakes.

March 24, 2016
DEADLY THYME by R.L. Nolen — a British whodunit psychological thriller

A little girl is missing, but her mother is reluctant to talk to the police detectives who can help find her, leaving a twisted psychopath free to terrorize a Cornwall village with increasingly bloody deeds.

Ten-year-old Annie Butler goes seashell gathering one Sunday morning and does not return. Her mother, Ruth, is fearful of reporting Annie missing to British law enforcement because of her own dark past. The fear of the possible fate of her missing daughter overrides any of Ruth’s own fears.

Once Ruth levels with the police, she enlists the sympathy of Inspector Jon Graham, who has come to Cornwall on an entirely different assignment—to find out if corruption is the reason why the local police chief has suddenly come into a large sum of money. The search for Annie moves agonizingly slowly for her mother.

The novel unfolds in stages, introducing Annie as a brave little soul and her mother as loving, but embattled. Ruth is convinced her own dark past has caught up with her. The locals include a steely-eyed police chief with a heart of gold and a bank account to match, and a plodding, plump but persistent cop who complains humorously about “Her Indoors” (his wife).

Several people emerge as suspects in the kidnapping of Annie, even the aforementioned plodding policeman on whose property (a rundown trailer) visiting Inspector Jon Graham is staying in while on his assignment.

Technology plays a vital role in the case, leading ultimately to an eerily recognizable shadow on a video. There are brief vignettes of the perpetrator, showing how deep into madness and sadism he has sunk; of Annie bravely trying to figure out how to send a secret message to her mother; and of Ruth herself, as she deals with her deepest dread.

This is Rebecca Nolen’s second full-length mystery novel, and she writes dialogue like an old hand. She has mastered both the nuances of British English, including some rustic dialects, and the laid back American drawl of Ruth and her fresh-off-the-plane-from-Texas mother.

The setting, a quaint West Country village in Cornwall by the swirling sea with high cliffs aplenty for falling off, is almost a character in itself. Offering a plethora of red herrings to confuse even the most diligent mystery buff, Nolen’s engrossing complex storyline throws two budding love affairs and some exceedingly ghoulish crimes into the mix into this suspenseful whodunit.

An intriguing British mystery with a slight Texas twang, Deadly Thyme is a psychological chiller with a myriad of plot twists, layered personalities, and at its center, one unusually clever, courageous little girl that will keep readers guessing to the very end.

March 23, 2016
The PARANORMAL Awards for Supernatural Fiction 2015 First Place Category Winners
The Paranormal Awards Writing Competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Paranormal and Supernatural Fiction. The Paranormal Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Writing Competitions.

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

Congratulations to the 2015 Paranormal Awards First In Category Award Winning Supernatural Fiction Novels:
- Young Adult: Shaila Patel – Soulmated
- Supernatural Powers -Romance: Carolyn Haley – The Aurora Affair
- Supernatural Powers: Paula Cappa – Greylock
- Romance: Diana Green – Bronze Fox
- Werewolves, Vampires, etc.: Kayla Hampton – The Assassin
- Legends & Lore: Gail Siler, PhD – Decoding the Butterfly Promise
- Fairy Tale, Fable, Myth: Sabina Khan – Realm of the Goddess
- Time Travel> Magic : Karen Musser Nortman – The Time Travel Trailer
- Time Travel> Gripping: Andy Kutler – The Other Side of Life
- D.L. Koontz – Edging through the Darkness
- Urban/Edgy: K. J. McPike – XODUS
- Historical: Michael Schmicker – The Witch of Napoli
- Gothic: K.C. Finn – The Book of Shade
- Contemporary Gothic: Linda Watkins – Return to Mateguas Island
- Ghosts: Aphrodite Anagnost & Robert P. Arthur – Passover
Honorable Mention
- Penny Page – Coven Corners
- Alex E. Carey – Earth’s Embrace
- Harry Steven Ackley – Our Lady of West 74th Street
More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The PARANORMAL First Place Category award winners will compete for the PARANORMAL Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Supernatural 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 2016 Paranormal Awards. The deadline is October 31, 2016. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the PARANORMAL 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 18, 2016
Contest Spotlight: March Madness brings “Mystery & Mayhem” to our Writing Competitions

[fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”0px” paddingright=”0px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]For some March Madness is basketball, for us at Chanticleer Reviews it’s that last minute rush, as Mystery Authors scramble to meet our March 31st deadline for the Mystery & Mayhem Awards (aka the M&M’s).

The M&M’s cozy mysteries is one of our favorite categories and we have many fond memories of amazing books and authors winning M&M’s. Some, like author Pamela Beason’s THE ONLY WITNESS–which answers the question: “What would happen if a signing gorilla was the only witness to a terrible crime?”–taking not just taking the M&M’s but also the top overall grand prize.

Pam is working on creating a dynasty as she won again with her sequel THE ONLY CLUE, taking the M&M Grand Prize for 2014. And for 2015 her RACE WITH DANGER is a contender in in our Dante Rossetti awards!

Our 2013 M&M Grand Prize winner Bernadette Pajer’s FATAL INDUCTION: A PROFESSOR BRADSHAW MYSTERY is another favorite here in the Chanticleer office. Revolving around a race to win an electrical engineering competition in Seattle 1901, the time of Tesla!

Bernadette has gone on to write four book in the series and we couldn’t be happier to see the witty and entertaining Professor Bradshaw continue his escapades of electrical engineering and solving mysteries with science.

Your book could earn a place in our M&M hall of fame for 2016.

All you have to do is enter.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”0px” paddingright=”0px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” class=”” id=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”transparent” class=”” id=””]What are the M&M’s?[/fusion_title][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”3_5″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]Our Mystery & Mayhem Awards are the Chanticleer Reviews search for the best cozy mystery fiction books of 2016!

We are looking for the best books featuring “mystery and mayhem”, amateur sleuthing, romantic suspense, light suspense, travel mystery, classic mystery, British cozy, hobby sleuths, senior sleuths, or historical mystery. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them. (For thriller, action suspense, detective, crime fiction see our Clue Awards).[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_size=”1px” border_color=”#606060″ border_style=”solid” padding=”10px” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]

Our Chanticleer Review Writing Contests feature more than $30,000.00 worth of cash and prizes each year!

~$1000 Overall Grand Prize Winner
~$2800 in Genre Grand Prizes
~$28,980 in reviews, prizes, and promotional opportunities awarded to Category Winners

[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”/services#!/Cozy-Mystery-Writing-Contests-Chanticleer-Book-Reviews/p/21521076/category=5193080″ color=”darkgray” size=”” type=”” shape=”” target=”_blank” title=”” gradient_colors=”|” gradient_hover_colors=”|” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”1px” shadow=”” icon=”” icon_position=”left” icon_divider=”no” modal=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”1″ alignment=”center” class=”” id=””]Enter Now![/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

March 8, 2016
First Place Category Winners for the 2015 Mystery & Mayhem Awards
The Mystery & Mayhem Awards writing competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Cozy Mysteries and Not-So-Cozy Mysteries. The Mystery & Mayhem Awards is a division of the Chanticleer Awards International Writing Competitions.

We are pleased to announce the 2015 M&M Awards Official First Place Category Winners. Good Luck to them as they compete for the 2015 M&M Grand Prize Award.
- Animal Mystery: Leighann Dobbs – Ghostly Paws
- Small Town Cozy Mystery: Cherie O’Boyle – Iced Tee
- Adventure: M. L. Rowland – Murder Off the Beaten Path
- Classic: Lonna Enox – Blood Relations
- Amateur Sleuth: Wendy Delaney – There’s Something About Marty
- Hobby/Profession: Nancy G. West – Fit to be Dead
- Humorous: Michele Lynn Seigfried – Community Affairs
- Historical (PNW): Jennifer Mueller – Murder Beside the Salish Sea
- Historical: Michael Scheffel – St. Louis Affair: The Adventures of Herbert Falken
- Blended Genre: Mark Vilela – The Long December
- Romance: Kate Vale – Crossing Paths
Honorable Mention:

E. M. Graham – St. Jude Without

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

The Mystery & Mayhem First Place Category award winners will compete for the Mystery & Mayhem Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Best Mystery 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 winners will receive an award package including a complimentary book review, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting entries into the 2016 M&M Awards. The deadline is March 31, 2016. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the M&M AWARDS 2015 FINALISTS 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 5, 2016
MAUI WIDOW WALTZ by JoAnn Bassett, a humorous cozy mystery

Nervous and demanding brides are nothing new to wedding planner, Pali Moon. She’s been in the business long enough to know how to calm nerves and cool tempers. But nothing in her skill set has prepared her for Lisa Marie Prescott, a spoiled, demanding uber-rich kid who insists on the “perfect” Valentine’s Day wedding. A wedding that comes with more than a few complications and one sticky little detail – the groom is missing and presumed dead.

Lisa Marie, however, insists that her fiancé, Brad, will show up on time. And if that fails, she has a back-up plan. GQ-handsome Kevin – Brad’s business partner – is going to stand proxy at the altar for Brad.

With bills piling up, her house in foreclosure and her business being pulled out from under her, Pali isn’t in a position to question the legality of Lisa Marie’s crazy plan. Or the fact that Lisa Marie expects a paparazzi-worthy ceremony complete with one thousand origami paper cranes in just nine days. Then Lisa Marie’s father, known as the “Godfather of Garbage,” shows up with a warning: he’ll focus his talent for making people disappear on Pali if she doesn’t deliver on her promise of the perfect wedding.

Pali’s desperate financial situation coupled with her strong sense of survival keeps her moving forward with arrangements for the big day. And with Lisa Marie’s demands escalating as her grip on reality crumbles, Pali is trapped in a no-win situation, struggling to keep the wedding-from-hell from turning into another Saint Valentine’s Day massacre.

In this highly entertaining first installment of the “Islands of Aloha” mystery series, author JoAnn Basset delivers a well-rounded cast of intriguing, eclectic characters. The author’s use of first-person narrative invites the reader into Pali’s inner circle, her “ohana” or “family” of caring friends that give the book a cozy, close-knit feeling of community. And with crazy Lisa Marie driving the runaway bridal train, the author provides a hilariously unique twist on the “Bridezilla” theme.

Wit and humor shine through the author’s savvy blending of endearing characters and incomparable island beauty. And with a fast-paced, cleverly-crafted plot, “Maui Widow Waltz” promises to be a hands-down favorite for cozy mystery enthusiasts!

February 18, 2016