Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Mystery

Announcing the 2023 CIBAs Grand Prize Winners for Fiction!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) FICTION Division Grand Prize Winners!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few rise to be one of the coveted Division Grand Prize Winners.
- See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!
- See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!
This post has links to each of the 16 individual CIBA FICTION Divisions’ Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction Award Winners which will include the Shorts Awards, and the Series Awards’ winners.

All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 20th at the Chanticleer Banquet. It is a huge honor for us to have the opportunity to recognize all Finalists, First Place Winners, and Grand Prize Winners with you live and in-person!

One of the most memorable moments was Awarding Burl Harmon, a 100-year-old veteran, his First Place Ribbon for Military & Front Lines Non-Fiction

Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

Want to join in the fun? Submit to the 2024 CIBAs today!

Now, presenting the links to the 2023 CIBA Fiction Division Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction is:

The Shadow of War

By Timothy S. Johnston

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 OZMA Awards is:

A Vengeful Realm: The Scales of Balance, Book 1

By Tim Facciola

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 PARANORMAL Awards is:

Becoming Crone

By Lydia M. Hawke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is:

Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy

By Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CLUE Awards is:

The Other Murder

By Kevin G. Chapman

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Mystery & Mayhem Awards is:

A Haunting at Linley

by Michelle Cox

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 DANTE ROSSETTI Awards is:

Sour Flower

by Maryanne Melloan Woods

Manuscript

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GERTRUDE WARNER Awards is:

EXOSTAR

The Lost Space Treasure Series, Book 1

by Rae Knightly

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LITTLE PEEPS Awards is:

The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans

by Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover, and Jessica Alexanderson with Scrap University

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LARAMIE Awards is:

The Last Man

by Thomas Goodman

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHAUCER Awards is:

The Merchant from Sepharad

by James Hutson-Wiley

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GOETHE Awards is:

If Someday Comes

by David Calloway

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Hemingway Book Awards is:

The Silver Waterfall:

A Novel of the battle of Midway

by Kevin Miller

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:

A Sea of Glass

by Gail Avery Halverson

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 MARK TWAIN Awards is:

Quantum Consequence:

Physics, Lust and Greed, Book 5

by Mike Murphey

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 SOMERSET Awards is:

You Can’t Fool a Mermaid

by Judy Keesler Santamaria

We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

The 2023 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!

Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 CIBAs was Tim Facciola’s Book A Vengeful Realm: The Scales of Balance Book 1

The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!

See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!

You can see all our Amazing Finalists below:

2023 Fiction Finalists

2023 Non-Fiction Finalists

2023 Shorts and Series Finalists
Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in June. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
May 21, 2024
The 2023 CIBAs Grand Prize Winners for Fiction!
A Huge Congratulations to all of the 2023 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) FICTION Division Grand Prize Winners!

Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few rise to be one of the coveted Division Grand Prize Winners.
- See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!
- See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!
This post has links to each of the 16 individual CIBA FICTION Divisions’ Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction Award Winners which will include the Shorts Awards, and the Series Awards’ winners.

All First Place and Grand Prize winners were announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, April 20th at the Chanticleer Banquet. It is a huge honor for us to have the opportunity to recognize all Finalists, First Place Winners, and Grand Prize Winners with you live and in-person!

One of the most memorable moments was Awarding Burl Harmon, a 100-year-old veteran, his First Place Ribbon for Military & Front Lines Non-Fiction

Let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.

Want to join in the fun? Submit to the 2024 CIBAs today!

Now, presenting the links to the 2023 CIBA Fiction Division Awards Grand Prize Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CYGNUS Awards for Science Fiction is:

The Shadow of War

By Timothy S. Johnston

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 OZMA Awards is:

A Vengeful Realm: The Scales of Balance, Book 1

By Tim Facciola

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 PARANORMAL Awards is:

Becoming Crone

By Lydia M. Hawke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is:

Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy

By Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CLUE Awards is:

The Other Murder

By Kevin G. Chapman

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Mystery & Mayhem Awards is:

A Haunting at Linley

by Michelle Cox

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 DANTE ROSSETTI Awards is:

Sour Flower

by Maryanne Melloan Woods

Manuscript

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GERTRUDE WARNER Awards is:

EXOSTAR

The Lost Space Treasure Series, Book 1

by Rae Knightly

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LITTLE PEEPS Awards is:

The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans

by Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover, and Jessica Alexanderson with Scrap University

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 LARAMIE Awards is:

The Last Man

by Thomas Goodman

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHAUCER Awards is:

The Merchant from Sepharad

by James Hutson-Wiley

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 GOETHE Awards is:

If Someday Comes

by David Calloway

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 Hemingway Book Awards is:

The Silver Waterfall:

A Novel of the battle of Midway

by Kevin Miller

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CHATELAINE Book Awards is:

A Sea of Glass

by Gail Avery Halverson

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 MARK TWAIN Awards is:

Quantum Consequence:

Physics, Lust and Greed, Book 5

by Mike Murphey

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 SOMERSET Awards is:

You Can’t Fool a Mermaid

by Judy Keesler Santamaria

We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.

The 2023 CIBA Grand Prize Winners!

Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com

In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.

You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:

The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, Finalist, First Place, Division Grand Prize, or Overall Grand Prize Winner

Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.

Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.

The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2023 CIBAs was Tim Facciola’s Book A Vengeful Realm: The Scales of Balance Book 1

The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
See Non-Fiction, Series, and Shorts Grand Prize Winners here!

See the Official Overall Grand Prize winner Post here!

You can see all our Amazing Finalists below:

2023 Fiction Finalists

2023 Non-Fiction Finalists

2023 Shorts and Series Finalists
Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in June. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

The Chanticleer Team
May 9, 2024
The 2023 CLUE Book Awards WINNERS for Suspense/Thrillers
The Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Suspense and Thriller Mysteries. The Clue Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring suspense, thrilling adventure, detective work, private eye, police procedural, and crime-solving, we will put them to the test to discover the best! (For lighter-hearted Mystery and Classic Cozy Mysteries please check out our Mystery & Mayhem Awards, and for High Stakes Suspense Novels please check out our Global Thriller Awards).

1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners were announced at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony by D.D. Black on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

This is the OFFICIAL 2023 LIST of the CLUE BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the CLUE Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Kevin G. Chapman – The Other Murder
- Daniel V. Meier Jr. – Guidance to Death
- Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
- Michelle Cox – A Haunting at Linley
- Jode Millman – The Empty Kayak
- Raymond Paul Johnson – The Raven Society: Conspiracy Ignited
- Margaret Mizushima – Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 CLUE Awards is:

The Other Murder

By Kevin G. Chapman

You can see all of our amazing 2023 Clue Finalists! Congratulations to all and thank you for submitting!

Well done climbing the CIBA Levels of Achievement!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Facebook and Twitter handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in June. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. You will receive an OFFICIAL EMAIL NOTIFICATION with Digital Badges and more information.

NOTE: We will post at least two 2023 CIBA Divisions’ OFFICIAL Winners per business day starting April 24, 2024. We do a final sweep and reconciliation prior to making the Official CIBA Posts for the 2023 First Place and Grand Prize Winners. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. There are many moving parts involved with the Chanticleer International Book Awards Program.

Thank you for participating in the 2023 CIBAs! We are looking forward to reading your future entries.

Team Chanticleer
April 30, 2024
SUMMER LIGHTNING: Magic at Myers Beach Book 3 by Alan B. Gibson – Romance, Urban Fantasy, Mystery

In Summer Lightning, the third book in Alan B. Gibson’s Magic at Myers Beach series, fairy prince Alias shoulders the weight of his people’s prejudice, but also their very lives.

Someone has poisoned the natural reserves of fairy dust ingredients, lacing it with deadly iron. With many of his people already dead, and others terribly ill, King Theos relies on his younger brother Alias to devise the lost recipe with ingredients found at Myers Beach, a small human town. Alias helps house the sick in Myers Beach, and dedicates himself to his research, he loses much of his own comfort.

Alias lives with his boyfriend, Christophe, a hero of the Third Kingdom– one of his own kingdom’s allies. He and Christophe can walk together freely in the human world, still Alias must worry about how his people see their prince. And now, with so many fairy eyes in his little town, he can’t even hold Christophe’s hand in public without the danger of being found out.

As Alias worries about fairy eyes on him, humans catch sight of the mystical beings in their midst.

Though Alias has created a functional fairy dust with only some of the ingredients, it leaves his peoples’ magical disguises unreliable. When famed actress and Alias’s childhood teacher, Dame Gabor, is found in her true form by a little girl, a media frenzy unleashes on the small town.

Summer Lightning shines a satirical light on the fads of modern mass-media, with an online group, Friends of the Fairies, arriving in town to find evidence for their various blogs and podcasts. The story morphs from one of a fairy, to a small bird, to a seven-foot monster, all with opportunistic tour guides and business owners looking to cash in on the town’s tourists.

More pressing than even keeping the true fairies hidden, however, is figuring out who poisoned the original dust.

Calling back to earlier books in the series, Summer Lightning menaces the protagonists with hints of their old villain, a powerful and vengeful witch. But, more personally, Alias has to face the traumatic memories of his old tutor–from the days he spent growing up in the Third Kingdom. Though he’s certain he’s seen the last of the man, Györfi, who tried to molest him as a teenager and outed his forbidden relationship with the young Third King, Alias begins to discover possible connections between Györfi and the current trouble.

Alias’s emotional journey will pull readers in, with his struggle between responsibility, personal connections, and the shadows of the past.

His relationship with Christophe takes center stage as they deal with homophobia from both human and fairy society. Christophe tries to bridge the gap between them, but Alias doesn’t dare make his relationship public, especially with so much attention already on him as the only hope for his people’s survival. In this story, the word ‘fairy’ pulls double-duty, both as the name for Alias’s people, and one of the slurs thrown at him by bigots.

Summer Lightning doesn’t shy away from darker subject matter, and as the story continues, readers will delve deeper into Alias’s memories of the cruelty he’s suffered–all while his old traumas resurface in new and dangerous forms.

But he and Christophe aren’t alone, with characters like Dame Gabor standing as a staunch ally both to their relationship and Alias’s work. And though the fights between Alias and Christophe can feel a bit rushed, their connection remains heartwarming and empowering in the face of adversity.

With a well-balanced mixture of comedy, intrigue, drama, and satire, Summer Lightning brings these magical characters to major crossroads as they try to keep up with the sinister forces ensnaring their homelands.

April 29, 2024
THE ESMERALDA GOODBYE by Corey Lynn Fayman – Mystery, Crime Thriller, Police Procedural

In The Esmeralda Goodbye, Corey Lynn Fayman crafts a suspenseful crime story about a patrolman who becomes entangled in a criminal saga with stakes as high as his life.

The duty of investigating a suicide threat made by well-known author Raymond Chandler falls to Jake Stirling, one of the newest members of the San Diego Police Department. With a deft maneuver, Jake prevents Chandler from ending his life when he visits his apartment. This success fills Jake with excitement to make a name for himself in his new career as a police officer.

Months later, he’s called to investigate the theft of a diamond necklace from the Del Charro Hotel. Jake first questions a hopeful lead: J. Edgar, the FBI Director, who just so happened to be there during the raid. But though Jake plans to simply file a report so that detectives can be assigned to the case, he’s taken aback when the director encourages him to give up the case and concentrate his time elsewhere, such as assisting the decent, law-abiding citizens in the neighborhood. As he mulls over the director’s idea, a well-known name from the Creeper case— which had ruined his father, a police officer before his death— reappears.

Jake becomes engrossed in speculations about a piece of interest he took from Chandler’s house a few months earlier.

Moreover, he encounters a formidable investigative officer who is secretly working with a web of cartels. Jake’s life takes a drastic turn after a buddy passes away, and he quickly discovers that his independent demeanor has given his bosses cause for concern. Bearing down on him all the while, the Creeper case has turned its destructive attention from father to son.

Fayman has crafted a page-turner filled with drama, intrigue, and thrilling action that readers will find difficult to put down.

Starting with an unlikely sequence of events, the first chapters reveal unexpected motivations from unlikely individuals. A steady and regulated pace during the uncovering of the mystery keeps readers steeped in curiosity and ever-changing theories, with skillful distribution of clues. New information gradually comes to light through the interactions of real, multifaceted individuals, and a high degree of tension stretches from beginning to end.

“The Esmeralda Goodbye” is a masterpiece with excellent character development. Its remarkable tale and charming hero revel in the excess of 1950s Southern California atmospheres.

March 13, 2024
THE GHOST In The GARDEN by Alisse Lee Goldenberg – Mystery, Young Adult, Paranormal

In Alisse Goldberg’s engaging young adult mystery, The Ghost in the Garden, a curious 11-year-old must face the challenges of moving to a new city, losing old friends, making new ones, and encountering historic specters in her new home.

Sophie Madison seems none too happy about her recent move from the bustling city of Calgary, Ablerta to the smaller, quieter landscape of Stratford, Ontario. But upon arrival with her parents, she begins noticing the charm of the place, appearing like a step back in time. Their new house in particular catches her interest, with its tall turret topped by stained glass window panes where Sophie’s bedroom will be. In addition, the wild beauty of the backyard garden draws her in.

Soon, a mysterious blonde-headed girl named Tabitha appears in the garden.

As she gets to know Tabitha and faces abnormal happenings with her closet door, Sophie’s left on edge, with nightmares riddling her sleeping hours.

But with the help of her parents, some newfound friends, and Tabitha’s haunting journal from the attic of Sophie’s closet, Sophie comes to terms with the spirits of the past and gains a positive outlook for her future.

Author Goldenberg’s story is artfully centered around giving new people and places a chance.

With clear familiarity and care, Goldenberg and illustrator Hannah Al-shaer paint a beautiful and detailed backdrop of Stratford, a place one could easily grow to love. From the artsy vibe of murals in an area laced with parks, shops, and restaurants, to a fairy gate in the center of town, the place oozes picturesque charm.

An engaging cast of characters fills this colorful place, from Sophie’s loving and concerned parents to a friendly but quirky vegetarian lady who happens to be the Mom of Sophie’s new friend, Fitz. These two pre-teens enjoy an easy camaraderie, as Fitz introduces Sophie to the area, and the two join forces to investigate the strange happenings in Sophie’s room. A hip, young teacher with an interest in the town’s paranormal history compliments the mysterious storyline.

Conversation throughout the narrative is realistic and genuine, and text messages between Sophie and Fitz lend a modern-day flair.

Here the haunting theme of apparitions and spirits continues in present-day terms when Sophie appears to be “ghost” texted by her best friend back in Calgary. Perhaps an indication that friendships may not always withstand the miles.

Goldenberg weaves a stirring plot with enough questions and scares to keep readers invested, but not cowering.

Shredded doorframes, decapitated teddy bears, and dark entities with clawing hands likened to a “zombie, hag monster”, offer up just the right amount of chills and thrills.

For audiences both young and old who enjoy a ghostly mystery featuring relatable issues about settling into a new place, dealing with new people, and discovering things that go bump in the night, The Ghost in the Garden proves a venturous and entertaining literary move.

March 8, 2024
The 2023 CLUE Book Awards Finalists for Suspense/Thrillers
The Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Suspense and Thriller Mysteries. The Clue Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring suspense, thrilling adventure, detective work, private eye, police procedural, and crime-solving, we will put them to the test to discover the best! (For lighter-hearted Mystery and Classic Cozy Mysteries please check out our Mystery & Mayhem Awards, and for High Stakes Suspense Novels please check out our Global Thriller Awards).

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Clue Suspense/Thriller Fiction Semi-Finalists to the 2023 Clue Book Awards FINALISTS. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are the FINALISTS of the 2023 Clue Book Awards novel competition for Thriller/Suspense Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.
- Roxana Arama – Extreme Vetting: A Thriller
- Margaret Mizushima – Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery
- Joanne Jaytanie – Retrieving Remy, The Winters Sisters Book 5
- Chuck Morgan – Crime Scene, A Buck Taylor Novel
- Kevin G. Chapman – The Other Murder
- Corey Lynn Fayman – Gillespie Field Groove
- Paty Jager – Damning Firefly
- Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
- Joshua Cohen – Past Imperfect
- E. Alan Fleischauer – Sherlock and the Tiger
- J. Luke Bennecke – Echo from a Bayou
- Anne Moose – When You Read This I’ll Be Gone
- Mark James – Friendship Games
- Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
- Dave Lager – Sniper’s Day
- Daniel V. Meier Jr. – Guidance to Death
- Michelle Cox – A Haunting at Linley
- Jode Millman – The Empty Kayak
- Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor – River of Ashes
- Kamille Roach – Pine Creek
- Justin M. Kiska – Fact & Fiction
- Mike Van Horn – Controlled Flight
- Cathi Stoler – With A Twist: A Murder On The Rocks Mystery
- D. R. Berlin – The Third Estate: Secrets of the Manor
- Rita M Boehm – The Price of Revenge
- Philip Derrick – Saigon Spring
- Martha Crites – Danger to Others
- Raymond Paul Johnson – The Raven Society: Conspiracy Ignited
- Mary Keliikoa – Deceived
- Robert W. Smith – Long Way From Clare
- V. S. Anderson – Three Strides Out: A Horse Show Novel of Suspense
- Howard Berk and Peter Berk – TimeLock
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 CLUE Awards is:

Have You Seen Me?

By Alexandrea Weis

See the Full List of 2022 Clue Award Winners here!

The 2023 CLUE Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC24 on April 21, 2024. Save the date for CAC24, scheduled April 18-21, 2024, our 12-year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2023 CLUE Book Awards are open until the end of September. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

The Chanticleer Authors Conference

Featuring authors like D.D. Black, Kim Hornsby, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!
February 27, 2024
LIGHTEN The LOAD: Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail Book 2 by David Fitz-Gerald – Historical Fiction, Oregon Trail, Mystery

Once on a grand adventure to a new life with her husband and young family, Dorcas suddenly finds herself the sole shepherd for her children into the unknown, in David Fitz-Gerald’s historical fiction novel, Lighten the Load.

Owner of a fully loaded wagon, in a train of travelers on the truly wild western trail, Dorcas must give every decision her full attention. She faces immediate life-altering choices, some threatening her own safety and others putting her children at terrible risk. The expedition rolls forward over a mystery yet to be solved and an underlying paranormal mystique.

On this dangerous venture west, Dorcas is called upon often to help and comfort her fellow travelers. As she and her family face escalating dangers and devastating catastrophes, can she learn to Lighten the Load and accept help when she desperately needs it?

Dorcas and her children struggle to adjust to all they’ve faced since they left home.

This future was certainly her husband’s dream, but did she really share it? Dorcas and her family begin this episode of their lives where there is no sign of civilization other than the people of the wagon train where they’ve hitched their hopes. And as her oxen struggle to pull forward their heavy wagon, Dorcas debates if Oregon is still the best future for them. With all the deaths so far on the trail, will any of them even reach Oregon?

The leader of their caravan has concerns too, and offers a controversial solution. Dorcas is called to the campfire to meet a man willing to marry her. Though she embraces the romance, of her own choosing, her heart and thoughts weigh heavy on her. She takes responsibility for her children and the tragic circumstances of those around her: her new friend’s difficult pregnancy; those who are grieving; and others who are discouraged from pursuing their dreams. And always that push, rolling forward deeper into new territory.

The difficulties on the trail contrast with majestic views of the great outdoors, as well as the camaraderie, sacrifice, and friendship of those around Dorcas, and the vision of what could be.

There are surprises around every corner. A lingering mystery casts a shadow over the notorious lothario, Armand Bartholamieux. Clues begin to surface, and Dorcas seeks answers. All the while, she cares for her children, trying to teach them lessons of self-reliance. But her daughter Rose continues to be drawn towards a supernatural force. Dorcas worries and debates how to best help her daughter, until Rose disappears. And lurking in the shadows are the mysterious Viper and his brothers.

Hitch your team up for a memorable journey into the 1850 American West. Award-winning author David Fitz-Gerald skillfully guides readers through vivid descriptions of a setting filled with ever-changing extremes.

Lighten the Load will introduce you to fascinating characters who relentlessly continue their life’s journey toward destiny. Dorcas must learn how to move forward after all she’s faced, and if she can, she just might find Oregon, a bright future, and even blooming love.

February 21, 2024
THE BONES At POINT NO POINT: A Thomas Austin Crime Thriller Book 1 by D.D. Black – Mystery, Serial Killer Thriller, Pacific Northwest Fiction

The Bones at Point no Point, by D.D. Black, begins with a crime so distinctive that it could only have been committed by one person.

A festive Christmas bag, decorated with cheerful season’s trinkets, brings much darker tidings within. Bones. Small gleaming bones, tiny like those of a baby, including a skull. And they’re engraved with the words of a loving poem.

But that one possible suspect is safely locked up in prison 3,000 miles away. A copycat murder seems likely, but one with details only the convict herself could know.

Thomas Austin is a retired New York City cop who now lives in Washington State’s Puget Sound, running a combination general store, café, and bait shop. But even with the great distance, he’s haunted by one particular case.

The Holiday Baby Butcher, serial murderer Lorraine D’Antonia, remains in his mind. It wasn’t enough that Austin had to face the horror of her crimes. He also had to deal with the media circus that surrounded them.

He believes he can put the case behind him until a local police officer calls him about the new case, a duplicate down to the smallest details, that has just been committed locally.

At first, he tries to stay as far away from the crime as possible. But a nosy reporter bringing unwanted publicity to the case and Austin personally, and reports of a second infant abducted from a local hospital, force him to join the investigation.

As the local community shuts down for the Christmas season, Austin and a crew of local police officers begin a frantic search to find the second infant in time, and struggle to understand how this new killer committed such a perfect recreation of the old Butcher murders.

Throughout the story, Austin shows himself to be an engaging, complex character.

Austin’s reluctance and pained memories of New York– including his own wife’s murder– contrast his smart, intuitive skills as a cop. He quickly parses out new situations, whether he is conducting a suspect’s interview or figuring out how a specific crime was committed, with only the barest clues.

The Bones at Point No Point is the first in a series of Thomas Austin books, making a strong first impression for the series.

February 9, 2024
VETERANS KEY by Richard Bareford – WWI, Mystery, Historical, Thriller, Florida Keys, Political Intrigue

Veterans Key opens in 1935 as hundreds of derelict vets of the Great War are working in ramshackle government relief camps bridging a gap in the Overseas Highway connecting Key West with the mainland.

One hot August morning, two striking co-eds, Cindy and Ella, step off a train in Islamorada to be greeted with the crude cat-calls of beery veterans. What happens next is unexpected. Cindy singles out Fred, a soft-spoken, muscular vet drinking a Coke. He offers her a sip. She accepts, flirts, and invites him to her hotel in Key West for an amorous rendezvous.

Dealing love and betrayal in equal measure, the protagonists of Veterans Key embark on a course of events that will keep readers guessing.

Eager to meet Cindy, Fred has no inkling that he has in fact been chosen to participate in a carefully planned bank robbery in Havana, the results of which will have enormous consequences for everyone involved. But this pivotal event is barely an introduction to the riveting mystery that is Veterans Key, a serio-comic novel with moments of pathos, terror, and more twists and turns than a cottonmouth snake.

With fate and family tied together and wrapped tight in a web, Richard Bareford ensnares readers in this original story where nobody is quite who they seem.

Cindy’s brother Emilio is a Cuban revolutionary intent on avenging his torture by deposed General Machado’s secret police. Cindy’s father is a former official of the target bank and his knowledge of the contents of a certain safe deposit box is critical for the heist. Fred’s role is to play the patsy in the robbery and the investigation that will surely follow.

If everything had gone to plan, Fred would take the fall, while Emilio and the girls escape with the money, but in this highly original, picaresque novel, nothing goes to plan.

As the story unfolds, the characters’ various involvements with good guys and thugs, including the Cuban police, American FBI agents, Communists, Nazi spies, and mobsters from the Meyer Lansky gang make for a rich mix of deceptions, lies and misdirection. Ultimately Ella may be the most complex figure of them all, a 17-year-old German Jew living an impossible balancing act.

Bareford creates a vivid and compelling adventure by weaving the historical with the plausible.

The disdain of camp officials for the men in their charge and the devastating aftermath of the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane adds gravitas to the deceptively light tone throughout much of the book.

Veterans Key evokes other distinctive novels including The Horse’s Mouth and A Confederacy of Dunces, not for their story lines but for the originality of their thinking. Readers may appreciate the nods to Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not. There is no “predictable” here, only the sheer joy of an original work that commands your attention on its own terms. Highly recommended!

February 7, 2024