Tag: psychological thriller

  • HIGH FLYING by Kaylin McFarren – Time Travel, Action/Adventure, Psychological Fiction

    HIGH FLYING by Kaylin McFarren – Time Travel, Action/Adventure, Psychological Fiction

    Stunt-pilot, 21-year-old Skylar Haines, honed by a childhood of adversity and trauma, is ambivalent about flying eight new maneuvers for which she’s had little preparation and no in-air practice. A lot could go wrong.

    Her father, a pilot, was killed in a plane crash before she was born, triggering her mother’s downward spiral into a life of booze, drugs, and prostitution. When Skylar was seven, her mother died. As an orphan, Skylar fell into the system until her grandfather stepped in — no bed of roses there. Although she emerged an independent, savvy, and street-smart survivor who’d learned to fly along the way, those painful memories of her youth are always fresh in her mind.

    Why had she agreed to fly in tandem with her mentor, Jake Brennen, for this performance? She might have said it was a lifelong dream. Or, that she did it out of love. Both would be true, but, of course, there is more…

    Before she realizes it, she’s flown into the bowels of a storm, loses radio contact with Jake, and struggles to keep her plane aloft. After a near miss with another aircraft, she regains radio contact. A stranger talks her down into a world before her time.

    Skylar uses everything she knows, and everything she’s learned to survive. Dylan Haines, who’s not yet her father, saves her, and she becomes entangled in his life in ways that stretch the imagination. He is caught in a web of danger and deceit destined to kill him. Skylar is tempted to intervene, but she knows his fate is set. Her father has to die, in order for her to live.

    Like a modern-day H.G. Wells, Kaylin McFarren’s High Flying, ventures boldly into the fourth dimension, where history is reimagined, and epiphanies come in three-dimensional, real time. This gritty, emotionally penetrating story, set in Nevada, that not only touches upon social concerns with roots in the past but reaches into the future. The characters have depth, and the dialogue is sparkling authenticity. Here’s a story where everyone has an agenda, there are more crooks than cops, and bullets fly with abandon. In other words, a deliciously twisted sci-fi mystery with plenty of danger and romance!

     

     

  • SUPPOSE: A Lillian Dove Mystery by D. J. Adamson – Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Female Lead

    SUPPOSE: A Lillian Dove Mystery by D. J. Adamson – Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Female Lead

    M&M Blue and Gold 1st Place Badge ImageIn this enticing second installment of D. J. Adamson’s Lillian Dove Mystery series, big city problems wind up in a small town in the Midwest threatening not only the safety and integrity of the community, but bringing imminent danger to the life of one woman who is just trying to move beyond her rocky past and navigate toward a more positive future.

    Trying to get your life back on track may be a little tricky when you’re a recovering alcoholic five years sober, and you’ve just inherited a house and the local AAA Discount Liquor Store. Here in Frytown, Iowa, Lillian Dove is clearly aware that “life has its ironies,” but she’s determined to make the best of recent circumstances. With her cat Bacardi, she’s been residing at her mother Dahlia’s condo in Lake’s Edge Senior Residential Complex, while the feisty woman is in a nearby convalescent home hell-bent on getting out.

    Lillian’s also been involved with the local Frytown Police Chief, a man she felt offered love and security, though unfortunately he also happens to be married. While sobriety and the unexpected new business acquisition have boosted her spirits, Lillian is haunted by the suicide of her best friend Cressie, a former addict who forced Lillian to face her own issues.

    Suddenly, Cressie’s onetime ne’er do well boyfriend is threatening to blackmail Lillian, claiming to have video proof that she was responsible for Cressie’s death. Lillian knows his demands are bogus, but when his dead body is discovered at the condo, she’s determined to uncover the truth and clear her own name.

    Within this well-crafted storyline, the murder investigation is linked to a border-crossing drug operation that stems from a multi-million-dollar Chicago firm, and a CEO involved in illegal money laundering. As Federal Agents and the local Police Department unite to catch the criminals, Lillian finds herself in harm’s way when she’s unwittingly dragged into the high-risk probe. From murder and a suspicious flash drive to vandalism, kidnapping, and surprise revelations, Lillian embarks on a winding, roller-coaster ride.

    For those unfamiliar with Adamson’s evolving mystery series, a passing mention of Lillian’s having been a prior witness to an arson case that resulted in near dire consequences for both Lillian and her mother, helps bring readers up to speed and also confirms Lillian’s seemingly magnetic draw to trouble.

    While chapter/segment titles indicate this story plays out over a short span of a few days, Adamson broadens the platform with a full range of characters and action. From the local mayor being accused of bigamy and a dispatch operator who equates to “Town Gossipedia”, to the ghost of Lillian’s benefactor assuring her that “everything will be fine” and the pirate-costumed nurse just trying to keep the ornery senior patients in line, all add engaging humor and lightness to the narrative in contrast with the greater tension and drama.

    Like all good mysteries, Adamson creates a tale riddled with questions. Intertwined with bantering dialogue and heated conversations, Lillian’s self-imposed ponderings about recent events help draw us into the heart and mind of the central character. As a soul-searching individual coming to grips with the past, Lillian’s dream states offer a glimpse of her lost childhood and her fractured life. Adamson clearly has an eye for detail. Whether exposed in the sharp visuals of a crime scene, or revealed in the aromatic constants of a nursing home environment perfumed by the fragrance of “urine, unwashed bodies, and the Wednesday night meatloaf special,” the writing paints a colorful, and vivid picture.

    Through the character of Lillian Dove, readers are introduced to a flawed, but tenacious female heroine who is genuinely likable. Suppose is a mystery filled with small-town heart, yet big city edge, unexpected excitement, and a touch of humor. Together they prove a smart, and winning combination.

    Suppose won First Place in the  2017 CIBA M&M Awards!

     

  • BEYOND CONTROL by Lawrence Verigin – Eco-Thriller, Spies & Politics, Thriller/Suspense

    BEYOND CONTROL by Lawrence Verigin – Eco-Thriller, Spies & Politics, Thriller/Suspense

    Now we reap the bitter consequences of what was diabolically sown in the first two books in the award-winning, exciting Dark Seed trilogy. In author Lawrence Verigin’s third book, the agents of The Club have implemented their evil plan and drive forward in complete denial of the unintended consequences that are now Beyond Control and threaten all human life on earth. Can these perils be stopped and reversed? Nick Barnes and his team have been left discredited and seemingly powerless to vanquish the dark forces behind this ecological thriller.

    Nick Barnes finds himself victim to his own circumstances that are now also Beyond Control. At the start of this book, he struggles against convincing evidence that cleverly frames him for a serious crime, landing him in jail.

    The twisting tale turns as the enemy runs its ominous empire unchecked. There is no guarantee that Nick’s plan will work, yet as the group sets out to track the evil conspirators across the globe, tragic environmental dangers loom on the horizon. The Club follows the trail of chaos left in the wake of the enemy and are able to understand the global catastrophic events that will ensue if the evildoers cannot be stopped. However, not everyone is able to see the truth in what these few see. Denial is powerful and feels safer than the dire truth Nick and his companions offer.

    In fact, the members of the Club see the lethal dangers growing quickly because their foes’ inexcusable misuse of the science they are now wielding without understanding and without conscience. It’s up to Nick and his band to act, but their fight is against deluded fanatics, and in such fights, painful losses are inevitable. Is a final showdown with The Club something Nick’s group can win?

    Author Lawrence Verigin writes to entertain while bringing attention to socially relevant subjects. His research into agricultural science is impressive, seamlessly weaving information into the narrative of the story, giving readers a satisfying and captivating set of novels.

    Beyond Control is a fight to save the earth’s population from the seeds of devastation. It’s a thrilling portrait of our hero’s will to treasure life. However, Nick is up against a completely different worldview, and the stakes in this venture are high. Against him, greed is being led by a brutally selfish, power-hungry adversary who coldly explains his evil actions as justification being in the eye of the beholder.

  • CATARI: A Novella by Karl G. Larew – Mystery, Psychological, Literary

    CATARI: A Novella by Karl G. Larew – Mystery, Psychological, Literary

    Maxwell Roux introduces us to his story with a Prologue, beginning with a minds-eye picture of a grand house in New Orleans. It is a soft, blossom-scented spring evening. From his hiding place behind a tree, he sees Catari step out on the wrought-iron balcony, fan in hand. Her gown is unbuttoned at the top, revealing her pale complexion glowing in the moonlight, contrasted by her dark-brown eyes and hair. Max had flown down from New York late that afternoon to surprise her, but he chooses to enjoy her beauty from the solitude of the dark garden for a moment before their blissful reunion ensues—marred only by the unpleasant gaze of her step-father.

    This sketch is now a memory of what had been a happy engagement—until Max unforgivably accused Catari of having an ungrateful heart, as Enrico Caruso sang of in “Core n’grato,” a song both of them knew and loved.

    The story begins when Max is called to another grand house, in Fontano, Italy, the home of Catari’s beloved Gran’papa, Il Barone di Fontano. He hears the Requiem Mass sung by a local choir at the funeral of his beloved Catari—only 27 years old—and sees her casket placed in the Fontano Crypt on the grounds of the family villa. It is there that he hears the gossip that Catari was drunk when she fell into the pool at 2:00 AM, as well as the comment by her step-father, Hugh Fontane, that Max, as nothing but an “ex-boyfriend,” has no right to be present. But the Baron had invited him to come, and then to stay at the villa. Later that evening, he and Max talk as friends about their beloved Catari. Max had visited the villa with her several times, and the two men like and trust each other. Finally, fatigue sends them to bed—Max in the room where he had slept before.

    Max awakes at 2:00 AM, somehow urged to go to the pool. He senses Catari’s presence and hears her voice, “I did not want to die. I did not want to die like this.” He hears his own voice, “I’ll find out…how and why, Catari.”

    Thus is this sad love story transformed into a murder mystery, its solution sought by Max, Darlene (Catari’s close friend), and the Baron. Larew’s tale is filled with family history, dating back to the Fontane brothers who fought in Napoleon’s Army in the conquest of Lombardy and were rewarded with the land on which the villa stands; the Fontano brothers who served in the Italian Resistance during WWII; and the Fontano family’s current history in the making. The Three Musketeers, as they decide to call themselves, question the servants and several villagers and search the property inside and out. They engage the help of the family doctor, who had examined the body and found a lesion on the back of Catari’s head. The doctor does not believe that she was drunk. They work with the Chief of Police, who is intrigued when he learns about the pilfering activities of the servants.

    As he has done in previous books of greatly different natures—their characters ranging from WWII military families to Good and Bad vampires—Karl Larew skillfully brings his characters to life. In Catari, he artfully draws not just their natures, but oddities of their physical features, speech, and movement, such as town gossip Madame Cavalli, who finally runs out of words, and the rude and overbearing Hugh Fontane, bursting into the villa declaring that he will have the Baron declared incompetent, thereby revealing his own incompetence. Larew’s knowledge of military history stands him in good stead, as well.

    Max fulfills the poolside promise he made to the ghost of Catari, to “find out…how and why,” but I won’t spoil the how and why for the reader. Nor will I tell you what happens to the Three Musketeers. I’ll say only that, for many reasons, this book offers a good read.

     

  • GLOBAL THRILLERS Sharing NOVEMBER SPOTLIGHT! – Writing Competition, Thrillers/Suspense, Int’l Mystery & Crime

    GLOBAL THRILLERS Sharing NOVEMBER SPOTLIGHT! – Writing Competition, Thrillers/Suspense, Int’l Mystery & Crime

    Scene:  President James Marshall (played by Harrison Ford) “Get off my plane!” —  Air Force One (the 1997 film).

    Now just imagine…

    The President’s motorcade is stopped by a mob dressed in black wearing Guy Fox masks. The leader jumps onto the limousine’s hood and exposes an explosive-loaded torso with a pressure release in his hand. He starts counting down from five. From out of nowhere, Spiderman swoops down, shoots a web around the assailant’s fist and takes him out. But now, the rest of the Guy Foxes reveal their explosive-ready torsos…

    ~~~

     

    An international human trafficking consortium is meeting in Belguim and you get wind of it. It’s your job to capture as many individuals as possible,  but you can’t kill them because any one of them may know the whereabouts of a group of children taken from a school bus in Maine. Your six-year-old daughter was on that bus…

    ~~~

    Welcome to the Global Thrillers Awards, a category of literature where life as we know it hangs in the balance – and when bad things happen, the fallout is global. 

    We’re talking James Bond-worthy.

     

    We’re talking it’s time to call in the X-Men and X-Women.

     

    We’re talking about Global Thrillers!

     

    This is the category for Science Fiction that is set – or really could be set in our understanding of how things work. This is called “Lab Lit” in the industry. Even Star Wars and Star Trek are good examples because Global Thrillers covers Science Fiction and BIG Storytelling, EPIC Storytelling.

    Here are what we are looking for: 

    Photo by Huie Dinwiddie from Pexels

    stories that rock us right out of our seats, where the suspense is so strong we cannot put the book down. Something that will have us saying these lines to our poor hungry families,  “Dinner? Are you crazy? The world is about to end in the next chapter!”

     

    Thrill us. Chill us. Make us believers in your masterpiece or published novel. We read every single submission that is sent in and we relish in the good stuff.

     

     

    International Bestselling Thriller author J.D. Barker (aka Master of Suspense) to present at CAC19. 

    Our Global Thriller Book Awards categories are:

    So, does your thriller have what it takes?

    Find out by entering the GLOBAL THRILLER AWARDS because time is running out!

     

    The deadline for submissions the  GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards  is

    November 30, 2018.

     

     


    We are honored to recognize the  Global Thrillers Book Awards Hall of Fame Grand Prize winners!

    The Ariadne Connection by Sara Stamey took home the 2017 Grand Prize for the GLOBAL THRILLERs Book Awards.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The Ariadne Connection by Sara Stamey

    As radical climate swings, drought, famine, flood, and pestilence take on Biblical proportion, deep inside the earth’s core, a violent shift of its geomagnetic poles – a shift paired with cataclysmic seismic activity commences. With planetary life headed for extinction, mankind reaches out to its “gods,” both secular and non-secular, for salvation. At the same time whisperings on the NeuroLink claim that there is a savior among them—Saint Ariadne.


    Global Thriller Winners Lawrence Verigin & Sara Stamey

     

    Because the GLOBAL THRILLER Awards is a new division in the CIBAs, we also recognize the following kicking novels that won their category in the 2017 Global Thrillers Awards: 

    • The Han Agent by Amy Rogers
    • What They Don’t Know by K.V. Scruggs
    • Stormfront by James Tacy Cozad
    • Seed of Control by Lawrence Verigin
    • The Kafir Project by Lee Burvine

     


    Here are some winners that came before: 

    From the 2016 CLUE Awards:

     


    From the 2015 CLUE Awards:

    • Blended Genre: Timothy S. Johnston – The Tanner Sequence: The FurnaceThe Freezer, The Void
    • Espionage/Spy: Michele Daniel  The Red Circle

    We also had Cybertech Thrillers and Political Thrillers such as John Trudel’s Raven’s Resurrection and the Raven’s Series.

    Now you know why we had to add the GLOBAL THRILLERS division to the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs). 

    The Global Thriller Awards ~ Thriller and Lab Lit Fiction Novel Writing Contest ~2018
    The search for 2018’s best Thriller & Suspense Fiction Books

    Deadline November 30, 2018

    Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring suspense, thrilling stories that put the balance of world power or that will end the world as we know it. We include with Global Thrillers the Lab Lit genre. Lab Lit is when Fiction Meets Real Science and Research or stories that are based on real science and research up to a certain “what if” point.

    Examples from www.LabLit.com:

    • Enigma by Robert Harris; A brilliant mathematician struggles to crack German codes in the second world war. Historical Fiction
    • The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch; A budding marine biologist has an unforgettable summer.
    • Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis; A scientist/medic leans the hard way that pure research is nobler – and cures plague in the process.

    GLOBAL Thriller examples:

    • Best examples of these are James Bond books, X-Men, Tom Clancy novels, and Star Wars/Star Trek where humankind is at stake or the planet is doomed.

    (For light-hearted, cozy, or classic Mystery and Suspense entries see our Mystery & Mayhem Awards and for Thriller/Suspense/Hardboiled-Detective series, please see the CLUE Awards)

    Don’t delay! Enter today!

    Tick Tock…

     

  • Master of Suspense, J.D. Barker, to Keynote and Present at Chanticleer Authors Conference 2019

    Master of Suspense, J.D. Barker, to Keynote and Present at Chanticleer Authors Conference 2019

    Welcome to STORYTELLERS and STORY MAKERS!

    The 2019 Chanticleer Authors Conference

     

    This year J.D. BARKER, MASTER of SUSPENSE,  is coming to CAC19 as a keynote speaker and workshop presenter. We are THRILLED! 

    J.D. Barker successfully published his debut novel as an indie and sold enough copies to land on the radar of the traditional publishers in a BIG way including seven-figure advances, two feature films, and a television program.

    J.D. Barker:  International Bestselling Author whose works incorporate elements of horror, crime, mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural…

    J.D. Barker is the internationally best-selling author of THE FOURTH MONKEY and FORSAKEN. As a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award and winner of the New Apple Medalist Award, his work has been compared to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Thomas Harris.

    His third novel, THE FIFTH TO DIE, released in June 2018.

    He has been asked by the Stoker family to co-author the forthcoming prequel to DRACULA due out in fall 2018. His novels have been translated into numerous languages and optioned for both film and television. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We first met JD in New York at the Writers Digest Conference this past August. Clearly thrilled to hear about Dracul, we were also quite impressed with Mr. Barker himself. He struck us as professional (serious), engaging (doesn’t take himself too seriously), and approachable (willing to share what he knows about writing with those who are working hard on their own craft).

    In other words, JD Barker is a #SeriousAuthor who, when asked to join us at CAC19, not only did he graciously accept, but said to count him info all 3 days!  April cannot come soon enough for us because we cannot wait for you to meet him.

     

    Below are a few samples of J.D. sessions for #SeriousAuthors.

    MAKING THE LEAP FROM INDIE TO TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING 

    J.D. Barker successfully published his debut as an indie and sold enough copies to land on the radar of the traditional publishers in a BIG way including seven-figure advances, two feature films, and a television program.

    He’ll open his toolbox and explain exactly what he did to make it happen.  His sessions are not to be missed by any aspiring author or seasoned veteran trying to find their place in today’s publishing world.

    CROSSING GENRE and WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT! 

    From the moment you send out your first query letter, your work will be labeled by agents, publishers, and booksellers. Instead of resisting the urge to be labeled, J.D. will teach you why you should consider labels a way to make your books, and your author platform, more marketable.

    Learn how to avoid the genre box and tell the story you want to tell to the largest possible group with the help of J.D. Barker who has successfully crossed over from horror, to paranormal, to thriller, and back again.

    DID WE TELL YOU HOW EXCITED WE ARE THAT JD BARKER IS KEYNOTING at CAC!

    You’ll want to check out his website, but here is a little bit from his bio:

    While in college, one of his writing assignment found its way into the hands of Paul Gallotta of Circus Magazine. Gallotta reached out to Barker and asked him to join the staff of 25th Parallel Magazine where he worked alongside the man who would later become Marilyn Manson.  Assignments dropped him into the center of pop culture and by 1991 Barker branched out, interviewing celebrities for the likes of Seventeen, TeenBeat, and other national and local publications.

    In 1992, Barker syndicated a small newspaper column called Revealed which centered around the investigation of haunted places and supernatural occurrences. While he often cites these early endeavors as a crash course in tightening prose, his heart remained with fiction. He began work as a book doctor and ghostwriter shortly thereafter, helping others fine-tune their writing for publication. Barker has said this experience proved invaluable, teaching him what works and what doesn’t in today’s popular fiction. He would continue in this profession until 2012 when he wrote a novel of his own, titled Forsaken.

    Stephen King read portions of Forsaken prior to publication and granted Barker permission to utilize the character of Leland Gaunt of King’s Needful Things in the novel. Indie-published in late 2014, the book went on to hit several major milestones – #2 on Audible (Harper Lee with Go Set a Watchman held #1), #44 on Amazon U.S., #2 on Amazon Canada, and #22 on Amazon UK. Forsaken was also nominated for a Bram Stoker Award (Best Debut Novel) and won a handful of others including a New Apple Medalist Award.

    After reading Forsaken, Bram Stoker’s family reached out to Barker and asked him to co-author a prequel to Dracula utilizing Bram’s original notes and journals, much of which has never been made public. The novel, titled Dracul, sold at auction to G.P. Putnam & Sons, with film rights going to Paramount. Andy Muschietti (IT, Mama) is attached to direct.

    Barker’s initial indie success drew the attention of traditional agents and publishers and in early 2016 his debut thriller, The Fourth Monkey, sold in a series of pre-empts and auctions worldwide with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt set to publish in the U.S. and HarperCollins in the UK. The book has also sold for both film and television.

     

    Save the dates – April 26-26, 2019 – for 3 days that will change your life. #CAC19 #SeriousAuthors

    We have the perfect registration packet for you! 

     

     [Editor’s Note of Interest: Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), stage name was formed by combining and juxtaposing the names of two American pop cultural icons of the 1960s: actress Marilyn Monroe and criminal Charles Manson… Commentators have referred to the band’s lead singer as being one of the most iconic and controversial figures in heavy metal music, with some going so far as to call him a “pop culture icon.” Paste magazine said there were “few artists in the 90s as shocking as Marilyn Manson, the most famous of the shock-rockers.” – Wikipedia citing]

  • DEEP BLUE ETERNITY by Natasha Boyd – Supense, Romance, Contemporary

    DEEP BLUE ETERNITY by Natasha Boyd – Supense, Romance, Contemporary

    When two strangers meet on a small island, they quickly find their destinies intertwined in ways that are painful, and potentially passionate.

    Eighteen-year-old Olivia, or Livvy, steals a credit card and some meds from her parents and runs away from home – forever. She is carrying the key to a cottage on Daufuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina, where she intends to retreat.

    The cottage is an inheritance from her grandmother to Olivia and her sister Abby. Abby died tragically, and her memory continually haunts Livvy. To add to her problems, the cottage is already occupied. A young man named Tom has been in residence for quite some time. Forced to acknowledge that he has some claim to the place, Livvy accepts the arrangement, and she and Tom begin a strange, strained stand-off of tentative, suspicious acquaintance that very slowly morphs into a kind of trust that neither of them had anticipated.

    Interacting with the island folk and gradually piecing together bits of their shared past, Tom and Livvy creep towards romance. It’s no easy road; there are jealousies, misunderstandings and a fair share of subdued rage on both sides. To get to a sense of complete understanding, both must shed their anger, bitterness, and mistrust, and to come to grips with secrets from their shared past that threaten like storm clouds.

    Told from the separate, alternating perspectives of Olivia and Tom, Deep Blue Eternity casts light on two tormented souls. Livvy is flippant at times, at other times, almost immobilized by depression, while Tom vacillates between overly guarded and domineering. As they observe one another, the reader learns how burdened each one is, how much they long to exorcise their ghosts and find simple contentment.

    Award-winning author Boyd (Eversea) has constructed this psychological romance with admirable patience and skill. The reader sees Olivia and Tom interacting like two people learning to waltz, beginning with teetering missteps and embarrassing stumbles and fumbles, through some moments of shared confidence that quickly fade, until they are finally, gracefully moving as one. Though both are young and wounded, by the end of this engaging story, the reader feels that they have a chance for enduring love. Boyd has a gift for dialog and is comfortable with the setting, convincingly conveying the charms of Daufuskie and its inhabitants.

    Readers of intelligent, romantic fiction will be enthralled by this complex exploration of two people forced together by fate, trying to turn what could be a disaster into a lasting bond.

    Deep Blue Eternity by Natasha Boyd won 1st Place in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker

  • 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.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker

  • 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.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker