Cozy Cat Press Receives Two First Place Awards in Chanticleer Book Review Contest

AURORA, Ill. - Aug. 4, 2015 - PRLog -- Patricia Rockwell, Publisher at Cozy Cat Press, announced today that two of the company’s recently-released titles have received Mystery and Mayhem First Place awards, from the Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competition for 2014.  The company’s two winners and their categories are:

Classic Cozy Mystery: Stephen Kaminski for DON’T CRY OVER SPILLED   MILK
Historical Cozy Mystery: Amy Beth Arkawy for DEAD SILENT

All Mystery and Mayhem First Place category winners will compete for the Mystery and Mayhem Awards Grand Prize at Chanticleer’s Authors Conference and Awards Gala which will take place in September of this year in Bellingham, WA. The frst place category winners will be recognized at the Awards Gala where the Grand Prize winner will be announced.

The Mystery and Mayhem Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of cozy mysteries and classic mysteries. The Mystery and Mayhem Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Writing Competitions.More than $25,000.00 dollars worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to Chanticleer 2014 writing competition winners.

Amy Arkawy’s historical cozy, DEAD SILENT, is an Eliza Gordon mystery. Here is the plot summary:  It's summertime, and in Goodship, New York, the living is anything but easy. Controversial radio shock jock Paul Hackett is found strangled to death with his headphone cord around his neck in the studio of local radio station WSHP. There's little evidence beyond the initials V.O.S. scrawled across the studio window in red lipstick and a list of suspects that could easily fill the Goodship phone book. And that's not all. Eliza Gordon, former soap star turned local soup aficionado and amateur sleuth and her pal and unwitting snooping partner radio DJ Midge Sumner must contend with in Dead Silent, the second in author Amy Beth Arkawy's Eliza Gordon Mystery series. The locals are also on edge thanks to the rumors rolling across The Goodship Grapevine, a new toxic gossip site, and bemused by flyers heeding folks to follow an enigmatic cult known as "The Quiet." Eliza's instincts have her searching for clues and connecting the mysteries together, but they also put a strain on her burgeoning romance with Tom Santini, Goodship's dishy police chief (who also happens to be her late husband's best friend). The sudden reappearance of her elusive playboy brother-in-law, Jonas Gordon, sparks unexpected feelings in Eliza and may hold the key to connecting the mysteries and solving Hackett's murder. Join Eliza Gordon and sidekick Midge Sumner as they embark on this intriguing and dangerous sleuthing escapade. Will they solve the mystery or wind up Dead Silent?

Stephen Kaminski’s classic cozy, DON’T CRY OVER KILLED MILK, is a Damon Lassard Dabbling Detective mystery. Here is the plot summary: Jeremiah Milk lived a life filled with emotional extremes. Amniotic band syndrome—a congenital condition—left his fingers and toes malformed. Ridiculed as a child, he became an adolescent hermit. As an adult, Jeremiah’s wounds healed when he landed a position as a park ranger and married a woman who loved him despite his physical appearance. But fate ripped his life to shreds when his wife and infant son died on the same night in separate calamities. Shortly thereafter, the tides turned once more as an act of Jeremiah’s ostensible benevolence translates into a financial boon. The book on Jeremiah’s life closes without mercy when he’s found murdered at Tripping Falls State Park. Damon Lassard—Hollydale’s loveable civic leader, amateur sleuth, and Jeremiah’s neighbor—springs into action. He’s obstructed by a prickly lieutenant, but wriggles information unknown to the police from a colorful bevy of suspects. Aided by his best friend Rebecca and his reluctant ally Detective Gerry Sloman, Damon engineers a deep dive into Jeremiah’s past to solve the crime. Along the way, Damon strengthens his relationship with the breathtaking Bethany Krims, cracks a local horticultural mystery, and tries in vain to tame his wickedly sarcastic mother. Join Damon Lassard in his latest adventure, Don’t Cry Over Killed Milk.

Cozy Cat Press is a small publishing house devoted to producing quality cozy mysteries.  The company is based in Aurora, Illinois, and has over forty authors in its catalogue with almost one hundred titles.  Readers can visit the Cozy Cat Press website at:  www.cozycatpress.com