Recommend this book:

Murder at the Ocean Forest

Robert “Digger” Cartwright

2017 Finalist
374 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2017 Finalist
Murder At The Ocean Forest was recognized as a Finalist in the Readers Favorite Book Awards in 2015 and is rated 5 stars on Readers Favorite.
When Faye Underwood, a distraught young woman, disappears from the elegant Ocean Forest Hotel, Feltus Boone LaMont, the quintessential Southern hotel detective, is drawn into the emotional drama surrounding the guests. As Feltus conducts his investigation into Faye's apparent murder, her husband, Terence, is found murdered in their suite-with the door locked from the inside. This draws Feltus further into the intriguing web surrounding the Underwoods and their acquaintances-Lord and Lady Ashburn (a British couple on holiday), Ms. Elizabeth Bascomb (a blind clairvoyant), and Preacher Cooper (a devout man of the cloth). The intricate plot that stretches from Myrtle Beach to the battlefields of World War II unfolds as a very persistent Feltus eventually uncovers the skeletons in the closets of all his guests.

Recommend this book:

Christopher

James Huber

2017 Finalist
239 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2017 Finalist
This is a marvelous read.
James Huber’s writing style is inspired, I found myself unwilling to stop reading. The plot is complex and ingenious, you roll through the story in a controlled and masterful way.
The protagonist, Christopher, is a grand, complex and unforgettable character. Two of the characters are remarkable and feel so real to me after having read the book.
The story within a story is perfect for this book, and the framing with one of the characters telling the story is magnificent.

Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite.

Recommend this book:

Smoke From Small Fires

Anne Powers

2017 Honorable Mention
372 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2017 Honorable Mention
It's the 1950s. Picture Blackshale, Tennessee, with its home fires, small town ways, and postwar innocence - the perfect place for a girl to grow up. From her earliest days, an artistic spark has been smoldering in Anna Grace Tollett, and when the mountain turns dark and unnerving, creativity is all she has to weather the hard times. As an adult, she describes her art: It is about the rituals of our lives, we who live in the tribes of Appalachia, and the spook in the hollow, the voodoo of the mountains. In Smoke from Small Fires, happily off-tilt characters, bizarre events, and the gamut of human emotions stack up like a collage layered thick with compelling details. Rendered in visually rich prose, courageous Anna Grace and her quirky band of kin and friends rise above poignant trials that will color your mind's eye for a long time.

Recommend this book:

Murder on Moonshine Hill

Jenna Scali Book 2
Joan C. Curtis

2017 Bronze Medal
314 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2017 Bronze Medal
Murder on Moonshine Hill won the BRONZE in the 2017 Reader's Favorite awards for Southern Fiction and the SILVER 2017 Global eBook Awards.
When Jenna decides to go to a friend's wedding, she expects to dredge up old secrets and old hurts, and she expects to see people from her past, but she doesn't expect to stumble on a dead body.

Jenna's friend is arrested. The wedding is cancelled. And Jenna's tendency to stick her nose where it shouldn't be leads her into the path of the killer.

Set in the serene mountains of North Carolina Murder on Moonshine Hill is filled with suspense, humor, and a quirky cast of supporting characters.

Recommend this book:

The House of Dark Shadows

Digger Cartwright

2017 Silver Medal
436 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2017 Silver Medal
The House of Dark Shadows has received the following recognition: Winner of the silver medal in the Readers Favorite Book Awards 2015, winner of the USA Regional Excellence Book Awards 2015, Finalist in the Beverly Hills Book awards 2015, rated 5 stars on Readers Favorite.
Alex Rommel, a debonair Charleston playboy, isskeptical about online dating.  When heencounters an old college buddy by chance, he learns his friend has found loveover the internet.  Tormented by demonsfrom his past, a contentious land deal, the memories of the woman he loved, andhis sexually insatiable secretary, Alex wades into the shadowy world ofinternet dating only to find the woman of his dreams--a French freelancejournalist, Hope.  Just when he thinks hehas found true happiness, Alex's relationship takes a mysterious turn, and hefinds himself immersed in Hope's world--one plagued by a nagging mother, lies,and drama.  As pressures mount in therelationship and in his business dealings, Alex, torn between love and reality,finds himself questioning Hope's motivations.As the sinister web of deceit and danger slowly begins to envelop him,Alex frantically searches for the truth.Not knowing who to trust or believe, Alex finds himself trapped in ahouse of dark shadows. With time running out, Alex must summon the courage toface the truth before the doors close behind him and he is locked in the houseof dark shadows forever.

Recommend this book:

Facials Can Be Fatal

A Bad Hair Day Mystery
Nancy J. Cohen

2017 Gold Medal
286 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2017 Gold Medal
A wealthy socialite is found dead at a day spa in this killer cozy.

*Readers' Favorite Gold Medal Winner!

During the frenzy of the December holidays, the last thing salon owner Marla Vail needs is a dead body slathered in a green facial mask at her new day spa.The victim, Valerie Weston, had been a major donor for Friends of Old Florida, a nonprofit historic preservation society.Marla's stylists are scheduled to work backstage at their upcoming gala fashion show, but Val's demise might put a crimp in their plans.

Hoping to salvage her reputation, Marla determines to track down the suspects. Although Val had been well liked by most people, she may have stumbled onto secrets that others would kill to keep. What are the connections between a greedy land developer, a dress designer whose husband may have links to the Asian mob, a mortician who might be involved in the human hair trade, and members of the nonprofit group's board of directors? Are the latter as dedicated to their cause as they'd like Marla to believe, or do they have their own self-interests at heart?

Sparks are sure to fly when this smart stylist joins forces with her sexy detective husband to solve a decades-old mystery that includes a secret journal,pirate tales, and shipwrecks along the Florida coast. With the rollercoaster excitement, you might need a trip to the day spa to relax.

Recommend this book:

Dollar Signs

Texas Lady Lawyer vs Boots King, Texas Lady Lawyer Series Book 1
Manning Wolfe

2016 Bronze Medal
310 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2016 Bronze Medal
Austin attorney Merit Bridges represents a desperate client who takes a shortcut to justice and is charged with arson and murder. When Merit tries to set things right, she finds herself the target of a ruthless hired gun, Boots King, whose charge is simple: “Stop her.”

With the help of her team – including Betty, a mothering office manager with a bad-ass attitude – Merit struggles to stay alive, navigate a labyrinth of legal issues, and prove once again that you don’t mess with a Texas lady lawyer.

A courtroom standoff, a wild chase across Texas, and dangerous Boots King always one step ahead…

A legal thriller sure to satisfy the most demanding readers of legal fiction and lawyer novels. For the fans of John Grisham and Michael Connelly, Dollar Signs is winning awards across the nation as Manning Wolfe is discovered by thriller readers everywhere!

Buy Dollar Signs today!

Recommend this book:

Looking Through Water

A Novel
Bob Rich

2016 Gold Medal
208 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2016 Gold Medal
More than one man’s journey to self-awareness, this is a raw, honest coming-of-age story that reveals the true meaning of family.

In Looking Through Water, William McKay finds himself reliving his past to help his troubled grandson, Kyle, deal with the present.

William’s story starts on an Adirondacks lake and wends its way through Manhattan to the Florida Keys. Colorful characters from the old man’s past come to life to help him tell an unforgettable story full of surprises and suspense. Fueled by nature’s fury, men are yanked out of their comfort zones and thrown together to confront life and death. Just as William appears to be on the brink of permanent unmooring, a stranger unexpectedly arrives to provide the tethering he has always sought.

Looking Through Water twists and turns as old wounds are revealed, wrongs are redressed, lives are threatened, understanding surfaces, and love arrives. With his grandfather’s past laid bare, Kyle must ultimately face how he might shape his future.

This story explores the emotions that make up the intricate tapestry of family structure by pulling at the threads of truth, lies, and misunderstandings.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Recommend this book:

The Secret to Hummingbird Cake

Celeste Fletcher McHale

2016 Silver Medal
304 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2016 Silver Medal

“Why won’t you just tell me what’s in that cake?” I’d been trying to get Laine’s recipe for years. We all had.

 

When all else fails, turn to the divine taste of hummingbird cake.

 

In the South you always say “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am.” You know everybody’s business. Football is a lifestyle not a pastime. Food—especially dessert— is almost a religious experience. And you protect your friends as fiercely as you protect your family— even if the threat is something you cannot see.

 

In this spot-on Southern novel brimming with wit and authenticity, you’ll laugh alongside lifelong friends, navigate the sometimes rocky path of marriage, and roll through the outrageous curveballs that life sometimes throws . . . from devastating pain to absolute joy. And if you’re lucky, you just may discover the secret to hummingbird cake along the way.

Recommend this book:

Scout's Honor

A Novel
Dori Ann Dupré

2016 Bronze Medal
510 Pages
Check current price
Fiction - Southern

2016 Bronze Medal
In Haddleboro, North Carolina, Scout Webb is a 14 year-old kind, spirited small town southern girl and a tomboy much like her namesake, the young narrator from her mother’s favorite book. With both her name and her Christian faith deeply woven into the fabric of her identity, Scout always felt like she had a lot to live up to - she was the kind of girl who made her parents proud.

It's August 1983, and Scout is playing on a summer baseball team with Charlie Porter, her best friend since Kindergarten. More than anything, she is looking forward to her last few weeks at Camp Judah, a Christian camp near the Catawba River. She can’t wait to see her big crush “Brother Doug,” the thirty-two year old camp lifeguard who has watched her grow up each summer since she was seven years old. But after afateful few days and one catastrophic event during her last day at the camp, Scout will be changed forever.


Written through multiple narrators over the course of twenty years, this story follows Scout’s personal struggles as a freshman away at college in Raleigh and later as an overworked single mother approaching middle age, where she is forced to confront the causes of her own quiet suffering, the consequences of her actions and why even the eternal love and devotion of just one true friend can’t save her.

A story of a self, lost…a self, loathed…and a self, rediscovered…it examines the harsh and cruel ways in which otherwise well-intentioned and decent people treat each other…even those they claim to love, but even more so…ultimately, how we treat our own selves.