Carolyn Summer Quinn - Carolyn Summer Quinn

Highlights

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Top 10 Best Authors of 2025

Outstanding Creator Awards

2026 started with a bang: Carolyn was named one of the Top Ten Best Authors of 2025.

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#10 Best Author of 2024

Outstanding Creator Awards – Best of the Best

Carolyn ranked #10 Best Author of 2024, and Until the Stars Align was #18 of the Top 25 Fiction Books of the year.

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Best Historical Mystery of 2023

Chrysalis BREW Fiction Excellence Awards (Australia)

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit was named the best historical mystery of the year.

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8 Outstanding Creator Awards

Outstanding Creator Awards 2024

Until the Stars Align took First Place for Historical Fiction, Family and Multicultural Books and 2nd Place for Best Fiction Book of Summer 2024.

Honor rolls by book

Each book's complete list of honors at a glance. Tap a card to read it full size.

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang
The Mystery from Way Back When
To Bloom Like a Tulip, A Commotion on the Ocean
Until the Stars Align
Not a Shovel in Sight, Child of Secrets from Afar
The Hollywood Backlash Moon, The Final Comeuppance
Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit
The Red in the Wrong Profession, Cans of Cola Just Don't Cry
Cloudy with a Chance of Answers, The Teetotaler's Bar
A Charm Without a Chain, Once Upon a Safehouse
There's No Cure for Impossible, Backstabbed on Broadway, The Death of a Dream Seller
Keep Your Songs in Your Heart, Now and Forevermore Arabella

All awards

112 announcements, 61 of them wins. Newest first.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Mystery

The Death of a Dream Seller

If something looks "too good to be true," guess what? It probably is!

Winner

Booky Awards

Winner – Best Treatment of Resilience

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

Resilience is mandatory when you are the cop assigned to solve the murder of the teacher who once tried to molest him.

Finalist

Great Southeast Book Festival

Runner-Up – General Fiction

The Red in the Wrong Profession

1979, and some Cold War spies could be brought down by an accidental discovery.

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner – Mystery

Once Upon a Safehouse

Just what did this American family inherit in Argentina?

Winner

Great Northwest Book Festival

Winner – General Fiction

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

Imagine being a cop assigned to find the killer of the woman who tried to abuse you as a boy.

Honor

New York Book Festival

Honorable Mention

The Red in the Wrong Profession

Carolyn's first espionage mystery wins again.

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner

The Red in the Wrong Profession

Another big win for Carolyn's first espionage novel.

Winner 2026

Outstanding Creator Awards

8 awards incl. 1st Place – Historical Fiction

The Red in the Wrong Profession

1st Place Historical Fiction, 2nd Place Mystery, 3rd Place Best Fiction Book of Spring 2026, plus five Honorable Mentions.

Finalist 2026

Literary Global Independent Author Awards

Finalist

The Red in the Wrong Profession

The story of a spy hiding in plain sight in suburban Washington, D.C.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Mystery

The Red in the Wrong Profession

Carolyn's first book about Cold War espionage in the Washington, D.C. area.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

The Red in the Wrong Profession

Spies in suburbia: the spy was hiding in plain sight... until she wasn't.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Silver Book Award

The Death of a Dream Seller

A man who wasn't who he appeared to be. Is that why he wound up dead on the floor of his defunct business?

Finalist

Chanticleer Somerset Awards

Short List

The Mystery from Way Back When

Who left the baby on the church steps in 1944? Benny and his family are rising in the Somerset Awards.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Cozy Mystery

Once Upon a Safehouse

A family inherits a house in Argentina in 1963 with no idea of its history.

Honor

Beach Read Festival

Honorable Mention

A Commotion on the Ocean

A relaxing vacation... on the same ship as a former co-worker from hell.

Winner

Digital Books Today Literary Awards

First Place – Mystery, Historical

Once Upon a Safehouse

What kind of house did an American family inherit in Argentina?

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit, Child of Secrets from Afar, Not a Shovel in Sight, The Mystery from Way Back When — Chrysalis BREW Project Readers' Choice Awards: Book of the Year Finalists (4 books) (2025)

Finalist 2025

Chrysalis BREW Project Readers' Choice Awards

Book of the Year Finalists (4 books)

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit, Child of Secrets from Afar, Not a Shovel in Sight, The Mystery from Way Back When

Four books were Book of the Year finalists, and two were named Books of the Month.

Finalist

Chanticleer Goethe Awards

Short List – Historical Fiction

Once Upon a Safehouse

Moved up from the Long List to the Short List.

Finalist

Literary Global Book Awards

Finalist – Mystery/Suspense

A Commotion on the Ocean

Several blasts from the past are on board a relaxing cruise, and a woman goes missing.

Finalist

Author Shout Book Awards

Top Picks & Recommended Reads (5 books)

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang, The Mystery from Way Back When, The Final Comeuppance, A Commotion on the Ocean, The Teetotaler's Bar

Top Picks: Fate Can Toss a Boomerang, The Mystery from Way Back When, The Final Comeuppance. Recommended Reads: A Commotion on the Ocean, The Teetotaler's Bar.

Winner 2025

Outstanding Creator Awards – Clash of Champions

8 awards incl. 1st Place – Mystery

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

1st Place Mystery, 2nd Place Law & Justice/Crime Lit, 2nd Place Best Fiction Book of Fall & Winter 2025, plus five Honorable Mentions.

Finalist

American Writing Awards

Finalist – Mystery/Suspense

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

A decent cop assigned to find his childhood tormentor's murderer.

Honor

Chanticleer Somerset Awards

Long List – Literary & Contemporary Fiction

The Mystery from Way Back When

A mystery that began in 1944 and continued into the 1980s; the news arrived during the Christmas season.

Honor

New England Book Festival

Honorable Mention

Once Upon a Safehouse

The new mystery is doing great!

Honor

Chanticleer Goethe Awards

Long List – Late Historical Fiction

Once Upon a Safehouse

Set in the United States and Argentina in 1963.

Finalist

Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Awards

Short List

The Mystery from Way Back When

Moved up to the Short List. Stay tuned!

Honor

Hollywood Book Festival

Honorable Mention

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

The boomerang came back with another award.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

Once Upon a Safehouse

They inherited a fortune and a mansion in Argentina. But what history does their new home hold?

Honor

Chanticleer Goethe Awards – Late Historical Fiction

Long List

Until the Stars Align

First came the Long List...

Finalist

Chanticleer Goethe Awards – Late Historical Fiction

Short List

Until the Stars Align

...then came the Short List.

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

Boomerang does it again!

Finalist

Chanticleer Goethe Awards – Late Historical Fiction

Semi-Finalist

Until the Stars Align

Moved up from Short List to Semi-Finalist.

Finalist

Chanticleer Goethe Awards – Late Historical Fiction

Finalist

Until the Stars Align

The novel of the Kindertransport and World War II was ultimately named a Finalist.

Winner

Infinite Generations Positive Impact Awards

Winner – Fiction

The Mystery from Way Back When

Inspired by Carolyn's dad's stories of growing up in Elizabeth, NJ.

Honor

Paris Book Festival

Honorable Mention

The Final Comeuppance

Justice delayed is still justice for the teachers who mistreated children.

Honor

Paris Book Festival

Honorable Mention

The Mystery from Way Back When

Who abandoned that baby? Beloved even in France.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Mystery

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

A decent detective stuck with the last case he ever wanted to solve.

Winner 2025

Chrysalis BREW Project Readers' Choice Award

Honouree – June 2025

Not a Shovel in Sight

A people's-choice accolade from Australia's Chrysalis BREW (Books, Reviews and Everything Written) Project.

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner – Mystery/Thriller, Crime & Detective

The Final Comeuppance

The staff of a terrible school face the boomerang of their own corruption.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

The cop stuck with solving his tormentor's murder.

Finalist

NYC Big Book Awards

Distinguished Favorite

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

A beleaguered detective must find who murdered the predator who once tried to abuse him.

Winner

World's Best Awards

Winner – Vaudeville Storytelling Excellence

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit

A song-and-dance man's daughter is kidnapped from backstage. A second award from World's Best.

Honor

New York Book Festival

Honorable Mention (4 books)

Not a Shovel in Sight, Fate Can Toss a Boomerang, The Teetotaler's Bar, The Final Comeuppance

A quadruple whammy: Not a Shovel in Sight, Fate Can Toss a Boomerang, The Teetotaler's Bar and The Final Comeuppance.

Honor

Chanticleer CLUE Awards

Long List – Suspense & Thriller

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang

The cop who wound up with the worst assignment ever.

Honor

Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Awards

Long List – Cozy & Not-So-Cozy Mysteries

The Mystery from Way Back When

A second Carolyn Summer Quinn mystery on a Chanticleer Long List.

Finalist

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards

Top Pick – Historical Fiction

To Bloom Like a Tulip

Chosen as a Top Pick in the Historical Fiction category.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

A Commotion on the Ocean

A relaxing vacation disrupted by some blasts from the past.

Finalist 2025

Positive Impact Book Awards

Finalist – Spring/Summer 2025

The Mystery from Way Back When

A baby abandoned on church steps during WWII keeps winning awards and hearts.

Winner 2025

Outstanding Creator Awards

5 awards incl. 1st Place – Mystery

The Mystery from Way Back When

1st Place Mystery, 2nd Place Historical Fiction, 3rd Place Best Fiction Book of Spring 2025, plus two Honorable Mentions.

Finalist 2025

American Fiction Awards

Finalist

The Mystery from Way Back When

It would make a terrific movie. Paging Netflix and Hulu!

Winner

Wordscape Wonders Award

Winner

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit

A crime in the 1920s world of vaudeville.

Winner

Literary Global Independent Author Awards

Winner – Mystery

The Mystery from Way Back When

So who left that baby on the steps of the church during World War II?

Finalist

Literary Global Independent Author Awards

Finalist

Until the Stars Align

Readers love this story of doing the right thing during World War II.

Honor

London Book Festival

Honorable Mention

Until the Stars Align

London calling!

Honor

London Book Festival

Honorable Mention

To Bloom Like a Tulip

London calling again: the tulip keeps blooming.

Winner

World's Best Book of Excellence Award

Winner

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit

The show must go on!

Winner

Atlas of Stories Award

Winner

The Final Comeuppance

Justice delayed at a corrupt private school.

Winner

Book Excellence Award (Australia)

Winner

The Teetotaler's Bar

A young woman inherits a bar and a fortune from a murdered distant relative.

Honor

Los Angeles Book Festival

Honorable Mention

Not a Shovel in Sight

If you ever thought you worked in a corrupt office, wait until you read about this one.

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner

The Mystery from Way Back When

If only the relatives who inspired this story could see it now.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

First Place – Cozy Mystery

A Commotion on the Ocean

A nice gal's vacation interrupted by co-workers from the past.

Winner

Atlas of Stories Award

Winner

Not a Shovel in Sight

Celebrating works that map the literary world with creativity and depth. The first award for this book.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Silver Book Award

Not a Shovel in Sight

Who would steal from a charity?

Winner

Book World Front Award

Winner

Not a Shovel in Sight

Honoring stories that bring universal themes to life and resonate across cultures.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

The Mystery from Way Back When

This book just keeps on winning.

Winner

Uplifting Lit Book Award

Winner – Words of Hope & Optimism

The Mystery from Way Back When

An award for "words of hope and optimism."

Finalist 2024

Indies Today Awards

Finalist

There's No Cure for Impossible

An impossible friend kidnaps a baby.

Finalist 2025

Independent Press Awards

Distinguished Favorite

Until the Stars Align

A 2025 Distinguished Favorite.

Winner 2025

Chrysalis BREW Project Readers' Choice Award

Winner – January 2025

The Mystery from Way Back When

The BREW Project's January 2025 Readers' Choice winner.

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner

To Bloom Like a Tulip

Everything's coming up tulips!

Winner

Spotlyts Story Award

Winner

Child of Secrets from Afar

Why is someone stalking their adopted child from Vietnam?

Winner

Store with a Heart Awards

Difference Maker Award

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit

For authors who "light the way to a better future" and show that books can be a catalyst for change.

Winner

Words Across the Waters Book Award

Winner

The Mystery from Way Back When

A mystery set on the American home front of World War II.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Historical Mystery

To Bloom Like a Tulip

To Bloom Like a Tulip is blooming!

Winner

Books for Humanity Global

Book of the Week

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit

Fittingly, Carolyn had just come home from seeing a show when she heard the news.

Finalist 2025

Chrysalis BREW Project Readers' Choice Awards

Finalist

Until the Stars Align

Carolyn slept through the New Year's ball drop and woke at 3 AM to this news.

Winner

Outstanding Creator Awards – Clash of Champions

1st Place – Women's Literature

There's No Cure for Impossible

1st Place Women's Literature, 2nd Place Psychological Fiction and Friendship, 3rd Place Literary & Contemporary Fiction.

Winner

Outstanding Creator Awards – Clash of Champions

1st Place – Historical Fiction

To Bloom Like a Tulip

1st Place Historical Fiction and 2nd Place Teen & Young Adult Fiction.

Finalist

Literary Global Book Awards

Finalist – Mystery/Suspense

The Hollywood Backlash Moon

The sixth honor for this mystery about a dysfunctional Hollywood family.

Finalist 2024

American Writing Awards

Finalist – Historical Fiction

To Bloom Like a Tulip

A mystery set in the Netherlands during World War II.

The Hollywood Backlash Moon, Child of Secrets from Afar, Backstabbed on Broadway, Until the Stars Align, Keep Your Songs in Your Heart — Author Shout Reader Ready Awards: Recommended Read (5 books) (2025)

Honor 2025

Author Shout Reader Ready Awards

Chanticleer Goethe Awards – Late Historical Fiction

Short List

Until the Stars Align

Three cousins rescued by the Kindertransport.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

To Bloom Like a Tulip

Golden tulip! A mystery set in the Netherlands during World War II.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Silver Book Award

Cans of Cola Just Don't Cry

Carolyn's Florida cozy mystery.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Cozy Mystery

There's No Cure for Impossible

Some things aren't impossible after all!

Winner

International Impact Book Awards

Winner – Historical Fiction

Until the Stars Align

Award number eleven for this book.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

The Teetotaler's Bar

A healthy-living young woman inherits her murdered relative's bar and the apartment building around it. Whodunit?

Finalist

Storytrade Awards

Finalist

There's No Cure for Impossible

A toxic friend who kidnaps a baby. The book's third honor.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

There's No Cure for Impossible

A toxic friendship and a kidnapped baby, later a cold case. Or is it?

Honor

New York Book Festival

Honorable Mention

The Hollywood Backlash Moon

Lots of crazy characters in this book of show-business phonies.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – WWII Historical Fiction

Until the Stars Align

Three young cousins flee the Nazis on the Kindertransport.

Honor

Hollywood Book Festival

Honorable Mention

The Hollywood Backlash Moon

A nice girl from Brooklyn in a murder mystery with her wacky TV-star relatives.

Winner 2024

American Fiction Awards

Winner – Cozy Mystery

There's No Cure for Impossible

Winner of the Cozy Mystery category.

Honor

Purple Dragonfly Book Awards

Honorable Mention – Middle Grade

Keep Your Songs in Your Heart

Carolyn's dad asked her to make sure this book was published. He must be smiling.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

Until the Stars Align

Three cousins escape Nazi Germany and find new homes in England.

Finalist

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards

Top Pick

Backstabbed on Broadway

Who didn't want to kill the wackiest talent agent in town?

Finalist 2023

Indies Today Awards

Semi-Finalist

Cloudy with a Chance of Answers

The seventh honor for this cozy mystery.

Finalist 2024

Maxy Awards

Finalist

Cloudy with a Chance of Answers

Written at the start of lockdown: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Mystery

The Hollywood Backlash Moon

The Hathaway family were wacky even before there was a murder.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

Child of Secrets from Afar

1975: why is a strange man following a girl adopted through Operation Babylift?

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

The Hollywood Backlash Moon

Crazy Hollywood relatives, one murder and a Nazi on the loose.

Finalist

Wishing Shelf Book Awards

Finalist – Ages 9–12

Keep Your Songs in Your Heart

Chosen as a finalist by schoolchildren in the United Kingdom.

Finalist

Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Awards

Semi-Finalist

Cloudy with a Chance of Answers

A woman still trying to solve an endless cold case 32 years later.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Gold Book Award

A Charm Without a Chain

Inspired by the high school where Carolyn's father taught English. Third award for the book.

Winner

Firebird · Literary Titan · Royal Dragonfly

2 wins + Honorable Mention – Mystery

Backstabbed on Broadway

Firebird International Book Award, Literary Titan Silver Book Award and a Royal Dragonfly Honorable Mention.

Honor

New England Book Festival

Honorable Mention – General Fiction

Backstabbed on Broadway

The corruption that exists in the theater! The fourth award for this book.

Winner

Firebird International Book Awards

Winner – Cozy Mystery

A Charm Without a Chain

Why were two members of a high-school faculty murdered?

Finalist 2023

American Fiction Awards

Finalist – Cozy Mystery

Cloudy with a Chance of Answers

This book would make a terrific movie.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Silver Book Award

Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit

A song-and-dance man whose daughter disappears from backstage.

Honor 2024

Reader Ready Awards

Honorable Mention

A Charm Without a Chain

The first award for this book.

Winner

Literary Titan Book Awards

Silver Book Award

The Final Comeuppance

Carolyn's first mystery for adults, and her first award.

Winner 2019 · 2022

American Fiction Awards · Literary Titan

Finalists – Pre-Teen; Gold Book Award

Now and Forevermore Arabella, Keep Your Songs in Your Heart

Arabella: Literary Titan Gold winner and 2022 American Fiction Awards finalist. Keep Your Songs in Your Heart: 2019 American Fiction Awards finalist.