2024 Left Coast Crime “Lefty” Award Nominations

Left Coast Crime 2024 will be presenting four Lefty Awards at our 34th annual convention, to be held this April in Bellevue, Washington: Humorous, Historical, Debut, and Best. The awards will be voted on at the convention and presented at a banquet on Saturday, April 13, at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. 

The Lefty nominees have been selected by convention registrants, and LCC is delighted to announce the 2024 Lefty Award nominees for books published in 2023:

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel. The nominees are:

 • Jennifer J. Chow, Hot Pot Murder (Berkley Prime Crime)
 • Lee Matthew Goldberg, The Great Gimmelmans (Level Best Books)
 • Leslie Karst, A Sense for Murder (Severn House)
 • Catriona McPherson, Hop Scot (Severn House)
 • Cindy Sample, Dying for a Decoration (Cindy Sample Books)
 • Wendall Thomas, Cheap Trills (‎Beyond the Page Books)

Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel for books set before 1970 (The Bill Gottfried Memorial). The nominees are:

 • Cara Black, Night Flight to Paris (Soho Crime)
 • Bruce Borgos, The Bitter Past (Minotaur Books)
 • Susanna Calkins, Death Among the Ruins (Severn House)
 • Dianne Freeman, A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder (Kensington)
 • Cheryl A. Head, Time’s Undoing (Dutton)
 • Naomi Hirahara, Evergreen (Soho Crime)

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel. The nominees are:

 • Lina Chern, Play the Fool (Bantam)
 • Margot Douaihy, Scorched Grace (Gillian Flynn Books)
 • Josh Pachter, Dutch Threat (Genius Book Publishing)
 • Ana Reyes, The House in the Pines (Dutton)
 • Nina Simon, Mother-Daughter Murder Night (William Morrow)

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories). The nominees are:

 • Tracy Clark, Hide (Thomas & Mercer)
 • S.A. Cosby, All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books)
 • Matt Coyle, Odyssey’s End (Oceanview Publishing)
 • Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows (Mulholland Books)
 • James L’Etoile, Face of Greed (Oceanview Publishing)
 • Gigi Pandian, The Raven Thief (Minotaur Books)

The Left Coast Crime Convention is an annual event sponsored by mystery fans, both readers and authors. Held in the western half of North America, LCC’s intent is to host an event where readers, authors, critics, librarians, publishers, and other fans can gather in convivial surroundings to pursue their mutual interests. Lefty Awards have been given since 1996. 

In 2020, Left Coast Crime received the Raven Award from Mystery Writers of America, for “outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.”

The 34th annual Left Coast Crime Convention will take place in Bellevue, Washington, April 11-14, 2024. This year’s Guests of Honor are authors Megan Abbott and Robert Dugoni. Fran Fuller is the Fan Guest of Honor, and author Wanda Morris will serve as Toastmaster.

Left Coast Crime is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation holding annual mystery conventions in the West. Each LCC convention raises money to support a local literary organization, and is staffed entirely by volunteers.

For more information on Left Coast Crime 2024, please visit https://leftcoastcrime.org/2024/
Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich, Lefty Awards Co-Chairs