Congratulations to the Lefty Award Nominees

Left Coast Crime, the mystery conference held in areas west of the Mississippi, recently announced the nominees for this year’s awards. These are some of my favorite awards, nominated and voted on by mystery readers.

Here’s the announcement as it appears on the Left Coast Crime website.

“The Left Coast Crime “Lefty” Awards are fan awards chosen by registered members of the Left Coast Crime convention. Nominations for awards to be presented at each annual convention are made by people registered for that convention and also the immediately prior convention. A ballot listing the official nominees is given to each registrant when they check in at the convention, and final voting takes place at the convention. The ballots are tabulated and that year’s Lefty Awards are presented at the Awards Celebration.

Left Coast Crime 2017, “Honolulu Havoc,” will be presenting four Lefty Awards at the 27th annual LCC convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Lefty awards will be voted on at the convention and presented at the Awards Banquet on Saturday, March 18, 2017, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort.

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel
• Donna Andrews, Die Like an Eagle (Minotaur Books)
• Ellen Byron, Body on the Bayou (Crooked Lane Books)
• Timothy Hallinan, Fields Where They Lay (Soho Crime)
• Heather Haven, The CEO Came DOA (Wives of Bath Press)
• Johnny Shaw, Floodgate (Thomas & Mercer)
• Diane Vallere, A Disguise To Die For (Berkley Prime Crime)

Lefty for Best Hystorical Mystery Novel (Bruce Alexander Memorial)
for books covering events before 1960
• Rhys Bowen, Crowned and Dangerous (Berkley Prime Crime)
• Susanna Calkins, A Death Along the River Fleet (Minotaur Books)
• Laurie R. King, The Murder of Mary Russell (Bantam Books)
• Catriona McPherson, The Reek of Red Herrings (Minotaur Books)
• Ann Parker, What Gold Buys (Poisoned Pen Press)

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel
• Sarah M. Chen, Cleaning Up Finn (All Due Respect Books)
• Marla Cooper, Terror in Taffeta (Minotaur Books)
• Alexia Gordon, Murder in G Major (Henery Press)
• Nadine Nettmann, Decanting a Murder (Midnight Ink)
• Renee Patrick, Design for Dying (Forge)

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel
• Matt Coyle, Dark Fissures (Oceanview Publishing)
• Gigi Pandian, Michelangelo’s Ghost (Henery Press)
• Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning (Minotaur Books)
• Terry Shames, The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake (Seventh Street Books)
• James W. Ziskin, Heart of Stone (Seventh Street Books)

To be eligible, titles must have been published for the first time in the United States or Canada during 2016, in book or ebook format. (If published in other countries before 2016, a book is still eligible if it meets the US or Canadian publication requirement.)”

Congratulations to all of the nominees!