Left Coast Crime 2025: Part One

Wendall -- every other Thursday

My first Left Coast Crime took place in Reno in 2018, where I was lucky enough to have Lost Luggage nominated for Best Debut Mystery. I can’t tell you how welcoming and kind and generous everyone was to me and James. I made so many friends there that I treasure to this day.

 

My first LCC in Reno with fellow nominees Susan Bickford, Nancy Tingley, and Kathleen Valenti. Always thrilled to see Susan at every conference and Nancy Tingley gave me a car. The friends you make!

 

Ever since then, the conference has been my favorite for its intimate feel, its kindness to authors and readers, and especially for Lucinda Surber, Stan Ulrich and all of the amazing volunteers. My heart leaps up when I spot Dotty Morefield at the registration desk, or Les and Leslie Blatt ringing the Speed Dating Bell. As Toastmaster John Copenhaver said at the Awards Banquet, it’s all about joy. 

Lucinda and Stan, the heart and soul.

This year, there seemed to be a special sense of camaraderie—we were all united by our love for books and libraries and other people who love both.

 

Today I’ll talk about my specific experience, but I want to think a bit about the conference as a whole, and conferences in general, before I write about that.

 

On route, my first glimpse of the Rockies.

Denver airport, terminal C

 

I flew from LAX to Denver and was delighted at how easy it was to hop onto the light rail train into Union Station. They have spruced it up considerably since I was last there in 1994. 

 

From the train platform.

 

A glimpse inside.

It was a brief walk up to the Westin (like my protagonist, Cyd Redondo, I do carry-on luggage only) and my room was ready.

 

View of the mountains from my room.

 

Looking the other way. I love hotels.

 

That night, I was so privileged to attend the Guest of Honor dinner as Grace Koshida’s “plus one.” Grace is one of my favorite people and a huge supporter of my writing and of so many other authors. I was thrilled to see her recognized as the Fan Guest of Honor this year. She is beloved in the mystery community.   

 

Grace's award.

 

 

 

Me and Grace.

At the dinner, in addition to sharing quips and stories with Les and Leslie Blatt, I loved meeting and speaking with Guest of Honor Manual Ramos and his wife, Flo. Sadly, I was too engaged to stop and take photos that night.

 

The next morning involved speed dating.  For any of you who don’t know how it works, there are 20 tables of 6 to 8 readers. Author partners travel from table to table pitching their work. We each have two minutes, then one minute to move and toss all our “swag” onto the tables. It’s exhausting for all concerned, but also exhilarating. 

 

My pal Matt Coyle and I (known as the “Screwball and Screwed Up” duo) have partnered almost every time, except for the year I did a stint with my husband when he was pitching The Alaskan Blonde. 

Me and Matt over the years...

...

Pitching "action shot" care of Grace Koshida.

 

I was also lucky enough to moderate this year’s Best Novel panel. Reading the books and reading and listening to interviews with these authors, then finally getting to hear them talk about their work, was a joy from start to finish. If you’ve missed any of the nominated books they’re in the graphics below. Congratulations to all of them and especially to James L’Etoile for the win.

 

The authors and their books.

On the day. They were all brilliant.

 

The “Been There, Wrote That” panel was a different matter, where Gar Anthony Haywood quizzed me, Matt Coyle, Tracy Clark, and Glen Erik Hamilton on our novels. I, apparently, knew the least about mine, since I lost. . . Still totally fun.

 

Apparently, I did not write my own novels.

 

I was also lucky to get a chance to have lunch with Annamaria Alfieri, as we were the only two MIE bloggers in attendance. We talked about life, politics, writing, and red meat, among other things.

 

I’ll write more about the panels, the dinners and drinks, and encounters with Guest of Honor and mystery goddess Sara Paretsky next time. 

In the meantime, be careful out there.

~ Wendall 

 Wed--Kwei

 

 

The Measles Resurgence: What’s Happening?

 Measles is making a dangerous comeback in the U.S. As of March 2025, over 200 cases (likely an undercount) have been reported across 12 states, with the highest numbers in Texas and New Mexico. According to a March 7 release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most of the cases “are among children who had not received the MMR vaccine,” which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. The CDC warns that cases have increased 17-fold compared to previous years, putting young children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals at serious risk. Most infections are occurring in unvaccinated children, demonstrating how even tiny drops in vaccination rates can cause rapid outbreaks.

 

What Is Measles, and Why Is It So Contagious?

Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that spreads through airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The virus can linger in the air for up to two hours, making transmission almost inevitable for unvaccinated individuals. Measles is more contagious than Ebola, influenza, or COVID-19. A single infected person can quickly expose 18 unvaccinated individuals around them. Early symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and small white spots in the mouth called Koplik spots, followed by a spreading rash. 

 

Severe measles rash (Medscape.org)

 

Measles conjunctivitis (Medscape.com)

Koplik spots are specific to measles (Wikipedia/CDC)

A Brief History Of The Measles Vaccine

Before the measles vaccine was introduced, the U.S. saw 3–4 million cases annually, with 48,000 hospitalizations, 1,000 cases of encephalitis, and 400–500 deaths each year. In 1954, Dr. Thomas Peebles and Dr. John Endersisolated the virus, leading to the development of the first effective vaccine in 1963

Following widespread vaccination, measles cases plummeted. By the 1980s, incidence dropped to 13 cases per million people, and in 2000, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning no sustained outbreaks for over a year. However, measles remains a global threat, and imported cases can still spark outbreaks in under-vaccinated communities. Keeping high vaccination rates is crucial to prevent its return.

My First And Only Measles Case: A Harrowing Reality

I encountered my first measles case while working in an urgent care clinic years ago. A panicked mother brought in her 2-year-old boy, who was feverish, lethargic, and covered in a rash. Mom admitted they had delayed the MMR vaccine due to misinformation. The toddler was breathing rapidly and had a runny nose, harsh cough, and conjuntivitis (see above), classic measles symptoms. Not only was the poor boy in utter misery, his life was at stake, and so we admitted him immediately to Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

It struck me then how many younger doctors like me had never seen a case before due to high vaccination rates. Now, many more physicians are witnessing it firsthand. One hallmark of an advanced society is the way it takes care for its children, and yet, we have gone backward. Meanwhile Brazil and East Timor elminated measles in 2018.

The Deadly Complications of Measles

Measles is not a harmless childhood illness. It can cause severe complications, including:

·       Pneumonia (leading cause of measles-related death in children)

[Quick x-ray tutorial: The lungs show dark because they contain air. Pnemonia shows up as white. This severe level of pneumonia could put a patient on the ventilator.]

 

Normal chest x-ray (Case courtesy of Bruno Di Muzio, Radiopaedia.org)

Meases pneumonia in both lungs of a 6-month old infant 
(Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal [SQUMJ]. 22. 10.18295/squmj.4.2021.063)

·       Ear infections leading to deafness 

.    Brain Swelling (causing seizures or permanent damage)

·       Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)—a 100% fatal, long-term brain disease occurring years after infection

These photos are from a heartbreaking but must-read story by Ruediger Schoenbohm whose son Max died of SSPE in 2014.

                                        Max vibrant and healthy at 13 years old (Image by Ruediger Schoenbohm)

Max at 18 years old barely responsive due to SSPE (Image by Ruediger Schoenbohm)

The Measles Vaccine: Safe, Effective, and Lifesaving

The MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) has been 97% effective since its introduction in 1963. Thanks to vaccination, measles was eliminated in the U.S. by 2000. However, declining vaccine uptake has allowed outbreaks to return. The vaccine has an outstanding safety record, with no credible link to autism or other significant side effects. Over 60 million lives have been saved globally due to measles vaccination.

Misinformation and Dangerous ‘Alternatives’

Misinformation is fueling the measles resurgence. Some prominent figures, notably HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr., have de-emphasized vaccines in favor of diet, exercise, and treatments like cod liver oil and budesonide. 

Vitamin A is recommended around the world for measles because there is evidence it can help if someone is deficient, which some patients in developing countries might be, but the benefit to patients in the U.S. is unclear. Vitamin A, which may be administered to infants and children in the United States with measles as part of supportive management and under the strict supervision of a healthcare provider, is not a substitute for vaccination. 

Says Summer Davies, a pediatric hospitalist in Lubbock, Texas, who has cared for nearly a dozen measles patients, ‘Yeah, this is . . . not a wonder drug . . . it may prevent some complications, but we’re not giving it to every child in the hospital because the evidence just isn’t there.” Overuse of Vitamin A can lead to toxicity and cause damage to the liver, bones, central nervous system, and skin.

In a Fox News interview, Kennedy minimized the risks of measles while dimissively declaring, “It used to be… everybody got measles," and that it is “very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person. He claimed that deaths from the disease are linked to poor health and diet. This is not true. The disease kills between one to three out of every thousand people infected in the United States.

An environmental lawyer and activist with zero medical or epidemiological training, RFK Jr. claims that when he had measles as a child, he took cod liver oil. Unfortunately, personal anecdotes are not science, and we can't chart our public health action plans based on one misguided man's childhood experience. Budesonide (a steroid inhaler), is not a recognized treatment for measles. The best—and only reliable—protection is vaccination.

In his powerful, influential position in the Trump regime, RFK Jr.'s wilfull blindness is reckless and morally bankrupt. He is a five-alarm-fire existential threat to the wellbeing of the American people.

Why Risk Your Child’s Life? Get Vaccinated

Measles is a preventable disease with life-threatening consequences. The MMR vaccine protects your child and safeguards vulnerable individuals who cannot be vaccinated. Every parent wants the best for their child—choosing vaccination is choosing safety.

Let’s not wait until we see more children suffering. Talk to your doctor and ensure your family is up to date on vaccinations. Stopping this outbreak is in our hands.

 

 

 

Was St. Patrick Italian?

Annamaria on Monday

I am late posting this, and it is a repeat.  It's Saint Patrick's Day and the Monday morning after I returned late last night from a GREAT session of Left Coast Crime, this year in Denver.  It's also a morning that I woke up to a lot of messages.already waiting me attention  Here below you will find  my excuse for saying noting new and being late positing.  

Ordinarily, I write my blog for Monday on Sunday evening.  That's the time and day right now.  But today is my birthday.  So I am giving myself the evening off and for tomorrow putting up a repeat of a blog I wrote under similar circumstances in the past.  Once I click publish, I am going to gussy myself up and go out with friends for a birthday dinner.  In an Italian restaurant.  Because whatever he was, we are certain that St. Patrick was not Irish.

Being of Italian descent, I was on track, as baby girls of my persuasion usually were, to be named after one of my grandmothers.  So I would likely have been called Sabina Maria or Concetta after my maternal and paternal grandmoms. But when I debuted on March 17th, my parents chose Patricia for me.*

* An aside: Annamaria Alfieri is a pen name. 

Having Saint Paddy’s Day as a birthday has a lot of advantages. For one, people don’t forget. When shamrocks show up on supermarket windows and on mirrors behind bars in drinking holes, my friends and family all know my birthday is coming. Also, my day has a color. Green has been my favorite all my life. Luckily it suits me. And these days calling any product or process green is a huge compliment.

Best of all, everyone celebrates. What other birthday but the 4th of July automatically comes with a parade? When I was four years old, my uncle told me the march on Fifth Avenue was in my honor.  Every year, midtown New York fills up with revelers, giving my natal day a special jubilatory flair.

The only drawback for me has been that some Irish people have considered it a travesty that a Sicilian-Neapolitan-American should have chosen “their” day to be born. They think only people like my friend and fellow St. Patrick’s Day birthday holder Terrence Patrick O’Brien deserve to be born on March 17th. In the Catholic school cultural rivalries of my youth, I had to withstand a great deal of resentment—some of it not so benign. My brother Andy and my friend Danny Gubitosa leapt to my defense in a play-yard altercation one March 17th by claiming that St. Patrick was Italian—an assertion that only further enraged my detractors.

According to Wikipedia though, Danny and Andy were right, in a manner of speaking. Paddy was a Romano-Britain, and though the historical details of his life are sketchy, substantiated evidence reveals that as a 16 year old, he was abducted from Britain by Irish raiders and dragged off to Ireland to be a slave—not a very auspicious beginning for a relationship between Saint and faithful fated to endure for millennia. Patrick made it back home, and once ordained as a priest, he returned to Ireland as a missionary and prelate. The Irish still invoke him against snakes and witches.

Coat of Arms, Murcia

Why the following is true I leave you to ponder, but evidently St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated not only in Ireland and the Roman Catholic Archdioceses of New York and of Boston, but also in Nigeria**, Montserrat, Loiza, a small town on the north coast of Puerto Rico, and Murcia, the capital of an Autonomous Community founded by Moors in the southeast of Spain.

**Care to weigh in on this Leye??
My mother always said I was born on a lucky day.  Lots of things about my life have borne that out.  Regular readers of MIE have seen how many wonderful opportunities I have had to travel, and after a long and successful other career, to become what I have always wanted to be--a novelist.   Long and dear friendships have been the most precious of my blessings. And these days I have newer and extraordinarily wonderful friendships that have come to me through my entree into the mystery writing community.  

These are the things I am going out to celebrate!

A $250,000,000 Movie & Way Cheaper Book Find Happiness in Greece.

Voidokilia Beach, Messenia Greece

Jeff–Saturday

The Peloponnese is the southernmost part of mainland Greece, about the same size as the American state of Massachusetts and the setting for much of the blood-soaked drama that comprises ancient Greek history.  Once the ancestral home to Spartan power, it remains a place of lush mountain passes, broad green valleys, jagged gray mountains, and pixilated groves of green; all set off against a western horizon of turquoise Ionian waters edging up against Messenia, the western prong of the trident-shape peninsula tip of the Peloponnese. Separated from its middle-finger-peninsula neighbor to the east, the Mani, by the roughly one-hundred-fifty-kilometer shoreline of the Messenian Gulf, it is a region of epic historic and current adventures.

 

The Messenian Gulf’s southeastern tip begins at the Mani’s iconic Cape Tenaro lighthouse–– built by the French in 1882 atop rugged gray rock jutting out into the sea––it stands close by the southernmost point in mainland Greece and the rumored entrance to Hades. Its distinctive, square-sided, massive stone pedestal tower is buttressed between twin one-story stone structures, all resting upon a foundation set into the underlying rock.

 

For those who prefer a graphic novel style description of the lighthouse…you’ll find it here on the cover of my new book, coming April 1^st.

 

The rugged rocky coastline surrounding the lighthouse continues north along a virtually beachless, eight-mile run of stark gray cliff faces topped in arid hills and more stone.  To some, the undulating landscape resembles a herd of massive crawling humpback creatures, with lizard skins of brown and gray touched with warts of green, perched high above the edge of the sea, unsure of whether to pause or leap.

 

A bit further north, the coastline pinches in to form a mile-wide waist in the peninsula. Just south of that, in the area of Marmara, the coastline briefly flattens to create two sandy beaches, a hopeful sign of better things to come, but the next twenty miles yield only more rocks and stone cliff faces, rarely punctuated by sandy coves or man-made structures.

 

Further north still is Areopoli, a city named after the Greek god of war and where locals struck the first blow in Greece’s 1821 War of Independence.  North of there the landscape turns greener and the shoreline busier, all to be expected the closer you come to Kalamata at the top of the Gulf, the capital of Messenia and the second largest city in the Peloponnese.

 

Kalamata

Curving south out of Kalamata, the Gulf’s western shoreline is calmer, flatter, sandier and far more fertile, offering long stretches of beach and vast, verdant farmlands filled with olives, citrus, figs, and rice as it heads toward its western boundary at Venetiko Island.

 

From there Messenia proper runs north to its border with the regional unit of Elis—home to Olympia.  But we’re not going that far north.  We’re only going as far north as Navarino.  That’s the historic Italian name for the lovely, neo-classical town of Pylos, nestled along the Messenia shores of the Ionian Sea at the southern entrance to Navarino Cove. Perhaps Greece’s most important sea battle of all time, the Battle of Navarino, was fought on those waters. In October 1827, in the midst of Greece’s War for Independence, ships of the combined French, Russian, and English navies destroyed an Ottoman and Egyptian fleet twice their size.  Their battle on behalf of Greece hastened the end of the war, and independence for Greece.

 

Pylos

Today, it’s likely best known for The Costa Navarino Golf Resort built along the cove’s eastern shore. Its first golf course and hotel opened in 2010. Today, it’s a 2500-acre golf resort complex offering four 5-star hotels, four multiple-award winning eighteen-hole golf courses, and the title, ‘World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination;’ all set among tens of thousands of olive trees, flourishing vineyards, and more than a million additional, well-tended endemic trees and shrubs.

 

Costa Navarino

It is an area where the wealthy and powerful of Greece and beyond come to play.

 

Apparently, it’s also where movies come to spend $250,000,000 (if you believe the press).  Not to mention an author who bases his novels in Greece and decided over a year ago to place a seminal scene in his Messenia-based, fourteenth novel at Navarino––a star-reviewed page turner that is currently available for pre-order at an approximately seven decimal places cheaper price than the movie.

 

Yes, Sir Christoper Nolan (Dunkirk) is setting much of his epic “The Odyssey” in the region, starring Matt Damon.  The locals are pleased.

 

If you pre-order NOT DEAD YET, I shall be too. 

 

––Jeff

 

Jeff’s Events (still in formation)

2025

All Live Events

 

Wednesday, April 2, 6:00 p.m. ET
Mysterious Bookshop
Author Speaking and Signing
New York, NY

 

Sunday, April 6, 2:00 p.m. PT
Book Carnival
Author Speaking and Signing
Orange, CA

 

Sunday, April 13, 2:00 p.m. MT
The Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Author Speaking and Signing
Scottsdale, AZ

 

Friday, April 25, 7:00 p.m.
Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Author Speaking and Signing
Pittsburgh, PA

 

Sunday, May 4, 2:00 p.m. ET
Sparta Public Library
Author Speaking and Signing
Sparta, NJ

 

Thursday, May 15 – Sunday, May 18
CrimeFest
Author Panels yet to be assigned
Bristol, UK

 

Wednesday, September 3 – Sunday, September 7
Bouchercon
Author Panels yet to be assigned
New Orleans, LA