LEFT COAST CRIME 2025: Part Two

 

My last blog was focused on how much, as an author, I have always loved Left Coast Crime.

 

But I might love it even more as a person alive in the world right now, because it’s a place I’m guaranteed to see some of my dearest friends, a place to get to know some authors better, and a place I know I will meet even more lovely, generous, decent, inspiring people, accidentally or on purpose.

 

I’m lucky to live in Los Angeles, which has a thriving mystery/crime community, but at LCC I get at least one chance a year to see my friends from around the country (including, as I wrote last time, a joyful reunion with MIE compatriot Annamaria Alfieri).

 

Here are a few of the many people I was so happy to see or get to know better. All of them are great writers as well and I can’t recommend their books enough.

 

With Baron Birtcher.

 

Baron Birtcher and I first connected online through our shared love of music, but it was getting to see each other at conferences where we really became solid friends and I had the chance to meet his fab wife, Christina.

 

D.R. Ransdell and I were on one of my very first panels, ever, and I’m always so glad to see her and her husband, David. Last year, James and I celebrated the end of the conference with them and this year I caught them just in from Europe and about to be off for Japan, so it was doubly lucky to get to see them both in Denver.

 

D.R. was so lovely to me on our first panel together. Always love seeing her

 

Although Tim Maleeny and I shared a publisher for a while, I only met him in person on a panel at LCC in 2020 (the ill-fated, best one day conference, ever). Last year, I was lucky enough to reconnect with him at LCC 2024 as well as a mystery event in North Carolina.

 

I was lucky enough to read, and meet, Tim as well as Haris Orkin and Bill Fitzhugh, at LCC 2020. All hilarious and kind.

 

Me and Tim reconnecting at LCC 2024.

I can thank Leslie Karst, someone I’m always so happy to see, for my friendship with Lefty Winner James L’Etoile. 

 

Leslie as autioneer. Photo courtesy of Darrell Hoemann Photography.

 

Jim and I had seen each other many times, but we hadn’t really talked until Leslie’s late night drinks party at LCC 2022 in Albuquerque, where we realized we had a shared sensibility. Since then, he’s been one of my (and my husband’s) dearest and most supportive friends in the community.

 

Jim wins! Congrats to him and all the nominees.

 

And a great person to have a drink with. This year, I was lucky enough to sit down with Jim and Claire Booth, who was nominated for Best Novel as well. From now on, seeing her will be a priority at any LCC I attend. 

 

Will always be happy to be between Jim and Claire.

 

I admire Lefty winner Tracy Clark’s writing so much that she’d always intimidated me a bit. But this year I was privileged enough to sit beside her both on a panel and at a dinner. Anyone who cracks me up like she did, is a friend for life.

 

Me and Tracy on a panel with Matt Coyle, Glen Erik Hamilton, and Gar Anthony Heywood. Photo courtesy of Darrell Hoemann Photography.

 

What a dinner! 

Of course, Catriona MacPherson has always cracked me up, so I loved getting to see her at that same dinner. She is another reason to trek to wherever LCC happens to be. 

 

Ditto for Glen Erik Hamilton, Matt Coyle, Cynthia Kuhn, Gar Anthony Heywood, John Copenhaver, Ellen Kirschman, Jennifer Morita, Laurie Sheehan, Leslie Budewitz, Janet Rudolph, Rob Osler, Dotty Morefield, Les and Leslie Blatt, new friends Jason Powell and Susan Shea, all the other writers on the Best Novel panel, and so many others I am forgetting while writing this at 4 in the morning. Naomi Hirahara, Jim Ziskin, Rachel Howzell Hall, Haris Orkin, Tim Maleeny, Wanda Morris, and the other writers who didn't get there, you were missed!

 

Carl Vonderau and I bonded at the first Bouchercon for both of us. It was so huge and overwhelming, so I’ve always been grateful he took the time to sit down with me. And this year, I also can thank him for this photo below. 

 

With Carl Vonderau, Tracy Clark, Sara Paretsky, and Priscilla Patten.

 

In Denver, I was lucky enough to have a few chances to speak to someone who inspired me to write mysteries in the first place—Guest of Honor Sara Paretsky. I’ve always loved the V.I. Warshawski novels, not only because V.I. is such a badass, and because Paretsky manages to keep her very complex plots moving at a lightspeed pace, but especially because she manages to weave issues of social justice seamlessly into the books by connecting them organically to the stakes of the story, without preaching.

 

 

I must have reread Indemnity Only five or six times when I was writing my first Cyd Redondo book, trying to see how she managed this in her debut. And though my books have a very different tone—taking a screwball approach to the issue of endangered species—I learned so much from her technique.

 

As a former entertainment reporter in Los Angeles, I know it’s not always wise to meet your heroes, but in this case, to see Paretsky interacting with authors and readers, to hear her speak about fighting the good fight, and to laugh with her, was a joy and a relief.

 

It’s not always easy to make new, real friends later in life. I am so grateful to LCC for the chance to do just that.

 

--Wendall

 

 

 

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