The Left Coast Crime “Lefty” Awards are fan awards chosen by registered members of the Left Coast Crime conventions since 1996. 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.
2024 Lefty Awards
Left Coast Crime 2024 — Seattle Shakedown — presented four Lefty Awards at the convention
in Bellevue, Washington. Registrants of the Left Coast Crime
Conventions in Seattle and Tucson were able to nominate three titles in
each category. The 2024 Lefty awards were voted
on at the convention and presented at the Awards Banquet on April 13, 2024.
| Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel |
| ✫ |
Wendall Thomas, Cheap Trills (Beyond the Page Books) |
| ° |
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) |
Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel
(Bill Gotttfried Memorial) for books covering events before 1970 |
| ✫ |
Naomi Hirahara, Evergreen (Soho Crime ) |
| ° |
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) |
| Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel |
| ✫ |
Nina Simon, Mother-Daughter Murder Night (William Morrow) |
| ° |
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) |
| Lefty for Best Mystery Novel |
| ✫ |
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) |
To be eligible for the 2024 Lefty Awards, the mystery/crime/thriller novels must have been published for the first time in the United States or Canada during 2023, in book or ebook format. (If published in other countries before 2023, a book is still eligible if it meets the US or Canadian publication requirement.)
Questions about the Lefty Awards? Email Lefty Awards Co-Chairs Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich
History of the Left Coast Crime Awards |
