Friday, March 21, 2014

Left Coast Crime Report: Day One




Left Coast Crime, the west coast crime fiction convention is going on this weekend in Monterey, California. It's four days filled with author panels & spotlights, signings and parties. 

Here's my report from day one...

Authors Catriona McPherson (Dandy Gilver and the The Day She Died coming in May) and Lisa Alber (Kilmoon, A County Clare Mystery) hang out in-between panels.



Here's Kelli Stanley, author of the San Francisco-based Miranda Corbie series, signing books for fans: 



Author Bruce DeSilva (Providence Rag) and Ingrid Willis (Bouchercon 2014 chair) on Wednesday night.




Book bag freebies:




One of the panels I attended was called, The Culture of Murder: Mysteries Set in Different Lands. 







The panel featured five authors who all write mysteries set outside of the US:

Janet Hubbard - Writes about wine country in France. Her latest is called: Bordeaux: The Bitter Finish.


Jeanne Mathews - Matthews books set in Samos, a beautiful Greek island. All her books are set in different countries. 

Priscilla Royal - Set her historical books in England and learned her American history in Canada. Writes about the Middle Ages. She loves the contradictions between conventional wisdom of that time and what people really did. Looks for quirky things because she is quirky.

Jeffery Siger- Places his books in the birthplace of the gods - Greek island. Lives in Mikanos. Feels at home in Greece even though he didn't have roots there at first. 

All the authors were asked: 'Why did you chose your location'?

Jeffery - The location chose me. It speaks to me and it gives me the opportunity to extend my view to everyone else.

Jeanne - Samos was fate. I was invited to stay at someone . The other books were where does Jeanne want to go next. Love mythology and there are plenty of opportunities to find these mythologies in every country. 

Janet - She loved setting two crime solvers in wine country and let them show us what it's like living in a different culture. Janet is a Francophile and this was a great opportunity to indulge.

Priscilla - She has never been to the area she writes about - East Anglia, England and it's because she writes historical and everything is different from her time period. The air is different, they've drained the fens in east Angelia, the building are different, etc. So to write about east Angelia today is not to write about if in the 1200s. Even the temperatures are different. She uses Google earth to "fly over" east Angelia but the world she writes about really no longer exists. 



From the Left Coast Crime 101 panel (photo by Darrell Hoemann Photography)


We will have more from Left Coast Crime tomorrow, but for now I will leave you with a photo of the seal party outside of the hotel:













2 comments:

  1. What a great first day and look at that view from the hotel.

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  2. Oh my! I have found both a new blog and a new event I wish to experience. Short of actually being there you've done an excellent job of making me feel as if I am. And Monterey, California sounds like a wonderful place to visit on it's own.

    Thank you

    Pat Amsden
    Writer of Romance and Mystery
    www.patamsden.com

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