The 2017 Lefty Award Nominees

Award season continues and that gives us a great opportunity to fish for excellent books for our TBR piles. Today we have the nominees for the Lefty Awards awarded at the Left Coast Crime conference. This is an annual conference located on the west coast of the US to celebrate crime fiction and non-fiction. This year's Left Coast is in Hawaii and the awards will be presented on Saturday, March 18. 

It's also a fabulous fun conference, so if you're looking for an excuse to go to Hawaii, and want to see John and Faye Kellerman, Laurie R. King and Dana Stabenow, this is your chance. 

And here are the nominees. Congratulations to all who are nominated but especially Mystery Playground friends Ellen Byron, Donna Andrews, Diane Vallere, Catriona McPherson, Nadine Nettman and Gigi Pandian.

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 Historical 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 (not in other categories). 

• 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)