Lionized Lefties

The Lefty Awards were presented at Left Coast Crime 2025 on Saturday, March 15, at the Westin Denver Downtown in Denver, Colorado. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

 

Lefty Nominees for Best Humorous Mystery Novel:  Rob Osler, Cirque du Slay (Crooked Lane Books)

Also nominated:

• Ellen Byron, A Very Woodsy Murder (Kensington Books) 
• Jennifer J. Chow, Ill-Fated Fortune (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)
• A.J. Devlin, Bronco Buster (NeWest Press)
• Catriona McPherson, Scotzilla (Severn House)
• Richard Osman, We Solve Murders (Pamela Dorman Books / Viking)

Lefty Nominees for Best Historical Mystery Novel: (Bill Gottfried Memorial) for books covering events before 1970: John Copenhaver, Hall of Mirrors (Pegasus Crime)

Also nominated:

• Robert Dugoni, A Killing on the Hill (Thomas & Mercer)
• Dianne Freeman, An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder (Kensington Books)
• Laurie R. King, The Lantern’s Dance (Bantam Books)
• Laura Jensen Walker, Death of a Flying Nightingale (Level Best Books / Historia)

Lefty Nominees for Best Debut Mystery Novel:  Jennifer K. Morita, Ghosts of Waikiki (Crooked Lane Books)

Also nominated:

• Peter Malone Elliott, Blue Ridge (Level Best Books)
• Cindy Goyette, Obey All Laws (Level Best Books)
• Audrey Lee, The Mechanics of Memory (CamCat Books)
• K.T. Nguyen, You Know What You Did (Dutton)

Lefty Nominees for Best Mystery Novel:  James L’Etoile, Served Cold (Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

• Claire Booth, Home Fires (Severn House)
• Margot Douaihy, Blessed Water (Zando, Gillian Flynn Books)
• Rob Hart, Assassins Anonymous (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• Leslie Karst, Molten Death (Severn House)
• Duane Swierczynski, California Bear (Mulholland Books)